Its not just the Minots Ledge lighthouse thats changing hands. 3.15 The Coast Guard, once mandated by Congress to staff and operate Boston Light permanently, has greenlit a search for a new owner through the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act. As far as the preservation of lighthouses as historic monuments, Im optimistic about the ones that are tourist attractions being saved, he says. Thomas Farragher is a Globe columnist. (See this video of the Gay Head rescue.). The 300-year-old Boston Light, the countrys first lighthouse, is located on Little Brewster Island in the Boston Harbor. In December 1892, the British Schooner Gold Hunter wrecked on Boon Island with the temperature at four degrees below zero. See list below of other lighthouses that allow tours and lodging. As a whole, theyre basically obsolete theyre only designed to do one thing but theyre also historically significant, so the feds dont just want to flatten them. Nepal. In May 2000, Boon Island Lighthouse, from which a flashing white light, visible for nineteen nautical miles, is emitted every five seconds, was leased to the American Lighthouse Foundation. Great Lakes Lighthouses, Seacoasts, Islands, Sounds. By 1818, an increase in salary prompted unscrupulous competition for the job at Boon Island. The 59-foot Cape Blanco Lighthouse, built in 1870 and the oldest lighthouse still standing in Oregon, offers tours into the workroom only and allows visitors onto the grounds. On April 16, 1851, the fierce winds of a noreaster left the tower reeling in the pounding seas and blinding snow. A crew of Portuguese fishermen swore they saw a figure hanging on to an outer ladder shouting at them in their own language to keep away, and many local fishermen have reported hearing moans and cries for help coming from the base of the lighthouse. When no qualified custodian was found, an online auction for the lighthouse was opened on May 14, 2014. The living quarters were also damaged, and boulders were swept onto the island. The solitude and thunderous crashing of the waves drove more than one keeper insane. When I accepted the post, I closed my ears against the reports of the former keeper, treating them (as I now find) too lightly, and here I shall remain so long as a vestige of the lighthouse remains; but the truth must be told. Fanad Lighthouse is a historic working lighthouse at the mouth of Lough Swilly, Ireland, that offers overnight stays. It is two miles from Graves and allows tours. Background Report for Shad Gary Sager. He is also the producer and host of the U.S. Lighthouse Society podcast, "Light Hearted." He can be emailed at Jeremy@uslhs.org Second Assistant: Samuel Tobey (1855 1856), Josiah Tobey Jr. (1856 1859), John S. Baker (1859), Enos Gray (1859 1861), S. Tobey (1861 1864), George E. Bridges (1864 1865), Charles Ramsdell (1865 1868), Samuel R. McLorn (1868), Luther Amazeen (1868 1870), Nathan White, Jr. (1870 1874), Edwin J. Hobbs (1874 1876), David R. Grogan (1876 1878), George O. Leavitt (1878 1880), Paschal Fernald (1880 1881), Orrin M. Lamprey (1881 1885), William C. Williams (1885 1886), James Burke (1886 1888), Leonidas H. Sawyer (1888 1890), Charles W. Torry (1890), Walter S. Amee (1891 1893), William M. Brooks (1893), Alvah J. Toby (1893 1894), James Hawe (1894), Joseph A. Pruett (1894 1896), Charles S. Williams (1896 1897), Meshach M. Seaward (1897 1900), Merton E. Tolman (1900), Henry C. Neal (1900 1902), Frank L. Peabbles (1902), Leroy L. Myers (1902), James R. Faulkingham (1902 1903), William T. Stevens (1903 1904), Mitchell Blackwood (1905), William Henry Burns (1905 1907), Charles Whitten Allen (1907 1911), Fuller E. Larrabee (1912 1913), Charles A. Radley (1913), Albert Staples (1914 at least 1915), Roscoe M. Chandler (1916 1917), Harry M. Kelley (1917 1919), George E. Woodward (1919 1920), Arthur E. Ginn (at least 1921), Eugene L. Coleman (1923 1924), Myron L. Wilson (1924 1925), Andrew H. Kennedy (1925 1928), Fred C. Batty (1930), Frank M. Rumery (1930 ), Howard W. Gray (1932 1934), Hoyt P. Smith (1935 1936), Harry H. McClure (1936 1937), Henry S. Brown (1937 at least 1941), Calvin Dolby (1944 1945), Russell G. Carpenter (at least 1945), Clifford Gustavson (at least 1947), Charles Kendrick Capon (1951 1953), Harold L. Roberts (1956), Ron Schultz (1959). The granite had to be cut and assembled on Government Island, attached to the mainland in Cohasset Harbor, and then pulled by oxen to a vessel that would transport the stone out to the ledge. The next day, the family gave thanks to the Creator for remembering them. Some sit submerged under the waters of the Chesapeake Bay or are about to topple over in the Great Lakes. Boon Island Light