Multiple Benefits from New Lighthouse Postage Stamps
The new lighthouse postage stamps, which are now available from your local post office, offer everyone a unique opportunity to help promote lighthouses as well as to help save them. When purchasing lighthouse postage stamps for yourself, purchase some extra stamps to donate to your favorite lighthouse group. Every envelope that you affix a stamp on helps to promote lighthouses, and the stamps you donate to your local or favorite lighthouse group helps them defray the cost of mailings of their newsletters. Plus, you’ll be helping the United States Postal Service and you might be able to deduct the postage stamps that you donate to the lighthouse group on your federal taxes. Now that’s what we call Multiple Benefits!

Champlain Lighthouse Open Again
New York’s historic Champlain Memorial Lighthouse, once known as Crown Point Lighthouse is again open to the public after restoration. The lighthouse was constructed in 1910-12 using part of the base of the original lighthouse. It is located on the southern end of Lake Champlain.

Sheffield Lighthouse Lovers Package
Visits to Connecticut’s Sheffield Island Lighthouse are now available in a partnership with the Hilton Garden Inn in Norwalk, CT. For $139.00, plus tax, you get deluxe accommodations at the Hilton Garden Inn, breakfast and round trip boat ride to the lighthouse. Other packages are also available. FMI visit www.seaport.org or call the Norwalk Seaport Association at 203-838-9444.

Biloxi Visitors Center Delayed
Construction of the Biloxi Lighthouse Park and Visitors Center and Museum at Mississippi’s Biloxi Lighthouse has been delayed. It seems that the state wants more time for archeological exploration at the site.

Repairs at Whiskey Island
Some repairs have finally been made at the abandoned Whiskey Point Coast Guard Station in Cleveland, Ohio. The station is now owned by the City of Cleveland, which can’t seem to figure out how to save the historic structure with its amazing watch tower. However, as usual, volunteer preservationists, have stepped forward with a plan to save the structure and turn it into a museum and Coast Guard interpretative center. In fact the U.S. Coast Guard Tug Association is moving the 66-year old vessel, Apalachee, to the site to be restored as part of the future exhibits at the former station. If any of our readers can help us out with photographs of the exterior and interior of the station, we would appreciate hearing from you by mail to Editor, Lighthouse Digest, P.O. Box 250, East Machias, ME 04630 or by email to .

Gold Medal Replica Goes to Museum
A replica of the Gold Life-Saving Medal awarded to Lucian Clemons, for his rescue of the crew from the vessel Consuelo of the coast of Marblehead, Ohio on May 1, 1875, is now on display at the Marblehead Lighthouse Historical Society Museum at the Marblehead Lighthouse in Marblehead, Ohio. The original medal is on display at the Inland Seas Maritime Museum in Vermilion, Ohio.

Coast Guard Museum on Hold
Plans for a new Coast Guard Museum in New London. CT at Fort Trumbull has been put on hold due to the current economic conditions. Plans called for a new $65 million dollar facility. The Coast Guard is the only branch of the military that does not have a museum. Instead of building a new museum in New London, CT, perhaps the planners should consider establishing a National Coast Guard Museum at the site of the Lighthouse Depot on Staten Island, New York where the failed National Lighthouse Museum was going to be. After all, the site was owned by the Coast Guard after it took over the Lighthouse Service. And, rather than building a bunch of new buildings, it would make better sense to save and maintain the historic buildings at the old Lighthouse Depot on Staten Island. The Coast Guard has a rich heritage to the site that they left to decay. It’s time to make a reversal and save the site; it would be perfect for the Coast Guard.

Toledo Ramp Found
The new 40-foot ramp at the Toledo Lighthouse, thought to have been stolen by vandals has been found. Apparently, rather than being stolen, vandals instead caused it to sink. However, at press time, an eight foot by twenty-eight foot dock was still missing from the lighthouse.

Trouble at Point Abino Lighthouse
Although the local community of Fort Erie, Ontario Canada has been offered $425,000 by the Canadian government for lighthouse restoration, in a closed-door hearing the public officials of the town council vote 6 to 1 to sell the Point Abino keeper’s house and use the money to restore only the tower. Obviously, the Point Abino Lighthouse Preservation Society has objected to this move, but there is little they can do. Problems here have been ongoing as were reported in the February 1999 and July 2001 issues of Lighthouse Digest. The lighthouse is surrounded by private property and even the road to the lighthouse is privately owned and the locals continue to do everything in their power to keep the public away from the lighthouse and now they are splitting up the property by selling the light keeper’s house.

Lights Across the Border Challenge
The 2nd Annual Lighthouse Across the Border Lighthouse Challenge will be held on Sept. 12 in Washington County, Maine and Campobello Island Canada. This is a unique opportunity to view some remote lighthouses. To learn more or sign up for the event go to www.LittleRiverLight.org and click on the link in the left hand column.

New London Ledge Light Event
The New London Ledge Lighthouse Foundation is hosting a Centennial Gala to raise money for the Connecticut beacon. It will be held on Sept. 25 at 5:30PM at the “Port ‘N Starboard” Banquet Center at Ocean Beach Park in New London, CT. Tickets are $75. FMI e-mail

Trivia Winners from Previous Dispatch

1. Since the ruler of this country did not have a navy or ships of commerce it did not need a lighthouse. However, since a lighthouse was needed to develop commerce between this nation and other nations, especially the United States, the United States Lighthouse Service built a lighthouse here in the early 1900s. What is the name of the lighthouse and the name of the country where the lighthouse was built?
   
   The correct answer is the Cape Spartel Lighthouse in Tangiers, Morocco. A story about this appeared in the April 2007 issue of Lighthouse Digest, Click link to view story. The lighthouse still stands. Congratulations to George Maina of South Plainfield, NJ whose name was randomly selected from among the correct answers.
   
