SEE: White Light Still Crumbing
SeacoastNH was the only media to accompany engineers and DRED officials on a
recent strategic visit to design a landing site on the island. The group of 10 made
the trip to the Isles of Shoals on a perfect June afternoon aboard the Uncle Oscar out of Rye Harbor.
Active as a lighthouse since 1820, all previous landing sites were wiped out
by Mother Nature. The trick now is to build an affordable, flexible landing spot
in a very rocky area strewn with shifting boulders and covered in seaweed. Since
the Island is owned by the state of New Hampshire, the landing site also has to
meet all state accessibility regulations and building codes.
Engineers from Louis Berger Group of Manchester, NH gathered "on island" to scope out the situation in June 2004.
They will submit their recommendations and DRED officials hope to begin the project
in 2004. The governor’s council needs to approve all funding. That means the cracking
White Island lighthouse will have to survive another harsh New England winter
before repairs can begin.
While the state has gained access to $250,000 in federal funds, the grant requires
matching income. That match is coming -- not from the state which owns the historic
island and its crumbling buildings -- but from the efforts of the middle-schoolers.
The Lighthouse Kids of teacher Sue Reynolds have so far raised about $60,000 to kick off the first
phase of the project.
Meanwhile, the rest of the island buildings under state care are suffering too.
The wooden walkway that leads from the keeper's house to the light is no longer
workable and capped off at both ends. The lighthouse keepers house is leaking
and the interior kitchen wall has begun to peel away. The exterior is badly in
need of paint and clapboards and roofing are peeling away. The roof of the generator
room, used and repaired under the Coast Guard only a few years ago, has now broken
completely through. Unused generators, abandoned with the departure of the Coast
Guard, stand idle and rusting in the deteriorating concrete bunker. An old oil
house adapted into an outhouse provides poor sanitary conditions.
The former lighthouse keeper’s house now offers shelter to three NH Fish and
Game employees who are monitoring a tern restoration project on nearby Seavey
Island. Severe winter weather can age the buildings dramatically and no funds
are currently coming from the state of New Hampshire. White Island structures
continue to deteriorate at warp speed while the state moves slowly toward a stop-gap
solution funded by dedicated local children.
READ: The sotry that started it all
VISIT: Jeremy's Lighthouse Guide to White Island
All photos by J. Dennis Robinson, SeacoastNH.com.
SEE: Exclusive photos inside the lighthouse
VISIT: Isles of Shoals section
