Capital Lights of Texas , a Harbour Lights Society Club, is conducting a raffle for the Harbour Lights Florida's Mayport Lighthouse(#9 of 5500).




Proceeds from the raffle will be used for the preservation and restoration of Sabine Pass Lighthouse on the Sabine River separating Texas and Louisiana. Fortunately, It did survive Hurricane Rita. Each raffle ticket is a donation of $3.00 or four (4) for $10.00.

To purchase tickets, please mail your check by March 17, 2006 to the address below. Make checks payable to CAPITAL LIGHTS OF TEXAS . Please include your e-mail address with your check so we can e-mail your ticket number(s). Also include you phone number and address. The winning ticket will be drawn March 19 at the next general meeting of the club. The winner will be notified March 20.

Thank you for your support of the lighthouse preservation and restoration efforts of the Sabine Pass Lighthouse.


Don McEwen, President
Capital Lights of Texas
153 Doris Drive
Universal City, Texas 78148-3404
clthl@att.net

Don, I hope you get a great response to the fundraiser. My check is going out tomorrow.

My check too will be in the mail tomarrow Don.

By the way, we will be heading to Houston sometime in the near future. Can you give me directions to see the Sabine Pass Light when we drive by that way?

I would love to have a single digit and I like to help restore lighthouses. Will send check in a week or so.

Don, if you have them, it would be nice to see photos of Sabine Pass in this thread. Maybe it will also encourage more people to participate in this fundraiser.

Grace,

Here are pictures of Sabine Pass Lighthouse.


Picture taken on the Texas side of Sabine River.


Picture taken on the Louisiana side of Sabine River.

You know, Harbour Lights should make an LE of this lighthouse.

Nice shots, Don! I agree with Eric - not only should it be made into an LE but done ala Waugoshance mini with the open lantern room. There is something very appealing about the lights as they look now - in a model, that is. Certainly we want them restored to their old glory.

This is a light which is sorely in need of help; I hope many of the CF members are contributing but just haven't posted it here. You have the opportunity to get an LE with a low number! Good luck, Don and the Capital Lights of Texas bunch!

Our Check is in the mail for 8 tickets.

Randall, I will match your 8 tickets. This is such a cool light!

I've got my eight numbers. Maybe a member of the forums will win this great lighthouse!

Bringing this back up. Don't forget to get your chances in this drawing. Remember that it's for a lighthouse that is in great need and that the prize is a great one with a very low number.

Grace, I hope you are right that someone from the forum wins it. And truthfully I hope it is me.

Don,
It looks like interest has been generated. I will get a check out to you. I won't wait until the meeting.

Ticket sales seem a little slow; how about it, CF members? Everyone here is asked to donate so much, but let's support the Capital Lights of Texas Club in this worthy preservation fundraiser. You could be the big winner!

Back to the top.

You and I had the same thought, Eric. Only I couldn't get on the forums until now.

Don,

Are you or the Club set up to accept PayPal payments?

Gary

Don -- my check for 8 tickets will be in the mail tomorrow.

Way to go, guys. We don't have many lights down here, so we need to preserve those like Sabine Pass. Everything else is in private hands, except for Port Isabel which is in the smallest park in Texas and is well maintained. Then, there is Matagorda. After hundreds of thousands of dollars were invested in restoring it, the state, in it's almighty wisdom, made it inaccessible to the general public.

Hey Grace, I read that park was closed (Matagorda). What is the reasoning behind that?

My understanding from the Wildlife Management people is that, after the only ferry to the island burned up, they chose not to replace it. They, then, took away the place's designation as a state park and it is now under the auspices of the Wildlife Management people. The only way to get to the island is by charter boat. The park staff on the island used to drive people out to the lighthouse, so that is gone, too. I am putting together a trip to go there sometime in April. Just happens that the charter boat guy with whom I have been dealing was very involved in helping with the preservation of the lighthouse, so he is pretty hot under the collar about the situation - to say the least. He knows the few state employees who still do work on the island, so he is going to try to get them to drive us out to the light.

Thanks to all of you that have purchased donation tickets. It is wonderful to have such interest in our club’s lighthouse preservation efforts. Because of the national spotlight on New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina, you don't hear nationally about the damage Rita had on Western Louisiana and Eastern Texas. The towns surrounding the Sabine Pass Lighthouse were severely damaged by Hurricane Rita and preservation donations for the lighthouse understandably have declined. This is one reason our club has asked lighthouse lovers across the country for help with this project.
I regret that we will not be able to offer the Paypal option. The type you can collect funds through Paypal has a fee charged to it.
Thanks again and remember March 17, 2006 is the deadline to purchase tickets.

All the welcome msgs. have pushed this thread almost to page three so I am bringing it back up.
You think Tom and Fran are running a race to get to Super Wacko?!

Bringing this back up in case someone hasn't heard about the drawing for this terrific lighthouse with a very low number. You still have time to purchase your tickets to help save Sabine Pass!

Still time to buy that winning ticket.

Thanks to all of you that have donated to our fundraiser. Today, I received a letter from the Treasurer of the Cameron Preservation Alliance-Sabine Pass Lighthouse. She was writing to thank our club for our efforts in raising funds for the preservation of Sabine Pass.

A portion of her letter follows: The Sabine Pass Lighthouse, which is located only a few miles from the Gulf of Mexico withstood another hurricane. Hurricane Rita pounded our coast September 2005. Very few homes withstood the vicious category three storm with surges of 18' to 20' high. The storm came into Johnson Bayou, Louisiana that is the town where the lighthouse is located. Looks like the majority of people will be rebuilding or relocating 30 to 50 miles north of the coast.

Again, Thanks for your participation. Remember the last day for donations is March 17, 2006. We will be drawing for the winner of #9 Mayport Lighthouse March 19.

