84? No, 87. Oh my gosh, 87. Hi everybody, I'm
Emily. And I'm Vince. And this is The Lighthouse
Lowdown. I missed. Just seeing that I forgot
to look up how to pronounce something. But, you
know, I'm only barely over the wheel to live
today, so I think. Hi, everybody. It's Wednesday?
Tuesday. Tuesday. It's a rough week so far. Happy
to be here with you. And you know what makes
it worse? I don't have a history, Bowie. No,
Bowie, that's all right. No, Bowie, no problem.
But we did get some more reviews as a result
of our bid in our Chris Point episode. So thank
you to all of you who left a review. for our
podcast, all positive. And none of that was on
our part by manipulation. That's nice. Well,
I mean, it was, but. Well, I mean, we asked for
reviews. If they happen to be all positive, that's
great. I think we asked for five -star reviews.
That's where I think the manipulation came in.
Somebody's got to throw in a four -star so that
it's not suspicious. Yeah, they're like, they're
paying people for reviews. Except we're not.
Since we have some reviews that were left, then
Vince has got to start getting work on some merch.
I say it every time. And then we'll do a giveaway
of maybe like a t -shirt or a hat or something.
Yep. Okay. Good. It's in the works, everybody.
Get ready. Fall is here, so it could be a, we
could do a hoodie maybe. We'll see. Oh, I thought
you were going to say like fall themed. I'd be
down for, hey, I'm down for whatever. So in true
Emily fashion, we're going to no history buoy
and it's a tiny episode today. A short episode.
A short episode. Yeah. Thank you for bringing
that back. We love those. That's what I called
it. Our lighthouse today was one of the later
towers built in the U .S. but has a unique design
going on. Unique. Unique. A little bit of Latin
and dancer coming out of there. This is why I
didn't look up how to pronounce it. But we're
going to Connecticut, the town. It's like Groton.
How do you spell it? G -R -O -T -O -N. So it
could be like a lot of stuff. Groton. Groton.
Groton. Groton. Groton. Should we look it up,
you think? I don't know. Here, hold on. Hold,
please. I can't change. Let's say Groton. Okay,
yeah. I mean, I never have to say it again. So
it's not that it's, it's not that I'm messing
it up. It's just that the world, that our listeners
won't know the answer. And they'll still look
it up themselves. Anyway, is this our first Connecticut
lighthouse? I can't remember. We have to pull
up the map. I feel like, genius. Why didn't I
look at that? Wait. Yeah. For those of you who
don't know, while we look at this, if you go
to thelighthouselowdown .com. You're going to
see a map under, is it resources? Episode map.
Episode map, of course, which shows a physical
map. And then you can click on locations, zoom
in, zoom out, and actually see what episode is
recorded for that location. And the answer is
that, yes, this is our first Connecticut lighthouse.
Good job, everybody. Nice. Oh, I like it. Another
map. So we got a map pulled up showing Connecticut.
We're right across from Montauk Point Lighthouse.
We know this area. Long Island. Over on the right.
Yeah, just inside the Connecticut line there.
Cape Cod. We're looking at Avery Point where
that little thing, this little point is Avery
Point. Very nice. Avery Point was named after
an early settler, Captain James Avery, which
the reason why I only just now realized why that's
familiar to me is because all the jewelry I got
in high school was from James Avery, the brand.
His name was also James? It was just the brand
name. But yes, Captain James Avery. Oh, must
be the same person. I hope that was right. And
that wasn't just like the sub cons, just... part
of my brain coming out and being like, Avery,
it must be James. I don't know. I'm pretty sure
that's right. But he had 73 acres, like this
plot of land. And when he passed away, that was
given to a wealthy industrialist, Morton Plant.
Okay. And he died in 1918. So it wasn't until
1942 that the land was sold to the state of Connecticut,
which gave it to the Coast Guard to use. And
in the same year, they built the United States
Coast Guard Training Center, which was there
until 1967. So when they built this training
center, they wanted a lighthouse to mark it.
And also it was like on a point and it's right
at the mouth of the Thames River. I'm assuming
it's the same as the one in England. Yeah. Thames.
And faces a tiny island called Pine Island, which
you can see on our... Little map that we have
pulled up. But also the lighthouse was a symbol
of the Coast Guard's light keeping duties, which
by that point were dwindling. Yeah. I mean, they
had taken over in 39, but so it wasn't that long
after that they were like, oh, let's build a
lighthouse to commemorate the fact that we are
also lighthouse keepers. Did they use the lighthouse
that they erected for training purposes, perhaps?
