The Toledo Harbor Lighthouse is in Lake Erie, about a
few miles northeast of Toledo Harbor, so it’s difficult to get close enough to
take a good photo of the building.
Getting a close-up photo of the lighthouse’s
original Fresnel lens is a much easier task, as I discovered during my recent
visit to Maumee Bay State Park Resort.
“Are you getting any good photos like that?”
A member of the lodge’s cleaning crew curiously
asked me that question when she spotted me with my camera lens poised mere
millimeters from the glass case protecting the large lens.
My new best friend, Ruth peered at the images I
showed her in my camera’s tiny preview window as I explained liking the
abstract view I got by moving in close to a subject and taking a photo of only
part of it.
Ruth turned out to be a bit of a lighthouse fan
herself, and we traded stories about our lighthouse travels.
I’d spotted the Toledo Harbor Lighthouse in the far
distance as I took a walk earlier that day at the Maumee Bay State Park Nature
Center.
Construction on the Toledo Harbor Lighthouse started
in 1901, with the complex project completed in 1904.
The Army Corps of Engineers originally dredged the
shipping channel at the harbor to accommodate large freighters traveling to
Toledo at the dawn of the 20th century.
The Corps then created a foundation for the
lighthouse by crafting an artificial island large enough for a brick lighthouse
with enough room to house one keeper and two assistants, as well as a small fog
signal building attached to the main building.
The lighthouse’s original 3-½ order Fresnel lens
provided a beacon for Lake Erie travelers, even after becoming automated with
an electric motor in 1966 and seeing the full-time Coast Guard crew leaving the
lighthouse.
That departing crew left at least one costumed mannequin
behind to make the lighthouse appear occupied. “Sarah” still stands guard in a second story
window in the three-story lighthouse, and her presence may account for tales of
ghost sightings over the years.
A more modern lens powered by solar cells and backup
batteries replaced the original lens in the late 1990s, and the original went
on display at the COSI Museum in Toledo.
By late 2007, the Toledo COSI closed due to lack of
funding, leaving the lens seeking a new home (although Lucas County voters recently
approved funding for the late 2009 opening of a new science center).
Also in 2007, the Toledo Harbor Lighthouse
Preservation Society officially gained the deed to the lighthouse. The Society
moved the Fresnel lens to the lobby of Maumee Bay State Park Resort in 2008,
where I found it enclosed in a large glass case earlier this year.
Ruth told me the lens will stay in the lobby for
five years before going back to the lighthouse, although I couldn’t find confirmation
of that elsewhere.
The Society stages an annual Toledo Lighthouse
Festival during the weekend after the Fourth of July at Maumee Bay State Park to
raise money to preserve, restore and eventually make the lighthouse publically accessible.
A U.S. Department of Energy grant for $500,000 helps
implement the Society’s plan to supplement the solar cells at the lighthouse
with wind-generated energy and a geothermal heating and cooling system.
The Society raised another $40,000 to install an
aluminum dock and ramp in late 2008 to facilitate public access, but the
dock and ramp disappeared in April 2009.
The Society offered a reward seeking return of the
dock and ramp to prevent delaying planned public visits and restoration of the
lighthouse’s interior.
Sue at Lighthouse News speculated that the price of
aluminum wasn’t enough to spur thieves to make the herculean effort to haul
away the ramp and sell it for scrap, suggesting instead that the water
surrounding the lighthouse might be deep enough to hide the dock and ramp from
view if vandals simply cut the bolts attaching them to the lighthouse.
Sue’s speculation turned out to be spot on as she reported
the ramp’s recovery in a July 2 blog post. Toledo Fire and Rescue and Jerusalem
Township divers found the 40-foot, 1,200-pound ramp in slightly damaged, but still serviceable,
condition. The 8-foot by 28-foot dock is still missing.
Meanwhile, the Society plans to enhance security
measures at the lighthouse this year.
© Dominique King 2009 All rights reserved
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