history - NEW ENGLAND LIGHTHOUSES: A VIRTUAL GUIDE The tragedy that earned the area its name happened in 1754, when a prominent Boston merchant named George Minot lost a valuable ship there; henceforth it was called Minots Ledge. One has to have a varied knowledge of things to be a lightkeeper. As a strong wind was blowing offshore, the men decided to continue to the tower rather than turn back, but they were swept past the lighthouse and out to sea. William H. Swift, the builder of the lighthouse, felt compelled to respond to the published reports with a letter to the editor of the Boston Daily Advertiser. He plans to knock down one ceiling to combine two floors into one, transforming it into a panoramic conference room sort of a majestic aquatic meeting space. Ive been knocked down by it on the wharf beside the light, and opening a window to look out more than halfway [65 feet] up the tower, Ive had as much as three buckets-full dashed in my face.. By 13 he was a paper boy, and on Saturday mornings he helped his. Free shipping for many products! Grover was cleared in court, but the accusations, and other difficulties, would continue. Along the way, hes fostered micro-lending in Third World countries, befriended the Dalai Lama (A great sense of humor), sat with Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa, and replaced the ragtag soccer balls used by African children with brand-new indestructible yellow ones. The worst storm that struck the island during Keeper Williams lengthy tenure began on January 31, 1898 and was described by Williams in a letter to The Portsmouth Herald. Otis Walsh, an assistant at the lighthouse waiting for Tornberg to relieve him, was watching the men approach and radioed for help when he knew they were in trouble. He also envisions it as a place where representatives of societies that wage war against each other, that commit unspeakable atrocities, can sit across from each other and find common ground. With no takers and erosion at its base, the 86-foot Kauhola Point Lighthouse in Hawaii was demolished altogether in 2009. Weve all stopped to take a picture of these icons, lighthouses, at some point, but in another 50 or 100 years we might not be able to. In 1890, the stations cracked 1,200-pound bell was recast and placed atop a newly completed stone and brick oil house that measured sixteen by fourteen feet. And, unless a lighthouse is decommissioned, the Coast Guard must be granted access to keep all the automated lights shining for those few mariners still looking for a guiding light. Sager acquired Minots Ledge Lighthouse at auction later in 2014 and then Michigans Grays Reef Lighthouse in 2016. Artist, writers, and poets, from Marianne Moore to James Taylor, have canonized lighthouses. Their website is full of Black Hawk helicopters and former cop cars. Owner/site manager: private. Early view of lighthouse and stone dwelling, Boon Island from sea note bell atop oil house, Aerial view showing two dwellings and boathouse, Boon Island Lighthouse and dwellings in 1944. Boone Island Lighthouse The Lighthouse Establishment heard and responded. Australia. Sometimes nothing makes them happy. Unlike my grandmother, Im not pulling bass into a boat by hand. Its ledges were among the most perilous spots on the eastern seaboard until a lighthouse was established there in 1811, following James Madisons approval. Christopher Sager, Age 41. aka Chris Sager. Lighthouses of the U.S.: Northern Massachusetts - ibiblio But who owns the thing? Continue on Main Street But, ultimately hes turning it into a vacation house. Girard was one of two bidders seriously pursuing Ram Island Ledge Lighthouse in 2010, but he dropped out of that auction after losing a coin toss to the eventual winner. He found eight dead black ducks that had smashed into the tower, and four more on the rocks below. I had read that. Third Assistant: Isaac A. Dunham (1850), Kendall Pearson (1851), Samuel Gardiner (1851), W.H. Three years later, Hanna left and was replaced by Eliphalet Grover. Plans for original Minots Ledge Lighthouse, Granite blocks being assembled at Cohasset in 1857, Base of tower as it appeared on July 1, 1859, two double-dwellings were built at Cohasset, Memorial plaque ready for lowering to seafloor. (8 minutes) Bobby Sager thinks in bulk. Minots was constructed to replace an earlier light, which was swept away in a storm. Add climate change to the mix, and were going to lose a significant number of lighthouses in the coming decades. Bobby Sager: the not-so-secret millionaire - The Telegraph Although this request was repeated for over a decade, a fog horn did not replace the bell until around 1960. He and his partner made their fortune by transforming a small Boston jewelry liquidator into a worldwide financial advisory company. Boon Island Minots has a good story, but its not the only one thats been celebrated. 