The United States Lighthouse Society is a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

organization dedicated to aiding in the restoration of American

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses m ...

s and educating the public about their history. With four chapters, and more than a dozen affiliates, it is one of the largest and oldest lighthouse organizations in the world.

History

Founded in 1984 by

Wayne Wheeler Wayne Bidwell Wheeler (November 10, 1869 – September 5, 1927) was an American attorney and longtime leader of the Anti-Saloon League. The leading advocate of the prohibitionist movement in the late 1800s and early 1900s, he played a majo ...

and initially headquartered in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

, California, one of the United States Lighthouse Society's first major projects was the purchase of the lightship LV605 in 1986 from a private individual. The organization subsequently invested $400,000 and more than 40,000 volunteer hours in the preservation and restoration of the vessel. In 2003 the society received the

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

Governor's Historic Preservation Award for its work on the ship. The society relocated from California to Hansville, Washington in 2008, siting its headquarters at the historic Point No Point Lighthouse, which it rented from Kitsap County (the county, in turn, leased the lighthouse from the U.S. Coast Guard, before ultimately purchasing it in 2012). Point_no_Point_Light_WA

In 2009 the U.S. Lighthouse Society was recognized as a "Preserve America Steward," one of the first 11 cultural and historic organizations designated to receive the

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's ...

-sponsored award in recognition of "a successful use of volunteer time and commitment." The society launched a partnership with clothing brand Lands' End in 2014. Under the terms of the deal, Lands' End made a donation of $30,000 to support restoration of the Block Island Southeast Lighthouse in

Block Island Block Island is an island in the U.S. state of Rhode Island located in Block Island Sound approximately south of the mainland and east of Montauk Point, Long Island, New York, named after Dutch explorer Adriaen Block. It is part of Washingto ...

, Rhode Island.

Activities

Preservation

The society actively raises money and organizes volunteers to preserve and restore four historic lighthouses: the Point No Point Lighthouse in

Washington state Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a U.S. state, state in the Northwestern United States, Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first President of the United States, U.S. p ...

, Hooper Island Lighthouse in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean t ...

, Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse in Maryland, and Lightship LV605, currently moored in

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay ...

, California.

Publications

The society publishes a quarterly print magazine, ''The Keepers' Log'', about the history of lighthouses in the United States. A second quarterly publication, ''Lighthouse Bulletin'', chronicles society activities and is distributed in

PDF Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...

format via email.

Travel

The United States Lighthouse Society organizes several one-to-two-week tours of historic lighthouses during the spring and early autumn for members and non-members. In 2014 tours were scheduled in eastern Michigan,

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Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and nor ...

the Outer Banks The Outer Banks (frequently abbreviated OBX) are a string of barrier islands and spits off the coast of North Carolina and southeastern Virginia, on the east coast of the United States. They line most of the North Carolina coastline, separating ...

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18 ...

, and along the St. Lawrence River.

References

{{Authority control Historic preservation organizations in the United States Lighthouses in the United States 1984 establishments in California Organizations established in 1984 Lighthouse organizations