Maybe. It doesn't say anything about that. There
wasn't much on the life of the lighthouse while
it was. in the Coast Guard Training Center. Oh,
okay. Yeah. But it was also kind of like a memorial
for light keepers. And according to the Avery
Point Lighthouse Society, it was also built,
quote, to fulfill a contingency of the quit claim
deed, so for this land, for receiving the property
from the state of Connecticut and was the last
lighthouse built in the state of Connecticut.
So we have our last lighthouse and the first
one that we cover in Connecticut. So nice little
bookend there. Nice. So there was something in
the deed that said that there had to be a lighthouse
built. I don't know. Just interesting. While
Avery Point Lighthouse was completed in 1943,
worries about drawing in enemies from the water
in World War II meant that it wasn't lit until
May 2nd, 1944. And so the tower actually had,
I think because it was so late, it had an unusual
light characteristic, which was a cluster of
eight 200 -watt bulbs. So like nothing crazy.
Very low candle power. It's like a very symbolic
lighthouse. Yeah, it's more just for show than
for actual utility. The light list mentions that
the number of bulbs vary depending on your angle
of approach, which really points out that it's
not that powerful if you can pick out light bulbs
from each other, I think. It was originally fixed
to white and changed to a green flash every four
seconds in 1960. How did they do that if there
were individual bulbs? Probably electric current.
In the 60s. They didn't have LEDs yet, so they
didn't have color -changing lights. No, but we
had colored panels long before we had light bulbs.
Oh, it was just green. It wasn't like changing.
No, no, flashing. Never mind. How do they do
that? I see now what you're saying. I thought
you were saying like, yeah, in the 60s, they
had color changing bulbs, which I'm not familiar
with that. Yeah. No, none of that extra stuff.
This looks militant, which I guess kind of makes
sense. Yeah. Yeah. So Coast Guard. Avery Point
is 41 feet tall and it's an octagonal tower made
of concrete bricks. Same diameter from top to
bottom until we hit the lantern room, which of
course is a little smaller. And this lantern
room is also octagonal. Decorative and made from
wood. That's unique. Yeah, the lantern gallery
was made from concrete and lined with 32 Italian
marble balusters. Balusters? Baluster? The balusters?
What is it? Ballast? Like a baluster? B -A...
Balusters. Now you got me all tripped up. You
know there's the word banister. Yeah, yeah. It's
attached to that. Those are the long ones that
go from top to bottom. Now I want to look this
up. Like the black behind you. Yeah. On the staircase.
Yeah. Staircase rods. Balusters. B -A -L -U -S
-T -E -R -S. Wait. Wait. No. Yes. Okay. Yeah.
Those are still, like Home Depot has those. Yep.
Ballister. Ballister? Well, I just realized.
Oh, hold on. Oh, no. Ballisters. Ballisters.
B -A -L -U -H -S -T -R -Z. Sorry, everyone. I
am not on top of everything all the time. I didn't
say it right either, did I? No, you did. Ballisters.
From the hip. Like a banister. Huh? Like banister,
which is the... So these balusters were imported
from Italy in 1900. So they were like this nice
little decorative addition, try and spice it
up a little. Not much utility, but it's a looker.
And that's what I have a picture pulled up of.
This picture is from when it was starting to
get a little more decrepit. Concrete blocks and
stuff. I really slowed you down in the description
of this lighthouse. But it's a recap. So it's
octagonal tower, 88 feet? 41 feet. All right.
We're both tired. And it's the same diameter
from the bottom to the top rail, which is brick.
And then it turns into marble, they said, for
the balusters. It's all concrete. The balusters
are marble. Man, it looks like brick. Yeah, they're
concrete bricks. And then the lantern room itself
is wood. Yeah, and wood. You said it's decorative.
So does that mean it's well -decorated or ornate?
Yeah, I mean, look at it. Look at arched windows.
We got some bar stuff going on here. Octagonal
cupola. We love it. Yeah, the cupola's always
been metal, though. Like, I've never heard of
a wood... I don't know if the cupola is wood.
Well, okay. The lantern room. I've never heard
of a wooden lantern room. Oh. Have I? Maybe not.
Yeah, I guess that's strange. So, pretty cool.
