Community Corner

Shoring Up the Huntington Lighthouse

Without state grant, foundation looks to raise funds to preserve lighthouse 100th anniversary nears.

Forget about using granite for those counter tops. The Huntington Lighthouse needs the rocks. And money.

Specifically, it needs a total of 650 tons of granite boulders, weighing three to five tons each, to support the lighthouse in Huntington Harbor,  said Pam Setchell, president of the Huntington Lighthouse Preservation Society.

In addition to the repair work, the organization is planning ways to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the lighthouse, Setchell said. Among the plans are an art contest and possibly fireworks, and a sailboat race for the June 16 celebration. A recent mixer at Honu restaurant drew about 100 potential volunteers to work on lighthouse projects.

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But the repair needs loom large. Without a hoped-for state grant, the organization needs to raise about $350,000 for the work essential to strengthening the base of the lighthouse. And construction debris won't do the job. Setchell said boulders are sometimes available when the Army Corps of Engineers takes down a bulkhead or pier while others are drilled out from subway line work.

But without the funds to haul and barge the boulders to the site, many boulders end up dumped out to sea.

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What Setchell hopes to do is preserve a part of town history that has a quiet presence in the town.

"If you look around, the lighthouse is the icon for the Chamber of Commerce, it's on the front page of town page, it's on the cover of budget, the logo for the school district, everywhere. It’s a face of the town. It was on a lot of things even before now. There’s got to be something besides me being a nutjob and wanting it to be perfect.

"If it’s not protected, the logos will be a faint artistic memory."


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