export_ofoct.com

[00:00.41] The United States is offering ten American lighthouses for new owners.

[00:07.04] The lighthouses have stood along ocean and lake coasts for generations to help guide and protect ship and boat travel.

[00:18.21] The General Services Administration (GSA) operates the lighthouse release program.

[00:27.50] It aims to preserve the properties. Most of the buildings are more than 100 years old.

[00:35.73] Modern technology, including satellites, means lighthouses are no longer required for navigation, said John Kelly of GSA.

[00:47.16] And while the Coast Guard often keeps aids to navigation at or near the lighthouses, the structures themselves mostly go unused.

[00:59.37] Yet the public likes to visit the tall, bright white towers.

[01:04.68] Many are popular with tourists, and are also subjects of photographs, paintings and other art.

[01:14.52] The GSA has been changing ownership of lighthouses since Congress passed the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act in 2000.

[01:27.00] About 150 lighthouses have changed ownership, 80 or so given away and another 70 sold.

[01:39.22] The program has raised more than $10 million.

[01:44.53] This year, six lighthouses are being offered at no cost to federal, state, or local government agencies, nonprofits, educational organizations, or other groups.

[02:00.47] New owners must agree and be able to make repairs and preserve the buildings.

[02:08.44] They also have to make the lighthouses available to the public for educational, recreational, or cultural purposes.

[02:19.32] The buildings offered include the 10.4-meter tall Plymouth/Gurnet Light in Massachusetts.

[02:28.63] The eight-sided wooden structure dates to 1842.

[02:33.67] But, a lighthouse has been at the site since 1768.

[02:39.78] The site was the first to employ a woman as lighthouse keeper.

[02:45.36] John Kelly’s personal favorite of the structures is Warwick Neck Light, in Warwick, Rhode Island.

[02:53.86] The 15.5-meter-tall lighthouse dates to 1827.

[03:00.76] It was an important navigation tool for sea travelers making their way to Providence, Rhode Island.

[03:09.27] Other lighthouses being offered at no cost include Lynde Point Lighthouse in Old Saybrook, Connecticut and Erie Harbor North Pier Lighthouse in Pennsylvania.

[03:23.87] Nonprofits already care for some of the lighthouses.

[03:28.66] The groups can request to continue doing so, Kelly said.

[03:33.17] If a new owner is not found for a lighthouse, it goes on market to be sold for the highest price offered.

[03:42.47] Four lighthouses are to be sold this year.

[03:46.71] Cleveland Harbor West Pierhead Light in Ohio is one of them.

[03:52.56] The 15.5-meter steel tower was built in 1911 and rises above Lake Erie.

[04:02.12] The property can be reached by boat only but provides an extensive view of Cleveland’s skyline.

[04:11.15] Some lighthouse owners have made the buildings their private homes and enjoy the unusual living situation.

[04:19.66] The lighthouses “all have their own interesting history,” Kelly said.