This looks like a home project. Oh. No, no. I
mean, like, with a lot of honor. I mean, like,
you could have this. How did you say that? Like,
you could put this in your backyard. Yeah, if
you're rich. Yeah, rich, rich. Like, two riches.
Anyways. That's crazy. I did read that it has
two windows facing south and one window facing
every other direction. Kind of fun. Suspect.
Suspect. It's just facing the water. A little
extra protect. So, yeah, that is the extent of
what I have for when it was under the Coast Guard
training center. Yes, just a couple years. Yeah,
I mean, I guess they wouldn't be like, here's
what we did with the lighthouse. It's just probably
like... Just happenstance. Yeah, they just do
whatever they do. And it was deactivated in 1967
when the training center was moved from Avery
Point to Governor's Island in New York City,
which I think we talked about Governor's Island.
Yes. In our Statue of Liberty episode. We did.
Everybody go check it out. It was a lighthouse.
It was a terrible lighthouse. Probably one of
the worst, but a lot more life left in it for
other purposes. You have to say about that. 1969.
Two years later, the land was returned at no
cost to the state of Connecticut. So Coast Guard
finished with it and handed it back off. And
the lighthouse was marked a building used at
the University of Connecticut at Avery Point,
which... Of course. Yeah. Local. So they marked
it, I think it was building, it was either 14
or building 41. And they used that as a physics
laboratory and air sampling station. I'm like,
so cool. Can you imagine if you went to college
and they were like, oh yeah, the physics lab
is in the lighthouse. I'd be like, excuse me.
Yeah, they're probably dropping shit in there.
Yeah. Acid. I was thinking like gravity. Like
they have a high point to drop things from. Maybe
a pendulum could be going on. Air sampling so
they can go up there and be like. Fourth grade
physics? What's the air? They drop stuff from
high up and there's a pendulum. 1969, we landed
on the moon, supposedly. Allegedly. Allegedly.
I'm really reaching here. Air sampling lab, huh?
Yeah. And this is a picture I pulled up. This
woman is doing maintenance on their air sampling.
But this is a more modern picture. This is after
renovation and everything. So it looks pretty
good. We're going to be chasing that. Very cool.
By 1997, because during that time, I don't think
anybody was in charge of upkeep. So 1997, the
university labeled the lighthouse as in dangerously
poor condition. And by 1999, the American Lighthouse
Foundation and the newly formed Avery Point Lighthouse
Society began fundraising for the restoration
to bring it back to its future glory. And the
university gave them permission to work on it.
So they still... owned it but we're like sure
fix it up oh that's nice we're cool with it so
i pulled up a photo of what it used to look like
this is uh from my understanding there used to
be i mean the lantern room was still up there
it ain't got no time oh and then they took it
off okay because wait let me this let me i'm
getting too far into my notes i just want to
like The assessment was estimated to be $25 ,000.
So just like looking at it and being like, here's
what we have to do with it. Dang. And then the
restoration was going to be at the high end $200
,000 from what they were estimating. An engineering
firm did the study, which ended up being worth
an estimated $40 ,000 totally for free just to
help out. And for the restoration, the funds
that were raised were like... Raised by selling
2 ,000 personalized bricks that would make up
the walkway of the lighthouse. Which I know St.
Augustine does that as well, right? I think so.
I think it's a great idea because people, it's
hard sometimes for people to donate because it's
like your money goes into the ether and you're
like, are you using it? Well, yeah. Sometimes
when it's so expensive, these big projects, it
feels like you can't contribute. And of course,
that's actually... The best contributions are
crowdsourced from a bunch of enthusiasts. I actually
have a brick with my name on it somewhere. What
are you talking about? I do. Where? Hayes, Kansas.
Oh, my gosh. With your family or just you? My
family, but my name has my own brick. Oh, my
gosh. On the public library on the left side
if you're so inclined to go find it. Why didn't
you show me that when we first started dating?
That would have gotten you a lot of extra points.
I would have been like, you're famous. i'll keep
that in mind next time we're in haze we'll make
a stop there's also um i'm sure there's many
of them but there is a statue of liberty nearby
that it's about eight feet tall anyways back
to connecticut back to back to emily in connecticut
thank you vince Pretend we're not sitting across
from each other, three feet away. Like we're
in a news channel. And we'll go back to Emily
covering Connecticut lighthouses. All I was saying
is that I am much more likely to donate when
it's like, I could go to the lighthouse in the
future and be like, oh my gosh, here's a brick
with my name on it. Yep. And you know, everyone
likes to get something for what they put in.
