Sager also was a partner and the president of Gordon Brothers Group from 1985 to 2000. David L. Ryan/Globe Staff/File/Globe Staff, What kind of a guy buys a lighthouse? He can be reached at, the government had auctioned it off in 2014. The interior was damp. . 3.15 Bobby Sager. Add climate change to the mix, and were going to lose a significant number of lighthouses in the coming decades. In winter, ice covered the stone buildings, even capping the chimney of the dwelling on one occasion. Im not doing this because I was touched by an angel, or because I feel guilty about making too much money, he said. Construction wasnt easy. Actress Neve Campbell and philanthropist and photographer Bobby Sager arrive for the 'Power Of The Invisible Sun' photocall at the Saatchi Gallery on. 3 south from Boston, to Route 228. The original 1905 iron ladder, corroded in aqua that matches the sea, runs from the granite under my feet from sea level up a tight parallel against the side of his 113-foot lighthouse. In 2014, Polaroid Chairman "Bobby" Sager won the bid for Minot's Ledge . 5.25 There were two Coast Guard keepers on the island when the storm hit, tossing boulders across the island. Waller has done a ton of work on the tower. Last year, in Boston Harbor, just north of Scituate, Dave Waller bought Graves Island Light, which is a direct design copy of Minots, for $933,888. Dave Waller sits in the lantern room during a NorEaster last winter. On the third day of the expedition, remnants of iron beams, believed to be support legs for the fallen lighthouse, were located with the assistance of a remote-operated vehicle. From there it would run into a cistern in the cellar. Eventually, they will probably divest of almost every lighthouse property, with a few exceptions., DEntremont predicts that in 50 years only a small number of lighthouses, if any, will still be used for any navigation. The living quarters were also damaged, and boulders were swept onto the island. Many link the name Boon Island to the wrecks of the trading vessel. Their mission was to explore the seabed for the remains of the first Minots Ledge Lighthouse that collapsed in 1851. lens, which had been removed from the tower in 1993, was given to the Kittery Historical and A little while after thatsame storm, Hutch put the teapot on the stove to get the tea hot, and he got up to go to the bathroom andthe sea took bathroom and all and took it all out back on the high rocksI was glad to get off that place. The 300-year-old Boston Light, the countrys first lighthouse, is located on Little Brewster Island in the Boston Harbor. At 133-feet-tall, the new Boon Island Lighthouse, built of granite quarried in Biddeford and lined with brick, was and is the tallest in New England. I think thats what attracted me to Graves and to other things in my life. Bobby Sager Profiles | Facebook He also envisions it as a place where representatives of societies that wage war against each other, that commit unspeakable atrocities, can sit across from each other and find common ground. The act sets a high bar for ongoing and pricey preservation and education. Unlike my grandmother, Im not pulling bass into a boat by hand. Gulls circle round in clear skies, and time slows. First, a little background: Sager grew up in Malden, where he met and married his high school sweetheart. That summer, they posted a notice of availability. Meanwhile the numbers of lighthouses are declining. He even salvaged a stanchion railing from a World War II minesweeper for the mahogany deck. In June 2007, Coast Guard Maritime Safety and Security Team divers were transported to the waters near Minots Ledge Lighthouse aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Abbie Burgess. Keepers at Boon Island occasionally assisted mariners who found themselves in dire circumstances near the station. The 59-foot Cape Blanco Lighthouse, built in 1870 and the oldest lighthouse still standing in Oregon, offers tours into the workroom only and allows visitors onto the grounds. Log In. Everything gets done according to what he wants. In 1890, the stations cracked 1,200-pound bell was recast and placed atop a newly completed stone and brick oil house that measured sixteen by fourteen feet. People named Bobby Sager. The underside for the placement of the fresnel lens, Graves Light. Among the federal detritus, lighthouses are a special case. Vandals subsequently entered the lighthouse and smashed sections of the second-order lens. Two water tanks, weighing about four tons each, were lifted off their granite foundations and carried a distance of seventy-five feet to the northeast end of the island and totally wrecked. When no qualified custodian was found, an online auction for the lighthouse was opened on May 14, 2014. The worst storm that struck the island during Keeper Williams