It tore the shingles right off.”

Dick Richardson volunteer coordinator, United States Lighthouse Society

The restoration plan for Port Townsend’s historic beacon will take the spotlight next week at an open house for the Point Wilson Light.

The event will be hosted by the United States Lighthouse Society and is scheduled for 3 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 28 at the lighthouse in Fort Worden State Park.

Those attending the open house will include members of the Coast Guard, members of the Jamestown and Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribes, Port Townsend City Manager John Mauro, Northwest Maritime Center members, and many more. Those involved in the preservation project will give short speeches about restoration plans and fundraising for the lighthouse.

Visitors will be able to take a close look around the property, along with tours inside the lighthouse and other buildings. Dick Richardson, volunteer coordinator for the society, said he expects at least a couple hundred people to attend.

Richardson hopes the open house will “show them we’re here, and [the Lighthouse] is not abandoned.”

The open house will be outdoors, and the U.S. Lighthouse Society recommends visitors to follow local, state, and national guidelines for preventing the spread of coronavirus, and to wear a mask when necessary.

A PRESERVATION PLAN

Although the Point Wilson Lighthouse is a magnificent sight to behold from afar, any who have seen it up close will notice that the property is in need of repairs and restoration. The society has already repaired and renovated some aspects of the property, like the newly rehabilitated chief’s house, along with upgraded plumbing and septic systems.

The nonprofit has other plans to restore the property to its historical grandeur, including fixing the roofing on the nearby buildings, restoring the lighthouse’s exterior, and performing electrical upgrades.

With around 15 volunteers helping with the property, Richardson hopes more volunteers will join and help as restoration and repairs continue.

One of the primary objectives of the open house is to show visitors and local officials the current state of the property, and why the society needs donations, volunteers, and funding to continue restoring the lighthouse and surrounding buildings.

“We’re hoping businesses [and other organizations] in Port Townsend will participate in restoration, and to donate and volunteer,” Richardson said.

“It’s gonna take many years to restore it. We want to show it to the public, so they say, ‘Yes, this needs support.’”

Richardson, a Poulsbo resident, joined the U.S. Lighthouse Society in California around 30 years ago and found a new passion and appreciation for the unique structures. He’s been to several hundred lighthouses across all seven continents, including Antarctica. One of Richardson’s favorite lighthouses to visit was the Île Vierge in France, the world’s tallest lighthouse.

ASSESSING THE DAMAGE

Last Friday’s windstorm exposed the lighthouse’s great need for repairs, as part of the nearby keeper’s duplex lost a significant portion of its roof shingles from the heavy gusts of wind overnight.

“It tore the shingles right off,” Richardson said of the damage to the keeper’s duplex on the property.

The windstorm “took off maybe 10 to 15 percent of it,” he said.

The lighthouse society has a $1 million preservation project to bring the lighthouse back to its former glory, as well as weather-proofing many parts of the property to prevent any future damage, whether through windstorms or flooding from the sea.

Additionally, part of the preservation project includes restoring the chief’s house and keeper’s duplex buildings on the premises, and converting the buildings into vacation rental units that will add more funds to the lighthouse budget.

Rental revenues will help to maintain the property and to finance future projects for the Point Wilson Lighthouse. The chief’s house has already been converted to a rental property, and is available to be rented for around $300 per night, with a two-night minimum for visitors.

Currently, the society is looking at repairing the keeper’s duplex roof that was recently damaged by the storm, along with restoring the lighthouse’s roofing.

Local company Hope Roofing will lead the project to help restore the roofing on the keeper’s duplex and lighthouse.

The lighthouse society took over operations and upkeep of the property in 2019, after signing a lease with the Coast Guard, which still remotely operates the light beacon  along with the traffic control tower. The Coast Guard visits the property every half-year or so to check on the status of their tower and the beacon at the top of the lighthouse.

LIGHTHOUSE’S LONG HISTORY

With a deep history as one of the most famous landmarks on the Quimper Peninsula, the lighthouse was originally built as a wooden structure in 1879.

Situated at the northern-most point of the peninsula, the lighthouse is one of the first things sailors see on their way to Port Townsend and other ports further inland.

David M. Littlefield was the lighthouse’s first keeper, and operated the property from 1979 to 1883. In 1905, more than 1,500 tons of quarry rock were placed around the point, creating a 1,200-foot-long breakwater to protect the property from erosion. The same year, the lighthouse was connected to Port Townsend’s water supply.

In 1913 and 1914 the lighthouse was rebuilt with reinforced concrete, resembling the current look of the lighthouse. Electricity arrived in 1930.

In 1939, the Bureau of Lighthouses, which operated the facility, was dissolved and the Coast Guard took over operation. For defense purposes during World War II, the light at Point Wilson was extinguished from 1941 to 1945.

The lighthouse was listed on the Washington Heritage Register and the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. As technology evolved with the times, the Coast Guard automated the property’s light and fog signal in November 1976.

After 43 years under the Coast Guard’s supervision, the Point Wilson Lighthouse was leased to the lighthouse society in 2019, and the organization has been busy with repairs and renovations to the property.

For more information about the lighthouse and the U.S. Lighthouse Society, visit www.pointwilsonlighthouse.org/. To donate or rent out the chief’s house on the property, visit https://uslhs.org/.