Yeah. Even if it's just like a, I don't know,
a sticker. I'd be like, cool. Like a sticker
that says I donated. I would be like, hell yeah.
Well, like the USLHS passport system that we
adore so much. Like you donate, what is it, $2?
And then you get a stamp. I'm a different member
level this year because I wanted a different
patch. So I'm a keeper, I believe. You're renewed?
I need to renew. I forgot. Is it time? It was
a long time ago. Everybody, renew your passports.
No, well, not the passport. I forget. I'm selling
them short. But they give you a patch. The membership
for the USLHS. Sorry. Which level did you do?
Was it Prism? No, no, no. That's above where
I'm at. I'm Keeper now. Okay. Last year I was
the first one. I have it somewhere. Anyways,
these patches, I'll have to do something with
them at some point. I really want to do Prism.
I wanted like a field jacket with the patches
on it. Like you were talking about a long time
ago. Long time ago. Never came to fruition. Anyways.
We're really off topic. Okay, sorry. I just said
patches aren't fun. Yeah, personalized bricks,
and that's how we got there. Then the concrete
blocks in the lighthouse, as you can see, are
misshapen. And it's because they had high sand
content. So over time, they had started to crumble.
So these were addressed first. So the first thing
they did was replace the entire outer layer completely.
And make new concrete blocks with custom molds
so that they perfectly match the original bricks.
Yeah. That's extra. And they strengthened the
inside with steel and cement. So they left the
ones on the inside. But obviously with the sea,
air and everything, the outside ones were a lot
more affected. Huh. I've never heard of that
process. Yeah. I'd like to know what a custom
mold looks like for concrete blocks. Well, I
know. Um, if you look up like a custom home,
uh, fireplace, like a stone, like my dad's, that
one, for example, that that's all concrete. And
so each one of those was shaped by hand, um,
after a form was used. Yeah. So I assume they
could make a general form and then they like
make it look rugged with their hands. Okay. Yeah.
So lightweight concrete, cause it's not structural
this way or on the lighthouse. I'm not sure.
It might be a little heavier, but pretty cool.
Something that'll last. It's a lot of effort
that went into that. Yeah. So this is what I
was about to run away with. But the lantern room
was deemed too damaged to repair. So instead,
they lifted it by crane off of the lighthouse
and transported it to West Mystic Wooden Boat
Building Company, which is owned by a former
lighthouse keeper and at the time, an English
professor at the University of Connecticut. Oh
my gosh. So we had like a very focused connection
to this lighthouse. Can you say that again? Wood
building? West Mystic Wooden Boat Building Company.
My gosh. So I'm assuming they make boats, but
I guess I didn't look too deep into it. That's
a mouthful of a website. Yeah. WMWBBC. Yeah.
Okay. Yeah. So anyway, he was invested and thus
he did it completely for free. Oh, nice. Yeah.
Rebuilt the... lantern room using the old one
as a template. That's really cool. Yeah. And
did it all for free. So the new lantern room
was lowered onto the tower in 2005 and the inside
had to be completely redone. Like the inside
of the tower, they needed new wiring, custom
doors and windows, paint, cosmetics, all that
stuff. Very fancy. Yeah. So it's still on a university.
Yes. And I just pulled up a photo of the, I think
it was 2009 or something. Someone took these
pictures. Beautiful. So very nice. You can see
the red brick walkway that has people's names
on it that donated to the restoration. Shout
out to those people. Yeah, it's very pretty.
I like the colors a lot. It's like natural, but
not just not plain. It's really nice. Honestly,
this it's been put into my head, but it really
looks like a setting of a university. It does
look like a university lighthouse. It's like.
When old universities have towers built to the
side, I get that same vibe. So it's interesting
that it wasn't built originally for a university,
but it does have those. Well, and Emily and I
both went to University of Kansas, which has
a tower called the Campanile, whatever you want
to call it. It's a French word, I think. Anyways,
it looks a lot like a lighthouse. Fresnel, Fresnel,
Fresnel. Yes. Fresnel. And it's made of limestone.