lengthy tenure began on January 31, 1898 and was described by Williams in a letter to The Portsmouth Herald. All the fresh water, wood and necessaries for a family must be carried on to the Island. Gallatin answered with a $100 salary increase. (8 minutes) Bobby Sager thinks in bulk. The fact that it no longer belongs to the public that its owned by an individual who can turn it into a vacation house or tear it down feels like a transgression. It is two miles from Graves and allows tours. The stone tower, built of granite supplied by Joseph W. Coburn of Boston, is 133 feet high -- the tallest lighthouse in New England. About 100 years ago there were more than 1,000, according to the U.S. Lighthouse Society, and now 850 are still standing. Boon Island Lighthouse, Maine at Lighthousefriends.com No one bit on the original bid, and this June, they put it up again for $10,000. Brides (1939 1940), Percy A. Evans (1940 1942). 3 Sager is now fixing up two more lighthouses (Minots Ledge Light south of Boston and Maines Boon Island Light) he landed at auction when they were offloaded by the Coast Guard. The island in the morning was one of the grandest sights I ever witnessed. Undaunted, Captain Alexander began anew. Christopher Sager, Age 41. aka Chris Sager. William C. Williams signed on as second assistant on August 5, 1885, earning $450 annually. As far as the preservation of lighthouses as historic monuments, Im optimistic about the ones that are tourist attractions being saved, he says. 3rd Use Most of the boats in the harbor have the names of other places across their sterns, and the dock where my grandma used to drop her catch is now lined with tchotchke shops. Lighthouses of the U.S.: Northern Massachusetts - ibiblio I was scared out in that placeIt was an awful life., On August 20, 1932, a newspaper printed a letter about the life of a keeper at Boon Island. The light, which is powered by solar batteries, will still flash, and the Coast Guard will come by every once in a while to check on it. I thought that spending my time making more money wasnt going to make my life better, he told me. Along the way, hes fostered micro-lending in Third World countries, befriended the Dalai Lama (A great sense of humor), sat with Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa, and replaced the ragtag soccer balls used by African children with brand-new indestructible yellow ones. From the top deck of Graves tower, Waller points two miles south to Little Brewster Island, home only to Boston Light, the first lighthouse in the United States, built in 1716. But almost no one navigates just by visual markers these days, which is why in 2009, the Coast Guard decided that they didnt need to hold on to Minots Ledge Light anymore. Located at 61-1/2 Water Street near Independent Street in downtown Newburyport, about 0.4 mile (650 m) east of US 1. He is also the producer and host of the U.S. Lighthouse Society podcast, "Light Hearted." He can be emailed at Jeremy@uslhs.org Phone Number: (661) 296-MJKV. The towers powerful second-order Fresnel lens, produced in France by Sautter et Compagnie, went into service on January 1, 1855. Arriving, we balance on periwinkles and barnacles to step from the dinghy onto a jetty, tie up to a piling, and walk 40 feet on slippery rocks to the base of the lighthouse. Lighthouse for Sale. The nostalgia of obsolete public | by Heather Florence related a similar experience had by Keeper Harold Hutchins. The identity of the new owner was soon revealed to be Bobby Sager, a Boston philanthropist and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Polaroid. Bobby has created an easy way for those that would like to make a difference and a way for anyone to send a Hope Soccer Ball to underprivileged children. Its Graves third bridgethe first one washed away in the Blizzard of 1978; the second was destroyed in the Perfect Storm (as titled in the book and movie) of 1991. Not wanting to see the lens returned to the Coast Guard, the Greater York Region Chamber of Commerce held a raffle that generated $2,000, enough to pay the premium for two years. But Waller, who has been in close touch with him because Sager was the other bidder for the Graves light, says that hes talked to him about his plans, and that, for now, hes going to leave it untouched. Part of that is nostalgia. "If you apply too. Crossing back over the bridge, we make our way up: five spiral clangy metal flights; past a bunk room, the keepers quarters, and a third-floor kitchen; and to the lantern room. It is old and its interior is in bad condition, needing thorough renovation. On January 26, 1839, the Grovers were forced to retreat to the Light House as a place of safety as the sea broke into the porch, unhung the doors and forced the door of the dwelling house and entered the lower rooms, causing