......I.O.'s very own lighthousing trip!
Today was the 5th Annual Christmas at 30 Mile Point Lighthouse affair. As I had decided to postpone our fall trip to see the rest of the Seaway Trail lights west of Braddock Point I thought it would be a good chance to see the the next one out. This light is normally closed by now for the season. So we agreed to go, if it was a nice day, as the light is 120 miles from home.
When I woke up this morning I heard rain, so turned over and went back to sleep. When I did get up it was snowing! Then it turned to rain, then back to snow. The sky was black, blue and white and the temperature was 36! I had pretty much decided to stay home but could see that I.O. was looking glum. So rather than have to spend the whole day watching him mope we took a chance and went.
As we headed west the weather improved and when we arrived it was chilly and mostly cloudy but totally bearable. There was a nice crowd and I.O. rushed to the short line of folks waiting to enter and climb the tower. (He's got me totally befuddled by now!) There was a bit of a traffic jam getting up as the person down below who was supposed to keep track of how many were already up top lost count. But a little tummy sucking enabled us to get up and the multitude up top to get down.
You could go up and outside on the lower walkway where there was someone to answer your questions but not into the lantern room itself. The rail here is much more substantial than the one depicted on the HL! There had been an outdoor ladder up to the outside of the lantern room which is now covered with a steel plate. You could look up into the lantern room. This one does not have a floor across the whole thing, it being open in the center.
The skeletal tower which held the light when the lighthouse was taken out of service in 1958 is still there with no light as the light is now back in the lighthouse and it is a private aid since sometime in 1998. The lighthouse folk are trying to locate a lens. This light originally held a 3rd order and was the brightest on Lake Ontario until Braddock Point was completed in 1896. (Braddock had a 3 1/2, maybe the style of lens made it brighter?). This light was completed in 1875 and first lit in 1876 so there was apparently no prior means of illumination.
The downstairs rooms were open but were mostly used for selling baked goods and hot drinks. The museum part didn't appear that great, maybe as the rooms were disarranged? They did have a copy of a letter dated 1876 that included a receipt for the lens that someone had unearthed a few years ago. There were lots of wreaths and other floral Chrismasy stuff inside, including garland all the way up the tower handrail. There were also garland and bows around the outside of the lower tower rail.
When they say this light is in the middle of a park with camping all around, they aren't kidding. Some folks were actually camped right in front of the lighthouse! One family had an outdoor fire going to keep warm! Gives a new meaning to "staying at a lighthouse"!
Also on the grounds is a carriage house/barn, workshop/shed, privy, empty fog signal building and two of those pointy things. One was for water and the one featured on the HL was for fuel. Kerosene was used before electricity. It had been red but is now painted black. There is a short pier/dock which you can walk down to and on to. If you went in the early spring or later in the fall you could get a pretty good picture of the light from the water side but the incline is pretty steep and there was still too much growth, plus with the wind you'd have gotten your feet wet today!
There was a craft show consisting of two vendors and some miscellaneous lighthouse stuff for sale. There was live entertainment outdoors but for most of the time we were there I think they were inside somewhere staying warm! The Friends group also had a few things for sale. Memberships were for sale and you could buy a brick or a window or another piece of the building, whereby you wrote your name on the item you "bought" on a large drawing of the lighthouse. I was hoping they would have a book on the history of the light but there wasn't any, only the phamplet available in the entry.
A pleasant surprise was meeting a couple we had previously met at a BY signing earlier in the year!
We had apparently arrived at a good time as when we left the line to enter was very long. All in all it was a good time, a very pretty light and one more crossed off the list, thanks to I.O.! Plus having a day off from cooking is always good!
[This message has been edited by mombo (edited 10-08-2000).]
