Conservancy has a 'lot of work' to place Lighthouse
PORT CLINTON - The Port Clinton Lighthouse Conservancy members didn't take much time to congratulate one another on receiving the deed to the light from Brands' Marina last week.
There's too much work to do.
Last week, Dalton Brand of Brands' Marina signed over ownership of the 119-year old wooden pier light that members of the Conservancy worked for years to painstakingly restore.
The city's Safety-Service Director Tracy Colston and Conservancy President Rich Norgard signed a license agreement which authorizes the placement of the lighthouse to a parcel north of the Derby Pond in Waterworks Park.
"We don't have a lot of time for back-slapping and congratulating each other," Norgard said. "We've got a lot of work to do."
Work includes securing a building permit with Ottawa County, as well as approval from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to dig into the soil to place the light.
Then comes groundbreaking, which Norgard says they are aiming to do in mid-May. Preparing the grounds for the light includes a concrete pad or foundation and then four concrete piers that the light will rest on top of.
"We'll be doing landscaping with stone so it will look like it did when it was one the west pier," Norgard said.
Electric wiring will be added as well as re-routing the pathway so visitors will have and ADA accessible way to get to the light.
The Conservancy will also be creating a system for docents, people who will help bring visitors to and from the light, and setting up a schedule for when the light will be open for tours. The city is designating parking space at Waterworks Park for visitors to park their vehicles and walk over, he said.
Then comes moving the estimated 12,000 pound, 26-foot tall wooden lighthouse - a feat which Norgard expects will draw national attention. The light will be loaded onto a barge and floated down the Portage River to its new home on the shoreline.
"It's going to be a major coordination effort between us and the city, the police and fire departments and the Coast Guard," Norgard said. "It's a pretty big deal."
Norgard said there was no firm date on placement for the light but they hope to have it in place by mid-July, close to the lighthouse's 120th birthday.
Lighthouse history
The wooden lighthouse went into service on July 15, 1896, on the pier. Norgard believes the structure was likely built in Detroit and brought here on a barge.
The structure is about 26 feet tall, and pier lights like it were common on the Great Lakes at that time, Norgard said. Few remain, however, because they were made of wood that often did not survive the elements.
The Port Clinton Lighthouse keeper had a home that was the former Garden at the Lighthouse restaurant on Perry Street, Norgard said. A branch of Croghan Colonial Bank was recently built on the site.
Each day, the keeper would go to the lighthouse and light the oil lamp. The interior of the lighthouse still has the original cabinets he used to store the oil and other items, and the cleaning station where he worked with those materials.
"The craftsmanship is wonderful," Norgard said. "It pretty much looks the same as when they put it on the pier in 1896."
The lighthouse remained in service until 1952, when it was replaced by a metal pole with a blinking light. It survived the elements because of its copper roof, which is a good protector of wood, and maintenance work its owners over the years completed to help save it, Norgard said.
Dave Jeremy, owner of the former Jeremy's Marina, which today is Brands' Marina, took the lighthouse and moved it to his marina in order to preserve it. He and Darrell Brand, owner of Brands' Marina, painted it and kept it in good shape, Norgard said.
Norgard believes the light may be one of the oldest remaining pier lights on the Great Lakes and could be placed on the National Register, which the Conservancy is researching.
"It's definitely unique," he said. "There's not another light like it."
jdenton@gannett.com
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Twitter: @jessicadentonNH