considerable damage. The Grovers had faced a similar situation on October 31, 1829 as recorded in the keepers logbook. The 2000 National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act was established to maintain these historic structures, saving many, including Graves. The inaccessibility of the station, especially during inclement weather, made the delivery of supplies difficult, and visiting the mainland sometimes impossible. The illuminating apparatus was changed in 1885 to burn mineral oil instead of lard oil, and then in 1894, a new second-order Fresnel lens was installed atop the lighthouse. From 1897 to 1905, his son, Charles S. Williams was first assistant, following his promotion from second assistant. Only three months into his tenure as keeper, sitting in the living quarters atop the tower and supposedly out of reach of the waves, Isaac Dunham wrote The wind E. blowing very hard with an ugly sea which makes the light reel like a Drunken ManI hope God will in mercy still the raging seaor we must perishGod only knows what the end will be. By October 1850, Dunham quit, and John Bennett took his place, only to despair soon afterwards at his perilous situation in storms. First Assistant: Joseph Wilson (1850 1851), Thatcher W. Ryder (1860), Andrew W. Williams (1861 1862), Thomas Bates II (1862 1864), Israel Vinal (1864 1865), Levi L. Creed (1865 1866), John A. Pratt (1866 1868), Levi L. Creed (1868 1874), Albert H. Burdick (1874 1877), Thomas J. Sheridan (1877 1880), Joseph B. Vinal (1880 1881), Alonzo Smith (1881), Nathan S. Hudson (1881), Frank W. Thomas (1881 1883), Albert H. Burdick (1883 1892), Joseph E. Frates (1892 1909), Levi B. Clark (1909 1910), Octavius H. Reamy (1910 1915), Henry M. Bailey (1915 at least 1916), Charles R. Albrecht (at least 1917), Roland F. Bassett (at least 1919 at least 1921), Francis R. Macy (1922 1923),Per F. Tornberg (1923 1924), George H. Fitzpatrick (1925 1927), Harold L. Havender (1927), Anthony Souza (at least 1935 at least 1936), Elton H. Hegarty (1938 1940), Patrick J. Continue on Main Street Beacon in a storm might be one of the most overplayed metaphors of all time. A Coast Guard motorboat from Allerton finally reached the scene and picked up all of the men, who were three miles past the lighthouse at this point and unable to return to the mainland due to the wind. Local nonprofits and people in the public sector have begun exploring an ownership transfer of the historic landmark through the 2000 act. Phone & Email (1) All Addresses (1) Family (4) Social; Court (2) And More; Sylvester (1861 1863), James D. Baxter (1863 1873), Wallace Willcutt (1873 1874), John G. Hayden (1874 1877), Amiel Studley (1877), Joseph B. Vinal (1877 1879), Charles S. Davis (1879 1880), Alonzo Smith (1880), Joseph A. Noble (1880 1881), Frank F. Martin (1881), Frank W. Thomas (1881), Lester G. Willett (1881), Albert H. Burdick (1881 1882), Joseph E. Frates (1882), George L. Lyon (1887 1889), Winfield L. Creed (1889 1892), George F. Holmes (1892 1893), James Kingsley (1893 1894), John E. Morrill (1894), Charles Grey Everett (1894 1895), Daniel D.L. Keeper Williams was inside the tower worrying about what he and his boys could enjoy the next day, when suddenly there was a crash on the parapet deck. Maybe he just wants to be able to see it flash. The new lights characteristic was fixed white, and a fog bell mounted on the gallery encircling the lantern room, was tolled once every thirty seconds as needed. Vessels mostly use satellite, GPS, and radar to dodge rocks, avoid the bottom of the ocean or bay, and dock safely in a harbor, even if someespecially small boatsstill rely on lighthouses as visual aids, like buoys. Ruth Abbott Carley, who met Gordon B. Kenny at the USO on Boston Common and was dating the coastguardsman while he was stationed at Boon Island Lighthouse in 1951 to 1952, kindly provided the images embedded in this paragraph. Indeed life inside the lighthouse did prove precarious. I only help people who help themselves., Hes courted controversy, once sending a supportive email to a top adviser of Syrias dictator before candidly acknowledging I was certainly wrong.. Girard was one of two bidders seriously pursuing Ram Island Ledge Lighthouse in 2010, but he dropped out of that auction after losing a coin toss to the eventual winner. It is 25 feet in diameter at its base and 12 feet in diameter at the top. With . But what happens when the king dies? At the cost of your own life, you would keep that light lit, says Waller. In addition to the two dwellings, one of which was fashioned out of an old barn, the inshore station also featured a storehouse, boathouse, and a blacksmiths shop. The Late Gale at Minots Rock Light, John W. Bennett, 1851. Rick Friedman/Sager Family Found Stay up-to-date with important news developments, delivered right