5th Sager is now fixing up two more lighthouses (Minots Ledge Light south of Boston and Maines Boon Island Light) he landed at auction when they were offloaded by the Coast Guard. Construction wasnt easy. Undaunted, Captain Alexander began anew. There were two Coast Guard keepers on the island when the storm hit, tossing boulders across the island. Lighthouses arent the only kind of obsolete public buildings that we put on a pedestal I think people feel similarly about fire towers but lights hit the crosshairs of history, design, adventure, and allegory. 3 In spite of Boston Lights historic importance, it will be a huge challenge for the next steward to preserve the station, says Jeremy DEntremont, when I later reach him inside New Hampshires Portsmouth Harbor Light, home of the American Lighthouse Foundations local chapter. Sager grew up in Malden, on the North Shore of Massachusetts, so maybe he just has that same nostalgia-fueled fascination. Sager is now fixing up two more lighthouses (Minot's Ledge Light south of Boston and Maine's Boon Island Light) he landed at auction when they were offloaded by the Coast Guard. Some have been preserved by gigantic efforts: Already Cape Hatteras in North Carolina, the tallest lighthouse in the country at 193 feet, and Gay Head Light on Marthas Vineyard, among others, have been physically moved back from the edge of the sea, a painstaking process involving digging up the foundation and rolling it inland on hydraulic beams. The present lighthouse was constructed in 1854, along with a new dwelling. But Waller, who has been in close touch with him because Sager was the other bidder for the Graves light, says that hes talked to him about his plans, and that, for now, hes going to leave it untouched. In 2013, the Kittery Historical and Naval Museum announced it was having difficulty paying the premium on the $800,000 insurance policy for the Boon Island lens. The U.S. General Services Administration, which is essentially the real estate arm of the government, was tasked with getting rid of it. Next summer Waller, who has been awarded by the American Lighthouse Foundation for his work in preservation, will finally finish the near unimaginable with the installation of a rare antique first-order Fresnel lens with the refracting glass once commonly used to intensify light for mariners. In 1847, a crew began working from a schooner anchored next to the ledge, and over two years and $39,000 later, on January 1, 1850, Minots Ledge Lighthouse was illuminated for the first time. Established in 1873, Yaquina Head Lighthouse, in Newport, Oregon, is the states tallest at 93 feet. For the past 150 years the lighthouse has warned boaters about the shallow, shipwrecking rocks close to shore, but recently the Coast Guard decided it wasnt relevant anymore, and this fall the light became private property. They always say the best government is a benevolent king because his heart is in the right place, he says. Hes rechinked the granite blocks to make it watertight, and put in running water and electricity. (Photos courtesy of Dave Waller) Life for the keepers of Minots Ledge Lighthouse remained difficult, though not fatal. Phone Number: (661) 296-MJKV. She started in Hatteras, North Carolina, near where she grew up and moved north, toward Hull, Mass., toward my dad. She is shaking a good three feet each way as I write. Bobby Sager - Chairman - Sager Family Foundation | LinkedIn The keepers quarters, fog bell, and a replica of the lantern room Vessels mostly use satellite, GPS, and radar to dodge rocks, avoid the bottom of the ocean or bay, and dock safely in a harbor, even if someespecially small boatsstill rely on lighthouses as visual aids, like buoys. Grounds/tower closed. Lets talk about something more serious, more substantial, suggested Sager, 62, sporting a gray T-shirt, dark slacks, and stocking feet. It is 25 feet in diameter at its base and 12 feet in diameter at the top. At the mooring a few hundred feet out from the station, we hop into the dinghy, his sixththe sea took all the othersand from the stern I look at Waller, 59, in his thick-rimmed black and gray specs under a matching beanie rolled above his ears, rowing in galoshes and yellow waterproof fishing suspenders. When youre out here, the whole world stops, as far as youre concerned, says Waller. }Customer Service. Yuck! We walk the fresh pale planks, turn around, and I see it why Waller would throw down the most moneyjust shy of a million dollarsever spent privately on a lighthouse. The illuminating apparatus was changed in 1885 to burn mineral oil instead of lard oil, and then in 1894, a new second-order Fresnel lens was installed atop the lighthouse. display: none; On December 21, 1917, Head Keeper Octavius Reamy was approaching the lighthouse in a motorboat loaded with provisions and fuel obtained on the mainland, when a large wave overturned his vessel. Big Bay Point Lighthouse, a B and B looking out from the cliffs of Lake Superior, Michigan. Following two shipwrecks in 1810, a twenty-five-foot tall tower topped by an octagonal lantern was constructed at a cost of $2,377 along with a stone keepers house for $150. 