Most of the... properties of the university of
kansas are limestone um so that's probably what
we're seeing here it's a lot of it's very much
a limestone color it's cute yeah it's nice right
on the water yeah and a lot of this the work
that they did people either gave them discounts
or gave them or did it for free so i'm where
a normal restoration in which you basically rebuild
the entire lighthouse would be millions of dollars
these days i think this one was 500 000 At the
end of everything. So still a lot, but probably
like a third of what it would have cost. Yeah.
If people weren't like pouring everything they
had. There's so much money involved. I know.
500 ,000. But if you try and think really hard
about the past numbers we've heard for lighthouse
restorations, it's not that bad. It's actually
great. The question is like, just from my curiosity,
let's say you wanted to build a 40. Foot tall?
Yeah, 41. 41 foot tall. Let's call it 40. Okay.
Let's call it 40. Sure. A 40 foot tall lighthouse.
Yeah. Like made out of brick or steel and concrete.
And yeah, like, you know, the modern construction
with a wood lantern room and potentially cupola.
If you're like, how much is it going to cost
me? I was like, uh, half a million dollars sounds
like too much, but I'm wrong. Clearly. It's a
four -story tower, okay? You're wrong. I am wrong.
If anyone out there wants to provide us a quote
to build that lighthouse, please do. That'd be
fun to share, actually. It actually would be.
Even if you want to remain anonymous. You work
in an engineering firm, so actually you'd have
a pretty good idea of how to estimate something
like that. Talk to people and be like, hey, here's
the blueprints for this lighthouse. What would
you build this for? That'd be hilarious. Price
it up. Price it right up. Got to prove how good
the discounts were on this construction. They're
going to be like, it was going to be $5 million.
Actually, it's just $500 ,000. It's easy. But
they completed it and relit as a private aid.
Private aid to Navigation. To Navigation, October
15, 2006. That's crazy. Yes. It's awesome. So
we still have a green flashing light, but now
it's a solar -powered LED. Oh, I have a picture.
Very nice. You can see the university's greenhouse
and all kinds of fun stuff. That's cool. It's
still being cared and loved today. The grounds
are open to the public, so you can just go check
this out whenever you want, but the lighthouse
cannot be climbed or entered because it's private.
Travesty. Got to save it for those physics tests.
The university owns it? Yeah. Yeah. I'm pretty
sure. I wonder if they use it for anything on
an annual basis. If they decorate it or. Oh,
I did see some Christmas decorations. I saw Santa
visited and played a saxophone. Of course he
did. Santas that go to lighthouses are always
like the outskirt Santas. That's a very artistic
Santa. Yeah. Remember the. Well, Christmas is
kind of coming up. Do you remember the Flying
Santa episode? Yes. Super fun. Yeah, and then
I started doing Christmas at Lighthouses. Today,
this year is going to be our third installment
of that. So buckle up. Maybe we'll see this lighthouse
at every point. Yeah, last one. Did we talk about
St. Augustine? Mm -hmm. Nice. That might have
even been the first one. Oh, the first Christmas
at Lighthouses. Yeah, we talked about all of
their... There are Christmas trees you can walk
around. Yeah, the tree inside. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Cool. But yeah, that's it. Avery Point Lighthouse.
Got it all covered. A lot of people, even though
it's newer, a lot of people love this lighthouse
because it's unique in its appearance. I wonder
if it's the only lighthouse that is on university
grounds. I doubt it. I feel like... I feel like
that'd be hard to research because you know how
AI pops up and it's like, here's what I found.
It's like, you just pieced together words. I'll
use that as the excuse for why you didn't laugh
at my joke. Yeah, I was busy yawning. It's not
personal. Avery Point Lighthouse, the first one
that popped up. Boom, confirmed. Lots of posts
about it. Avery Point. Milne. Berg Lighthouse,
also known as Port Potchartrain. Why did I do
this to myself? Anyway, from my slight scrolling,
it seems to be one of the few, at the very least,
if not the only one. That's good. At least there's
more than one. We have lighthouses on golf courses,
lighthouses on universities. What's next? What
could be coming next? And that's how we'll keep
you guys looped into the Lighthouse Lowdown.
And you'll catch us next time. What could be
coming next? And the answer to that is merch,
apparently. Merch. So keep an eye out for that.
And check out our website, thelighthouselowdown
.com, where you can leave a review or watch our
videos, listen to our podcasts, and you can check
out our episode map. Yeah. In this episode, so...
We're hoping that we're going to catch you next
time on The Lighthouse. Thanks for coming.