Two Great Pieces of News For Florida

The first bricks of the rebuilding of Cape St. George lighthouse were laid today.

On Saturday Dec 8th the Crooked River lighthouse was re-lit.

Both items are on the Cape St. George lighthouse website.

http://www.stgeorgelight.org/newsletter.asp

Eric, that is terrific news! I had hoped to get there to help, but, so far, it just doesn't seem in the cards. Maybe later on. Please keep us updated.

Great news!! We're proud of all the volunteers down there who continue to work so dillegently for both of those events to come to fruition! Thanks from everyone here up on the Cape!

This is great news !!!

Wonderful news!

Susan and I planned to go to the re-lighting and even though I work PM shift Monday to Friday, we figured no problem as the lighting was Saturday about 5:00 for the speeches and 5:30 to turn on the light. We thought we would come up early and check the progress on Cape St. George Lighthouse and take pictures. But then I got an email that now it was cooler we would chip bricks again, so of course I wanted to do that....so we planed to leave much earlier (about one hour after I got home). I took a nap but was still very tired, so Susan drove the whole way (5 and one half hours).

We arrived at Eastpointe about 10:30 and chipped bricks till 2:00 with a lunch break inbetween. We then got a room and decide to take a nap. We set the cell phone alarm but either one of us turned it off or it did not go off....so we awoke 5:00...Crooked River is about 20 or so minutes away. We dashed to the car and make it 5 minutes before the lighting.

We took pictures and a short film (which I plan to get on YouTube soon).

Went to dinner with Susan, but she decided to skip lighthouse talk that Dennis and I planned after dinner.

The next morning I saw the sunrise and we got a tour of the construction grounds and the new visitor center.

Pictures below:



Crooked River from the drive way.




Closer view (see the replica Bi-Value Lens)




If you been here before you will see the underbrush has been removed.




An additional drive way leads to a side road for better traffic flow (which helped Saturday as more than 200 people showed up).



Night shot.




The next day on the way home got a shot of the new playground behind the lighthouse (a pirate ship).
Very cool.


EARLIER THAT DAY.


The pile is almost gone.




Some of the volunteers taking a break.

NEXT DAY at the re-construction site.



The almost finished Visitor's Center for St. George Island (which will be run by St. George Lighthouse Association).





The construction of the visitor center was done by local prisoner's. Dennis discovered one had a talent for art and had a few designs like this one added. Dennis also noted the bare bones lunch provided by the county and added fruit and Pepsi to the prisoner's lunch. They liked that and I think it shows on the workmanship.




The inside.




A model of Cape St. George Lighthouse (about 3 foot tall).




Notice the flag pole at the top. It was on the original lighthouse and will be on the re-constructed one too.




Sign of the times.




The wood structure is for plumblines for the brick
masons.

A George Washington Dollar has been place on the foundation. (This part will be covered).




Paw prints from Razz (Dennis's dog). This too will be covered.


BEFORE THE CONSTRUCTION SITE VISIT.



Sunrise at St. George Island (Gulf of Mexico).


Years of work start to show in FLORIDA.

Eric, thank you so much for sharing these fabulous shots and, thereby, taking us with you. We owe a big debt of gratitude to everybody working on these projects; it's because of people like you that many of our lighthouses continue to be saved. Thanks for all the work that you and Susan do!!

Wow! I didn't know about the Pirate Ship Playground at Crooked River, That is very cool! And just clearing out the underbrush is a great improvment all by itself. But I love the new lens and paint job!!!

I wanted to be there last weekend myself, but had other obligations that I couldn't change.

Thanks for posting!

But you've got to answer one question for me. What's the George Washington Dollar in the foundation for???

I just wish I had known about the relighting. I knew CR was getting a face lift, but didn't know about the lens. Thanks for the photos Eric. Now I gotta run up there to see the new paint, lookes a whole lot better than the last time I was there as all the white paint was about washed off. Looks great, glad to see the lights of the forgotten coast getting some much needed TLC.

Great pics and narrative, Eric !!!

For those of us not in the Florida area, your photos and narrative really helped give a great perspective on the work being done there. Thank you for sharing, and thanks, as well, to all of the hard working volunteers who are bringing both projects to fruition!

Grace, my face is red.

Short Cake, the ship was finished the day of the lighting.

The dollar is an old tradition that many people used to do when they built a house. It was usually in the chimmney area if the house had one. (A house that was recently moved, the relatives looked for the dollar but it was not there, it seems like an emergency must have ocme up over the years their parents lived there.)

And yes Susan is a big help. She does not always go with me, but helps me make it there, many times taking care of stuff at the house.

Great job both on the efforts and the report, thanks for sharing..

Thanks for the update. I am hoping to make it to both of these lights in January when I am in Florida. Would love to go up as far as Pensacola and work my way down the Gulf coast to Sanibel Island. Any info anyone has would be great. Darlene

First of all CONGRATS to Cape St. George lighthouse and the Crooked River lighthouse family and friends. Both sites are really coming along.
Thanks Eric for the update, photos, and story (as well as your work). And thanks to Susan for for getting you there!
Keep the good work going, I can't wait to visit!
Bob

Eric,
Thanks for the post and pictures. Looks like some wonderful work is going on in Florida getting these two lighthouses restored to their glory.

What a delightful surprise to log on and find this!! I've been working on plugging in coordinates and compiling data for the past few days on Florida's Gulf coast lighthouses for a trip we hope to take in February. Imagine my surprise to open this thread and see in advance two of the lights we plan to travel to--THANK YOU, ERIC!!

Sandy