1 . The act sets a high bar for ongoing and pricey preservation and education. But for an increasing number of individuals, nonprofits, and municipalities, the upkeep of the aging and often remote towers seems practically impossible against rising seas and ruthless corrosion. The fires inside the dwelling went out after the chimneys became capped with ice. The need for a beacon at the ledge was not lost on lighthouse inspector I.W.P. Sign up today. Turn north on 228, and follow East Street, Bobby Sager Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images He imagines his family gathering there on sultry summer nights, the reflection of a full moon dazzling like diamonds on the Atlantic. When the Coast Guard, which now owns only a small percentage of lighthouses, no longer needs a lighthouse, the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act facilitates a transfer with right of first refusal, at no cost, to a public or nonprofit organization. On the evening before Thanksgiving Day 1890, few provisions remained at the station. Donovan (1895), Charles G. Everett (1895 1905), Ernest H. Small (1905 1909), Vivian A. Currier (1909 1910), Eugene N. Larsen (1910 1911), Fred M. Pease (1911 at least 1912), Percy A. Evans (at least 1939 1940). But the Boston philanthropist was disappointed to learn. The Dalai Lama, Sting, and Bobby Sager at Sager's home in Boston in 2012. First Assistant: Christopher C. Littlefield (1854), George G. Bowden (1854 1855), Charles H. Tobey (1855 1859), William Baker (1859), Josiah Tobey, Jr. (1859 1861), Calvin Gray (1861 1866), George H. Yeaton (1866 1867), John W. Card (1867 1873), Leander White (1874 1878), David R. Grogan (1878 1880), George O. Leavitt (1880 1881), Paschal Fernald (1881 1885), Orrin M. Lamprey (1885 1886), William C. Williams (1886 1888), James Burke (1888 1890), Charles W. Torry (1890 1893), William M. Brooks (1893 1897), Charles S. Williams (1897 1905), William T. Stevens (1905), Mitchell Blackwood (1905 1911), Charles W. Allen (1911 1913), Fuller E. Larrabee (1913), Roger P. Philbrick (1913 1917), Roscoe M. Chandler (1917 1919), Harry M. Kelley (1919 at least 1921), Eugene L. Coleman (1924 1930), Fred C. Batty (1930 1932), Benjamin Stockbridge (at least 1935), Hoyt P. Smith (1936 1937), Harry H. McClure (1937 1940), George A. McKenney (1940 1942), Jack McCoe (1944 1945), Thomas J. Guice (at least 1945), Robert Adams (at least 1947), Gordon B. Kenny (1951 1952), Charles Eaton (1962 1965), August Pfister (1967 1968). One of the first lighthouses that he built of granite was the Saddleback Ledge Lighthouse, in 1837. He and his wife pulled their two children out of school and traveled the world. Bobby Sager - Wikipedia 10 Lighthouses Built In Perfect Isolation - Listverse Go help someone.. On a windy January afternoon, our boat covers the nine miles from Boston Harbor Shipyard & Marina to its offshore mooring in a swift 35 minutes, plunging five feet down and back up over waves that look like rolling hills in Vermont. If you apply too much logic to itlook at the cost, the resale, and the amount of workit doesnt make sense, says Waller. A bell-buoy was placed on Boon Island Ledge, about three miles east of Boon Island, starting in 1858 to mark this navigational hazard. Every year storms seem to do more damage. The glacier land (called drumlins) under both the tower and the keepers house, where Snowman, 71, lived half the year for almost 20 years maintaining the place and giving tours, is shrinking. They try to put them in the hands of groups that will keep them open to the public, but sometimes, like in Minots case, no public entity wants the responsibility. In my winter gloves, treadless rubber boots, ski pants, and a life jacket, I climb, pausing on each step to prevent my forearms from seizing up in the cold. Although the area is no longer populated by Indians who believe in the evil spirit of Hobomock, for years tales have abounded of strange moaning, tapping, and even mysterious polishing of the lens by ghostly hands. Minot's Ledge Lighthouse, Massachusetts