Guys, sales are a little slow. If you are able to dig into your pockets a littler deeper, yet another time, please help this worthy cause. Although the lighthouse did not sustain substantial damage as a result of the hurricane, it has been in pretty sad shape for some time.

March is almost here, so I thought I'd bring this back up.

Sending my check for 8 tickets today. Hope you continue to get a good response.

This drawing takes place a week from today. Thought I'd bring it up again, in case some of you have missed this. It's a great light to own!

Just wrote my cheque for 8 tickets, will be in the mail first thing tomorrow.
HCS

If anybody else wants to purchase chances, I understand that they are available through Friday, March 17 and the drawing will take place on Sunday, March 19.

Well, everybody who wanted chances on this drawing should have them by now. The Capital Lights Club will meet Sunday and will draw the lucky name. Let's keep our fingers crossed that it's one of us in the forums!

GOOD LUCK EVERYBODY. IF I DON'T WIN I HOPE ONE OF YOU DO.

Maybe Don will post the winner after their meeting tomorrow!

I will definitely post the winner after the drawing. I won’t be able to post until late tomorrow evening.

Thanks again for all of your support in our restoration efforts.

Good luck to all.
Hey even if I don't win it's good to know we helped towards preservation in some small way! HCS

Right on, Hilari! The Capital Lights of Texas Club has worked diligently to raise funds for Sabine Pass, so they deserve our support. It's too bad we couldn't do more to help, but there are soooooo many lights which need our funds and we have just so much money to give. However, all the little contributions do add up.

This is a picture of the lucky ticket for the Mayport Lighthouse #9 as our waiter at the Capital Lights of Texas Meeting was drawing it.

The winning ticket belonged to Melody Barnhart of the Colorado Lighthouse Collectors Society. When we called during the meeting to congratulate her, several members offered to delivery the lighthouse after Melody told us that it was snowing where she lived. With our upper 80's weather of late it would have been a pleasant change.

We would again like to thank all the wonderful people from so many states for their support in the preservation efforts of Sabine Pass Lighthouse.

Harbour Lights really needs to make a replica of this magnificent structure. If anyone on this forum can assist in this endeavor, we would be so thankful. We are rather biased, but we feel it would be one of their more popular pieces. If you have any insight as to how we could get this lighthouse replicated by Harbour Lights please email me at clthl@att.net

You need to flood Harbour Lights with requests. You should probably also stress some of the uniqueness of the light - the buttresses (their web site says this is 1 of 3 of similar design - what are the other 2?). No where that I find does it describe it as such, but I wonder if the lantern room is a modified bird cage type, which would make it even more unique. Hard to tell from the pictures, but it does remind you of some of the other bird cage designs and the time frame fits.

I downloaded a picture of the light so I could zoom in on the lantern room, and it is really quite unique appearing. It appears to have two sets of metal work - the lantern room frame and something that reminds me of a fence or cage around the lantern room.

By the way, congratulations Melody. And, thanks to those who bought tickets to help the Capital Lights in their preservation program.

Kept looking - Here is an article with a decent lantern room image.

What a surprise to receive a phone call from Don and the Capital Lights club during their meeting to let me know I had won! Hey where can I send that waiter a big tip!!!!!

Hope this was a very successful fund raiser for the club. I firmly believe in supporting other clubs when I can. In the past I have supported the groups in Long Island, NELL, New Dungeness, Chesapeake Chapter USLHS, OBLHS, Tampa Bay, the Hoosiers...it has always paid off...not necessarily for me personally of course, but the lights these groups support always win.

Many thanks to Bill Younger & Harbour Lights for donating the prize! I look forward to displaying this light in a place of honor.

Congrats Melody!

Congratulations, Mel! That is so terrific! Dave, thanks for looking up the info on the lantern room. That is one of the aspects of this light which I find so special - along with the buttresses. Would love to see it done like the Waugoshance mini.

Dave,

The information you have provided is really helpful. I will make sure each of our members receive it. We will begin our campaign of inundation immediately. Thank you for all that you do for all of us.

Sure looks like a birdcage lantern to me!

The Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal Lighthouse has butressing.

http://www.terrypepper.com/lights/michigan/sturgeoncanal/sturgeoncanal.htm

But the SB light is a skeletal light not a brick work tower. While it shares the general buttress concept I would not say it is a similar design. If it is included as one of the three it is a bit of a stretch IMO.

I believe the two in question with buttresses would be:

Eagle Harbor
http://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=224


White River
http://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=192

They don't stick out as far as Sabine.

Wow! White River - right under our noses. Who would have thought! The buttresses on these two just are not as prominent as the ones on Sabine Pass, however.

Eric, I would say those two are a real stretch. These two towers are short enough and well supported enough that they should not need a real buttess to help them stay vertical.

From the groups website:

To me, similar design implies there were two other rocket ship towers. The Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal Light is closer to this statement than Eagle Harbor and White River.

I have sent an email to the Sabine Pass folks asking what the other two lights were. I'll let you all know what I learn.

Rec'd Mayport in today's mail. Just beautiful! This single-digit has been given a place of honor in my cabinet of lights.

Thanks again Don and Capital Lights!

Melody,

I am glad it made it there safely. Enjoy the piece.

Thanks again for everyone's support of our efforts to save Sabine Pass Lighthouse.

I guessing if 2 other lighthouses had similar design (rocket ship look), they are lost lights.

Those are my thoughts, Eric. No response from the Sabine people yet on what the other two were.

Congratulations Melody.

Dave, you won't be hearing from the Sabine Pass people for a while. Most of them are having to move further inland to start all over. Although the light itself is okay, the surrounding communities are not. Apparently the group does not anticipate meeting again for a very long time.