to your inbox.. Seeing the keepers predicament, the assistants in the lighthouse sprang into action and used a rope to lower Assistant Keeper Whitman to the water where he was able to seize Reamy. Ruth doesnt recall many stories from Gordons service on the island, but she does remember that the difficulty in accessing the island with the stations boat delayed his coming to visit her in Boston on more than one occasion! Four keepers, a head keeper and three assistant keepers were initially assigned to the new lighthouse, and two double-dwellings were built at Cohasset to provide shore accommodations for the keepers and their families. He is the president and historian for the American Lighthouse Foundation and founder of Friends of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouses, and he has lectured and narrated cruises throughout the Northeast and in other regions. Until construction of the new dwelling was completed in 1905, animosity festered, as was noted in a letter by First Assistant Charles W. Torry, charging the Keeper of that station with neglect of duty, in not properly keeping an account of oil expended at the station, and a waste of the Government property in throwing surplus oil away in order to make his account of expenditures tally. Apparently, no disciplinary action was taken against Keeper Williams; but Torry soon found himself unemployed. The keepers quarters, fog bell, and a replica of the lantern room (Photo: Shane Sager). Boone Island Lighthouse Tower (1861 1874), Levi L. Creed (1874 1881), Frank F. Martin (1881 1887), Milton Reamy (1887 1915), Octavius H. Reamy (1915 1924), Per F. Tornberg (1924 1936), George H. Fitzpatrick (1936 at least 1941). It was kind of redundant.. (Photo: Javaris Johnson/Snipezart). On the evening before Thanksgiving Day 1890, few provisions remained at the station. Grounds/tower closed. Early view of lighthouse and stone dwelling, Boon Island from sea note bell atop oil house, Aerial view showing two dwellings and boathouse, Boon Island Lighthouse and dwellings in 1944. Sager acquired Minots Ledge Lighthouse at auction later in 2014 and then Michigans Grays Reef Lighthouse in 2016. until it becomes Main Street. Although this request was repeated for over a decade, a fog horn did not replace the bell until around 1960. He imagines his family gathering there on sultry summer nights, the reflection of a full moon dazzling like diamonds on the Atlantic. The dory was leaking so badly, that one man had to bale while the other manned the oars. . Find your friends on Facebook. In 1901, the Lighthouse Board requested $10,000 for a powerful fog signal to replace the bell used on Boon Island. For Waller, who owns a special effects company in Boston, restoring the lighthouse and its artifacts is a continuum of problem-solving. Head: Isaac Dunham (1849 1850), John W. Bennett (1850 1851), Joshua Wilder, Jr. (1860 1861), James J. Two lighthouse keepers were killed when it went down and theyre said to haunt the new house. 7 The identity of the new owner was soon revealed to be Bobby Sager, a Boston philanthropist and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Polaroid. A keeper would clean the light, and anything short of meticulous was unforgivable. Following two shipwrecks in 1810, a twenty-five-foot tall tower topped by an octagonal lantern was constructed at a cost of $2,377 along with a stone keepers house for $150. Invisible Sun Bobby Sager Rizzoli New York Signed Book Rare The wind reached nearly 100 miles per hour and stirred up waves that dashed against the dwelling and tower, coating them in thick layers of ice. Naval Museum in Kittery, Maine where it may be viewed by the public. Lewis, who submitted a report in 1842 detailing the more than forty vessels that had met their end in the previous decade as a result of the ledge. [4] 6 Flannan Isles Lighthouse Scotland In December 2014, just months after acquiring the lighthouse, Girard sold the property to Boon Island LLC for $119,673. Im not sure if its the romance, or the ghosts, but its always drummed up a kind of fascination. At first, Boon Island was barely able to attract and retain a keeper. A bell-buoy was placed on Boon Island Ledge, about three miles east of Boon Island, starting in 1858 to mark this navigational hazard. Two days later a Gloucester fisherman found a bottle containing a final message from the doomed keepers: The beacon cannot last any longer. If you look out into the Atlantic, past the Scituate, Massachusetts, harbor you can see Minots Ledge Light blinking 114 feet above the swell. Captain Sumner H. Cobbett and some of his crew from the North Scituate Coast Guard Station set off in a rowboat in pursuit of the leaky dory and were finally able to rescue the men, who were exhausted and suffering badly from exposure. Bobby Sager - Chairman - Sager