at Lighthousefriends.com In this design, interlocking granite blocks were placed on foundation stones weighing two tons each. The Blizzard of 1978 helped write the last chapter in Boon Islands history as a manned light. At the cost of your own life, you would keep that light lit, says Waller. The keepers pet cat was the first casualty of the tower, which swayed so dramatically during a storm that the panicked animal jumped to its death. Site open; tower closed, except for those with dinner reservations. Part way to the tower, the dory sprang a leak. In the near distance, like a stony sentinel a mile off Cohasset, Minots Ledge Light rises out of the Atlantic, beaming its famous sequence one flash (pause), four flashes (pause), three flashes (pause) charmingly decoded as I love you.. Local nonprofits and people in the public sector have begun exploring an ownership transfer of the historic landmark through the 2000 act. Perhaps its best that the lighthouse has been left for the ghosts to inhabit in solitude. He was promoted to first assistant with a $20 increase in salary in 1886, and received another $10 in 1888, before being promoted that year to head keeper at $760 per annum. Lives in Kenbridge, Virginia. But when you own a lighthouse, the repairs are never really done. People name churches and rehab centers after them. Vandals subsequently entered the lighthouse and smashed sections of the second-order lens. But who owns the thing? The other occupants of the island at the time were Head Keeper Williams and his wife, and S. H. Sawyer, who was filling in for Assistant Keeper Seaward, who was ashore taking care of his wife. In addition to the two dwellings, one of which was fashioned out of an old barn, the inshore station also featured a storehouse, boathouse, and a blacksmiths shop. In 1910, a keeper named Elliot Hadley described the conditions he saw during a storm: Ive looked up at solid water rushing in toward the ledges. The dory was leaking so badly, that one man had to bale while the other manned the oars. Sylvester (1861 1863), James D. Baxter (1863 1873), Wallace Willcutt (1873 1874), John G. Hayden (1874 1877), Amiel Studley (1877), Joseph B. Vinal (1877 1879), Charles S. Davis (1879 1880), Alonzo Smith (1880), Joseph A. Noble (1880 1881), Frank F. Martin (1881), Frank W. Thomas (1881), Lester G. Willett (1881), Albert H. Burdick (1881 1882), Joseph E. Frates (1882), George L. Lyon (1887 1889), Winfield L. Creed (1889 1892), George F. Holmes (1892 1893), James Kingsley (1893 1894), John E. Morrill (1894), Charles Grey Everett (1894 1895), Daniel D.L. Shad Sager Overview Shad Gary Sager has been associated with one company, according to public records. Boon Island Lighthouse, Maine at Lighthousefriends.com The underside for the placement of the fresnel lens, Graves Light. Light Hearted ep 61 - U.S. Lighthouse Society News The lighthouse was twenty-five feet in diameter at its base, twelve feet in diameter at the top, and 118 feet high to the base of its lantern. On October 13th, Bobby Sager, Polaroids chairman, won the auction and bought the lighthouse for $222,000. It lets the federal government give away lighthouses to qualifying local governments, non-profits, or community development organizations. Great Lakes Lighthouses, Seacoasts, Islands, Sounds. Keeper Williams account of the storm included the following: It was the hardest night we ever passed, and no one slept on the island during the entire night. Tower closed. On May 16, 2012, Boon Island Lighthouse was made available under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000 to eligible federal, state, and local agencies, non-profit corporations, educational agencies, and community development organizations to be used for educational, recreational, cultural, or historic preservation purposes. As a kid, he sailed by it in his dads boat. In 1901, the Lighthouse Board requested $10,000 for a powerful fog signal to replace the bell used on Boon Island. I barely know how to read a nautical chart (although there is an app for that), and sometimes, even though its irrational, that feels like a loss. He is the president and historian for the American Lighthouse Foundation and founder of Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouses, and he has lectured and narrated cruises throughout the Northeast and in other regions. Its Graves third bridgethe first one washed away in the Blizzard of 1978; the second was destroyed in the Perfect Storm (as titled in the book and movie) of 1991. A few years ago, the mooring was ripped out of the ocean floor by a gale, and a breaker dragged Dave Wallers boat, a U.S. Coast Guard cutter he bought used, into the shoal below