   
2. What was the name of the first Flying Santa of the Lighthouses?
   
   The correct answer is Capt. William Wincapaw who started the tradition in 1929 of dropping Christmas presents by airplane to lighthouse keepers along the New England coast. Congratulations to Tracy Winters of Greensburg, Indiana whose name was randomly drawn from among the correct answers submitted.
   
   
3. In 1931 the keeper of this lighthouse was murdered. Famous FBI agent Melvin Purvis led the investigation into the keeper’s death, but the murder was never solved. What is the name of the lighthouse?.
   
   The correct answer is the Holland Island Bar Lighthouse in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay where lighthouse keeper Ulman Owens was murdered. Congratulations to Eileen Tener of Tampa, Florida whose name was selected from among the correct answers submitted.

The prizes for the winners above will be shipped out soon. We wish to thank everyone who entered.

This Month’s Trivia Questions

1. What was the name of the vessel of the United States Lighthouse Establishment which became the first official lighthouse tender?
   
2. What lighthouse was the first to be built from start to finish by the government of the United States of America?
   
3. What inland area of the United States has the most replicas of actual lighthouses that are even used as aids to navigation?

Send your answers to one, two or all three of the trivia questions listed above to: . One name from each of the correct answers to each trivia question will be randomly drawn for a prize from Lighthouse Depot. The winning names and the answers to the above trivia questions will be published in next month’s Depot Dispatch. When submitting your answers, be sure to include your full name and mailing address so we can mail your prize to you should your name be drawn from among the correct answers. Please submit only one answer per person per trivia question. Multiple entries will not be accepted; only one answer per trivia question will be accepted. Since winning entries are drawn at random, one person could possibly win more than one prize. Have fun researching lighthouse history and good luck!

When submitting your answers, be sure to include your full name and mailing address so we can mail your prize to you should your name be drawn from among the correct answers.

History Lessons and News
It has often been said that you can learn more about early America history from lighthouses than any other single source. If you are interested or want others to learn more, may we suggest a subscription or gift subscription to Lighthouse Digest, the lighthouse history and news magazine. Upcoming issues will tell of stories that have been lost and forgotten in the pages of time that you will not find anywhere else. One such example will be the story of the most famous words said in the communication history of the world and their relation to lighthouse history.

The unusual Haut-Fond Lighthouse
Built to mark one of the most dangerous shoals of the St. Lawrence River, Canada’s Haut-Fond Lighthouse, sometimes referred to as the Prince Shoal Lighthouse, is one of those lighthouses that nearly every lighthouse aficionado wants to visit. Unfortunately, because of its location and design very few will ever get to step foot on the heliport of the lighthouse and climb the tower and tour the facilities. However, now, thanks to Harbour Lights you can have a model of this unique lighthouse. Once you have this unique collectible in your collection, you might let your mind drift and imagine what it would be like to be a lighthouse keeper or visit for an overnight stay. The replica, with its helicopter on the deck, is sure to create some conversation with those seeing the replica for the first time. Click here to view Haut-Fond Lighthouse Replica.

Open Lighthouse Day
Maine Open Lighthouse Day is September 12, 2009. It is the largest effort of its kind in the nation. The event is designed to provide free access to the public to all participating lighthouses from 9am to 3pm on the same day. On this day more than 50 lighthouses will be open to the public. Visitors will be allowed to climb the towers. For more information on this event go to www.visitmaine.com. Visit the Lighthouse Depot Gift Store in Wells, Maine Friday, September 11th through Monday, September 14, 2009, make a purchase and receive a free gift to commemorate this special lighthouse event. To record your lighthouse travels may we suggest the Destinations Lighthouse Journal. You’ll treasure the memories forever with this journal, specially formatted for you to fill in a page for each lighthouse visited. Make your plans now to visit Maine on this historic day.
Transportation to the lighthouses will not be provided by the U.S. Coast Guard, Office of Tourism or American Lighthouse Foundation. Visitors must find their own transportation to get to the lighthouses.

Harbour Lights Collection Photos Wanted
Are you especially proud of your Harbour Lights collection? Send a photo of yourself with your Harbour Lights collection and it may be published in Lighthouse Digest. Photos can be emailed to or by mail to Tim Harrison, Editor, Lighthouse Digest, P.O. Box 250, East Machias, ME 04630. If e-mailing a photo, be sure to send a high resolution of 300dpi as a JPEG or similar file.

Write Us
We want to hear from you! Perhaps you have a favorite lighthouse memory(s), photos to share from a vacation, a slice of history that you have uncovered, an idea for a lighthouse product, a lighthouse volunteer that should be honored, or something about lighthouses that you think everyone should be told about, we would love to hear from you at

Visit Lighthouse Depot
The summer tourist season is now upon us and if part of your travel plans include a visit to Maine we invite you to visit Lighthouse Depot in southern Maine at our Wells store or at our location at the famous Maine Lighthouse Museum in Rockland. You’ll have fun.

Clearance Central
Be sure to visit the Lighthouse Depot Clearance Central for an ever changing selection of discontinued and close out items.

Lighthouse Depot has the largest selection of lighthouse merchandise in the world and we invite you to browse through our web site to view the wide selection of items from home décor, to books, jewelry, clothing and more. Have fun browsing and please remember that Lighthouse Depot is helping to save lighthouses and their history, one gift at a time. Thanks for being a loyal customer and the next time you visit Maine, please be sure to visit our stores on historic U.S. Route One in Wells and at the Maine Lighthouse Museum in Rockland.

Lighthouse Depot, helping to save, lighthouses, one gift at a time.

We support the efforts of The American Lighthouse Foundation. You can too!

Lighthouse Depot
P.O. Box 427
Wells, ME 04090
1-800-758-1444