Posted on 02/23/2003 12:09:20 PM PST by Between the Lines
NORFOLK, Va. - Check this out: Three-story living space in a 19th-century beauty, privacy assured, water view on all sides. Cast-iron construction. They don't build 'em like that anymore.
Nor do they want to.
The Newport News Middleground Lighthouse is up for adoption, because its owner -- the Coast Guard -- can't afford the upkeep on the Victorian-era structure. It's the only lighthouse in Virginia on the adoption list, and it has some great selling points.
It's free to a good home. It's lovely. It's round. Its inside is wood- framed and its outside is deep primer red, tip to toe. It also has a down side with a weirdly negative cast on that old real estate adage: Location, location, location.
The Middleground Lighthouse is in the center of Hampton Roads harbor, warning ships away from the shallow water of the Middleground Shoal. It has stood there since 1891, cautioning merchant ships traveling the James River or anchoring just offshore, guiding the Navy in and out of port.
The National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000 authorizes the disposal of historic lighthouses and stations to government agencies and nonprofits. It calls for adopted lighthouses to be used as public parks or for educational, recreational, cultural or historic preservation purposes -- but no commercial uses.
That's OK if the public can reach them. But it presents a problem for the Middleground light.
"It's in the middle of an active shipping channel," said Anne Puppa, president of the U.S. Lighthouse Society's Chesapeake Bay chapter. "Getting people out to visit it would be a challenge."
Puppa said the local chapter, a nonprofit group of lighthouse enthusiasts, might try to adopt the Thomas Point lighthouse near Annapolis, Md.
The members would like to see the Middleground light preserved, she said, but it is probably out of their reach, financially as well as physically.
There is no dock, no island, no landing platform out in the channel. Maintenance crews enter by boating out to a dangling metal ladder and swarming up the rungs. Rough water means waiting for the boat to rise on a swell before making a well-timed grab.
"Ease of access has not been our main concern," said John Walters, chief of the local Coast Guard's waterways management section. "We have reasonably fit, athletic fellows, and they can access the light."
The Middleground light is built on a caisson, a circular tube of cast iron sunk deep into the sands of the shoal. Water was pumped out of the tube, then sand was dug out and replaced with concrete and stones.
"Caissons are somewhat unique to the bay," Puppa said. "Given where they are, and how old they are, they tend to be pretty sound. They knew what they were doing when they built these things."
The Middleground lighthouse has withstood hurricanes, nor'easters, ice storms and the advent of GPS. In 1979 it sprang a leak in the foundation when banged by the tugboat Capt. Jim, which had lost power. Repairs were made in 1980.
Standing about five stories out of the water, the Middleground light has three floors where the keeper and assistant lived. A basement held cisterns to catch rain water, and a coal bin held fuel. No one has lived there since the light was automated in 1954.
"The thing about a lot of the lights in the bay is, there's absolutely nothing inside," Puppa said. "To take over the property, you'd have to consider that there are no utilities. No water, no electricity. There's nothing."
Well, not exactly. Asbestos and lead paint might be in the Middleground lighthouse, which the government is advertising "as is" and "where is," without any guarantee or warranty.
When the keepers went to town, they landed their boat on my grandfather's beach.
My grandfather met their daughter on that beach in 1898 and married her in 1900.
My father met his wife(my mother) on that same beach in 1936 and I met my wife on that beach in 1982.
Life is a beach! :>)
So9
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