the lighthouse. Philanthropist and photographer Bobby Sager, founder of the Sager Family Traveling Foundation and Roadshow, met Moise in 2005. You realize they had it all figured out long ago, says Waller, now a pro at finding the right tools and the right people. Even before the White Man saw his ships wrecked in those waters, Indians had lived in awe of the evil spirit Hobomock, who dwelt beneath the rocks and unleashed violent storms. Im not nearly so optimistic about the ones that are remote and inaccessible to the public, many of which will eventually face demolition by neglect., Many land-based lighthouses and the soil around them are contaminated with lead paint that must be remediated before someone saves them. At this time, the second-order lens was dismantled and placed in storage in the tower, and a third-order Fresnel lens was installed. Beacon in a storm might be one of the most overplayed metaphors of all time. Graves Light, a historic lighthouse in Boston Harbor, is privately owned by David Waller and a partner, Bobby Sager, and under renovation to preserve it. Florence Idella Batty: Memories of Maines Boon Island,, Keeper of the Light Was Painter of the Light,. Indeed life inside the lighthouse did prove precarious. Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, North Carolina, is traditionally open for climbing the stairs, though closed periodically in recent years for restoration. When he ran out of money a year into the renovation, he teamed up with another original bidder who matched his million, a local businessman named Bobby Sager, who has hosted celebrities like Sting and Tom Hanks at Graves. The sea washd the small rocks from under the Lighthouse and Dwelling house; the island was all under water for 4 hours., On May 10, 1839, the complaints about Keeper Grover must have finally hit their mark, as the keeper wrote in his log: Turnd of[f] of Boon Island after Serving as Lighthouse Keeper 22 years and 10 months and 20 Day Without Cause.. For the Graves lighthouse, Waller dove in again, pinching pennies. 1 Think of making your bed thus in the crest of a breaker! 2 It was kind of redundant.. Sometime after this, the light was dubbed the I-LOVE-YOU light do to its unique 1-4-3 flash pattern. Rather than let the situation. Tower (1861 1874), Levi L. Creed (1874 1881), Frank F. Martin (1881 1887), Milton Reamy (1887 1915), Octavius H. Reamy (1915 1924), Per F. Tornberg (1924 1936), George H. Fitzpatrick (1936 at least 1941). Since purchasing the lighthouse at a government auction seven years ago, Dave. Captain Sumner H. Cobbett and some of his crew from the North Scituate Coast Guard Station set off in a rowboat in pursuit of the leaky dory and were finally able to rescue the men, who were exhausted and suffering badly from exposure. After explaining exactly how the lighthouse was constructed, Swift concluded by justifying the choice of a pile lighthouse instead of a stone lighthouse: Time didnt wait long to rule on the matter. 175 steps were required to climb the tower, a task the keepers had to perform several times each night to trim and fill the lamps, often toting heavy containers of lamp oil. Rocks weighing fifteen tons or more were moved twenty feet, and two outbuildings were swept away. Naval Museum in Kittery, Maine where it may be viewed by the public. Pakistan. But almost no one navigates just by visual markers these days, which is why in 2009, the Coast Guard decided that they didnt need to hold on to Minots Ledge Light anymore. No. Crossing back over the bridge, we make our way up: five spiral clangy metal flights; past a bunk room, the keepers quarters, and a third-floor kitchen; and to the lantern room. Lighthouse fanatics have reached out to tell him theyre glad hes renovating it, and that they can see the good parts of private ownership. Thirteen bidders participated in the auction, which closed on August 17 with a high bid of $78,000. On November 11, 1818, Keeper Grover sent a letter to Collector Dearborn that included the following: I have just been informed that I am dead, but I am yet alive and hope to live to see those people brought to justice for making the report; one of the three is the man that has sent you his recommendation. Property tax battle looms over Graves Light in Boston Harbor He can be reached at, the government had auctioned it off in 2014. Head: Isaac Dunham (1849 1850), John W. Bennett (1850 1851), Joshua Wilder, Jr. (1860 1861), James J. Lewis, nephew of Winslow Lewis was asked to report on the conditions of the many of the lighthouses along the coasts of Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. Henry David Thoreau described passing Minots Ledge Lighthouse in 1849: