Posted by Craighill Keeper on Nov 30th, 2006
I cropped the funky conceptual design drawing down to just the lighthouse so more of the detail is visible. It can be viewed after the “Continue Reading” link. I phoned the Philly office of the National Archives yesterday and apparently they didn’t receive my email. I resent it and this morning spoke to the guy in charge of the lighthouse records. He found all of them except the Cutoff Channel Range one (only the front beacon plans were supposedly available, but he says he doesn’t have them). I even asked him to search by “Craighill Channel Upper Range”, but nothing. So the Upper Range plans don’t appear to exist - the forgotten lighthouses! The plans will be sent in the mail today, so I may receive them by Saturday. How exciting!
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Posted by Craighill Keeper on Nov 28th, 2006
I’m not sure if this is a necessity or me just being the techno-geek that I am, but wow, this BGAN satellite internet/phone thing sure looks awesome! Since cell phone coverage is incredibly spotty out at the lighthouse, plus the “searching for service” makes the battery run down, I started looking at alternate options. I would also like to have internet access out there (although, I suppose it’s hardly “historic” or something the keepers of old even imagined in the future!) for research and hey, I could even post to the Keeper’s bLog! Unfortunately, it looks like the cost of the equipment ($1895 + solar recharging panels) and service ($40/mo plus charges based on MB used and phone minutes) is out of reach. There are far more important items that need to be addressed at the moment. Ah well, it’s fun to dream! Although, for safety and communication needs, it does seem somewhat necessary…
Posted by Craighill Keeper on Nov 28th, 2006
I took yesterday off as an extra day pegged onto the end of a family vacation to Greece in order to go to the College Park, MD branch of the National Archives in order to get copies of the original architectural plans of the lighthouse. Christopher is (hopefully?) coming back down this weekend and I wanted to have the plans before we attempted to go out again to winterize so we could study them and come up with ideas for the restoration. I was a little concerned about only finding 3 records in the file searching online (as I posted earlier), and unfortunately my fears were ultimately proven true… somewhat. The plans are not at the College Park facility. All they had were three drawings, that I’m assuming were conceptual (2 of the front beacon and 1 of the rear that I already posted). Because what the heck is this?! It says it’s my lighthouse, but it certainly is not (but very cool and looks very art-nouveau for the 1870s).
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Posted by Craighill Keeper on Nov 16th, 2006
In an effort to find out what plans and drawings may be available for the Craighill Range lighthouses online before trying to run up to College Park, MD during my “lunch hour” one day, I came across the following drawing in the file. Wow, the detail on the old keeper’s quarters of the lower range rear light (Millers Island light) is fantastic! I love the old sail boats in the drawing as well. What makes me nervous is there is only one file relating to the Craighill ranges titled Lighthouse Plans for Craighill Channel, Maryland which holds “Extent: 3 drawings” (this photo being one of them). Considering four lighthouses comprise the Craighill Channel, which plans are in those other two drawings? Yikes. I have sent an email asking, but not heard back. I guess Monday I’ll just drive up there and find out.
Drawing images after the jump…
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Posted by Craighill Keeper on Nov 16th, 2006
Well, I definitely shouldn’t quit my day job and aspire to becoming a graphics designer. Still, I think I made a decent logo? Part of the whole non-profit thing means no wild income and funds lying around to hire consultants and marketing experts. Unfortunately, these are not my areas of expertise, nor anyone else’s on the board. I can wear many hats, however, and therefore gave this my best shot as a prelude to writing a new newsletter in something other than Word. Oh yeah, that means I’m teaching myself Adobe Illustrator in the process!
Logo after the jump…
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Posted by Craighill Keeper on Nov 12th, 2006
I hadn’t fallen asleep until after midnight and hoped Tyler would sleep in given how late he also went to bed. Nope, no such luck! He was up at 6 AM with the sun, naturally. He was so excited to be out at the lighthouse that the chattiness kicked into full gear immediately, as well as the million questions. I couldn’t help but ride along on his eagerness, so I got up and showed him the lighthouse again in the daylight, including the basement. He was so wowed by everything. Awfully cute! Now, about that coffee and supplies… I headed over to the cleat the boat was tied up on (after initial relief at the visual confirmation that the boat was still there!). I took the excess line and again threw it over the outhouse and then hitched it to the cleat near the platform before undoing the other side. My hands were raw from all the wrestling with lines I did the previous night, also mottled by cuts and scratches. I wondered where my gloves were. I remembered having them in my jacket pocket the night before, but was unable to locate them in the morning.
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Posted by Craighill Keeper on Nov 12th, 2006
Well, that didn’t go exactly as planned. I decided to use the more positive title, although I could have titled this entry so many things from, “I’ve Failed Already” to “At Least No Limbs Were Broken” to “Minimum Two Adults At All times” to “The One Lost Shoe” to “Lighthouse Wrecked” or something along those lines. I learned a lot about the bay in the area of the lighthouse and I’m beginning to wonder if a dock is even feasible out there in the wide open. I severely underestimated traffic during rush hour on a federal holiday (What? You mean other businesses are open?) and we arrived and hour later than I had planned and well after dark. Jane from Baltimore Light called to ask if I could smell their steaks and I admitted we hadn’t even left the dock yet (as my stomach growled because I hadn’t planned on making dinner til we got out to the lighthouse).
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Posted by Craighill Keeper on Nov 9th, 2006
It’s almost here! My first slumber party in the lighthouse! My goals are to winterize and weatherproof the exposed roof, install the fishing line bird deterrent, wash the decks, clean the glass in the lantern, and possibly clean the gutters. I’ve been creating and adding to lists all week. I think I’ve got them pretty finalized at this point.
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Posted by Craighill Keeper on Nov 6th, 2006
Inspired and extremely motivated after the recent trip, as well as finally having a running boat, I’m going to tackle the emergency issues at the lighthouse before it becomes necessary to pull the boat out of the water and winterize it. Yeah, yeah, I know - the Washington Post just did an article on Eastport where the residents claim they never pull their boats out. I don’t know if there’s a difference between the south and north sides of the Bay Bridge, but I’ve been told the water freezes up where our boat is! Anyway, it makes a good excuse to get away for a weekend and get my first sleepover in a lighthouse too. Woohoo! So without further ado, here is my quickie to-do list for this weekend…
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Posted by Craighill Keeper on Nov 6th, 2006
Ah, and finally I can write about our final leg of the trip a week ago - the visit to the Craighill Channel Lower Range Front Light Station. Maybe I’ll just call it Craighill 1 for short from now on! On the way in, I managed to snap a shot of the two range lights together. I sure wish Craighill 1 (ok, that name’s a bit laboratory-ish - I’ll keep thinking) looked a bit freshened up for her new visitors, but in good time. I think she still made a good impression. We all stepped on the roof of Howard’s boat cabin to get on the ladder platform, which worked out pretty well, but I felt bad for all the footprints left behind up there! I guess we didn’t need the step ladder we borrowed from Thomas Point after all!
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