Residents tour restored lighthouse

PORT CLINTON — On Thursday, Brands Marina opened its gates for residents and visitors to climb the steps of the 119-year old Port Clinton lighthouse.

Rich Norgard, president of the Port Clinton Lighthouse Conservancy, said about 50 people came out to the light’s current home on the city’s west side to check the wooden light out for themselves.

Visitors listened to the Ottawa County Bluegrass Band and browsed artifacts after climbing and exploring the lighthouse.

Many also asked the status of the lighthouse, curious to know when it will be placed along the shoreline of Lake Erie like it was for so many years until its removal in the 1950s.

“We’re still in discussion with the city and tweaking the language of the agreement,” Norgard said. “We’re cautiously optimistic.”

Once an agreement is met, the city will have to submit a letter to the state’s Office of Coastal Management to sub-lease the land. Then four to six weeks after that, the conservancy will have the light floated down the Portage River and placed in its new home.

Norgard said several members of Port Clinton’s city council attended the viewing on Thursday and expressed support to see it out at the agreed location north of Derby Pond soon.

“We believe it’s the oldest wooden pier head left on the Great Lakes,” Norgard said. “That makes it very special.”

In the last few years, the Conservancy has invested about $30,000 and hundreds of hours of work into restoring the light to its original glory.

For 56 years, the 25-foot tall wooden light stood on the west pier of the Portage River until it was replaced by a pier light in 1952. The structure was then moved to Jeremy’s Marina, now Brands, where it has sat since being decommissioned.

Darrell Brand has owned the light since purchasing the marina in 1985, but now will sign the structure to the Conservancy because the light will be placed on the shoreline.

The city will now work to sub-lease the property from for the land north of Derby Pond, where the light is set if the state approves the submerged-lands lease.

The open house was held in conjunction with the Greater Port Clinton Area Art Council’s Art Walk, talking place each fourth Thursday of the month from May through October in downtown Port Clinton.

jdenton@gannett.com

419-734-7506

Twitter: @jessicadentonNH