Family Foundation | LinkedIn A few years ago, the mooring was ripped out of the ocean floor by a gale, and a breaker dragged Dave Wallers boat, a U.S. Coast Guard cutter he bought used, into the shoal below the lighthouse. Shoals, Reefs, Harbor Lights, Islands in Rivers and Harbors. As early as 1695, a schooner crashed on those treacherous rocks and sank, leaving no survivors. They always say the best government is a benevolent king because his heart is in the right place, he says. You cant determine those things, theyre unknown. which houses part of a third-order Fresnel lens used in the lighthouse can be seen at Government Island in Cohasset. Captain F.A. Fanad Lighthouse is a historic working lighthouse at the mouth of Lough Swilly, Ireland, that offers overnight stays. His wife Florence recalled that in lieu of indoor toilets, each of the three families would cut off the tops of five-gallon tins of kerosene oil and place them in an outhouse. The granite had to be cut and assembled on Government Island, attached to the mainland in Cohasset Harbor, and then pulled by oxen to a vessel that would transport the stone out to the ledge. When no interested party was found to assume ownership, Minots Ledge Lighthouse was placed on the auction block on June 25, 2014. Lighthouses across the country are crumbling amid worsening storms and dwindling funds. Anonymous Reveals Polaroid Millionaire Bobby Sager's Flattery of Assad Oil Consumption Per Hour (oz.) Im not nearly so optimistic about the ones that are remote and inaccessible to the public, many of which will eventually face demolition by neglect., Many land-based lighthouses and the soil around them are contaminated with lead paint that must be remediated before someone saves them. Sager was one of the final bidders for Graves Lighthouse in 2013 and acquired Maines Boon Island Lighthouse earlier in 2014 from its private owner. She started in Hatteras, North Carolina, near where she grew up and moved north, toward Hull, Mass., toward my dad. Heceta Head, Oregon, is among the lighthouses that are open for tours or stays. In the old days, a light keeper lit the lens and hand-cranked weights to rotate the light, each sending out an identification signal or patternGravess is two white flashes every twelve secondsto guide mariners to shore, back where we came from in East Boston. 5th The island is a bare rock; communication with the coast is infrequent in winter, and the keepers have had to store their vegetables and provisions in the halls adjoining their bed-rooms. The same report also noted that the vibration of the slender tower had been checked by installing six iron ties with struts that were attached to the top of the lantern and anchored to the masonry 40 feet below the watch-room deck.. That would be his last raise, even though he stayed on for twenty-three more years. This photo is from 1910. In addition, a supply shed, measuring twelve by twenty feet, and a brick oil house were erected on the island. We boiled every bit of what we drank or bathed with. Big Bay Point Lighthouse, a B and B looking out from the cliffs of Lake Superior, Michigan. At the mooring a few hundred feet out from the station, we hop into the dinghy, his sixththe sea took all the othersand from the stern I look at Waller, 59, in his thick-rimmed black and gray specs under a matching beanie rolled above his ears, rowing in galoshes and yellow waterproof fishing suspenders. Lives in Kenbridge, Virginia. The Coast Guard, once mandated by Congress to staff and operate Boston Light permanently, has greenlit a search for a new owner through the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act. Sager is now fixing up two more lighthouses (Minot's Ledge Light south of Boston and Maine's Boon Island Light) he landed at auction when they were offloaded by the Coast Guard. Two years into the construction, a ship named The New Empire wrecked on the rocks and destroyed the iron scaffolding erected on the ledge and injured the rock itself. While the island itself is barren, it has a lush history best told in the words and deeds of its keepers and their families. Some of the people purchasing auctioned lighthouses feel the same as me, and theyre buying them to save them. The only reason I ever wanted to make money was to be able to make choices. To date, 82 lighthouses have been transferred to public entities and nonprofits, and 66 have been sold for $8.2 million total. Comparative Table of Lens Orders But, ultimately hes turning it into a vacation house. He and his wife pulled their two children out of school and traveled the world. For the past 150 years the lighthouse has warned boaters about the shallow, shipwrecking rocks close to shore, but recently the Coast Guard decided it wasnt relevant anymore, and this fall the light became private property.