Actress Neve Campbell and philanthropist and photographer Bobby Sager arrive for the 'Power Of The Invisible Sun' photocall at the Saatchi Gallery on. It was above being a captain of a ship, because you were the guardian of all the ships, he adds. In March 1812, Thomas Hanna, grandfather of Marcus Hanna who would receive notoriety as keeper at Cape Elizabeth, agreed to man the light for $300 per year, plus a $100 advance for provisions. He can be reached at thomas.farragher@globe.com. A Notice of Availability, dated June 30, 2009, announced that Minots Ledge Lighthouse, deemed excess by the Coast Guard, was being offered at no cost to eligible entities, including federal, state, and local agencies, non-profit corporations, and educational organizations under the provisions of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000. If you apply too much logic to itlook at the cost, the resale, and the amount of workit doesnt make sense, says Waller. What kind of a guy buys a lighthouse? The message: I dont do charity. 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. Pier or Breakwater Lights in Harbors. Continue on Main Street You realize they had it all figured out long ago, says Waller, now a pro at finding the right tools and the right people. Breathing the salty clean winter air, out in the middle of the harbor, we stand in front of his time machine. The dory was leaking so badly, that one man had to bale while the other manned the oars. First Assistant: Christopher C. Littlefield (1854), George G. Bowden (1854 1855), Charles H. Tobey (1855 1859), William Baker (1859), Josiah Tobey, Jr. (1859 1861), Calvin Gray (1861 1866), George H. Yeaton (1866 1867), John W. Card (1867 1873), Leander White (1874 1878), David R. Grogan (1878 1880), George O. Leavitt (1880 1881), Paschal Fernald (1881 1885), Orrin M. Lamprey (1885 1886), William C. Williams (1886 1888), James Burke (1888 1890), Charles W. Torry (1890 1893), William M. Brooks (1893 1897), Charles S. Williams (1897 1905), William T. Stevens (1905), Mitchell Blackwood (1905 1911), Charles W. Allen (1911 1913), Fuller E. Larrabee (1913), Roger P. Philbrick (1913 1917), Roscoe M. Chandler (1917 1919), Harry M. Kelley (1919 at least 1921), Eugene L. Coleman (1924 1930), Fred C. Batty (1930 1932), Benjamin Stockbridge (at least 1935), Hoyt P. Smith (1936 1937), Harry H. McClure (1937 1940), George A. McKenney (1940 1942), Jack McCoe (1944 1945), Thomas J. Guice (at least 1945), Robert Adams (at least 1947), Gordon B. Kenny (1951 1952), Charles Eaton (1962 1965), August Pfister (1967 1968). A brand of on-the-ground and up-close philanthropy that assesses needs and then fashions programs to meet them. Anonymous Reveals Polaroid Millionaire Bobby Sager's Flattery of Assad 1,985 Lets talk about something more serious, more substantial, suggested Sager, 62, sporting a gray T-shirt, dark slacks, and stocking feet. Head: Isaac Dunham (1849 1850), John W. Bennett (1850 1851), Joshua Wilder, Jr. (1860 1861), James J. Christopher Sager, Santa Clarita, CA (91350) - Spokeo 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. Several keepers were convinced that the ghosts of the two doomed assistant keepers still resided in the lighthouse, sending signals to each other, cleaning the lens, and warning others of the dangers presented by Minots Ledge. The same guy who purchases a meteorite that fell from the heavens in Ghana and places it in a little red wagon in his living quarters. The tragedy that earned the area its name happened in 1754, when a prominent Boston merchant named George Minot lost a valuable ship there; henceforth it was called Minots Ledge. Otherwise I wouldnt do it. My dad grew up in the harbor the light protects, and my grandmother trolled for striped bass with a handline out past the ledge. All the fresh water, wood and necessaries for a family must be carried on to the Island. Gallatin answered with a $100 salary increase. Email Address: See available information. 2nd He says he didnt have any solid reason for buying it, just that same deep-seated nostalgia and a long-standing but loose family tie. Minots has a good story, but its not the only one thats been celebrated. Keepers were by-the-book, sober, carefully chosen men. Last summer we went back and piled cousins and aunts into a rented house. Sometimes nothing makes them happy. Tower closed. I havent looked at my phone since we left. Breakwaters, River Lights, Channel, Small Islands in Sounds. Renovations on Minot Light, for which he paid $222,000, begin in earnest next summer. Hanna soon realized the sum was insufficient and requested $450 annually. 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. We made kites and flew them anytime, as there was always a breeze coming off the ocean.. Outside's long reads email newsletter features our strongest writing, most ambitious reporting, and award-winning storytelling about the outdoors. Second Assistant: Samuel Tobey (1855 1856), Josiah Tobey Jr. (1856 1859), John S. Baker (1859), Enos Gray (1859 1861), S. Tobey (1861 1864), George E. Bridges (1864 1865), Charles Ramsdell (1865 1868), Samuel R. McLorn (1868), Luther Amazeen (1868 1870), Nathan White, Jr. (1870 1874), Edwin J. Hobbs (1874 1876), David R. Grogan (1876 1878), George O. Leavitt (1878 1880), Paschal Fernald (1880 1881), Orrin M. Lamprey (1881 1885), William C. Williams (1885 1886), James Burke (1886 1888), Leonidas H. Sawyer (1888 1890), Charles W. Torry (1890), Walter S. Amee (1891 1893), William M. Brooks (1893), Alvah J. Toby (1893 1894), James Hawe (1894), Joseph A. Pruett (1894 1896), Charles S. Williams (1896 1897), Meshach M. Seaward (1897 1900), Merton E. Tolman (1900), Henry C. Neal (1900 1902), Frank L. Peabbles (1902), Leroy L. Myers (1902), James R. Faulkingham (1902 1903), William T. Stevens (1903 1904), Mitchell Blackwood (1905), William Henry Burns (1905 1907), Charles Whitten Allen (1907 1911), Fuller E. Larrabee (1912 1913), Charles A. Radley (1913), Albert Staples (1914 at least 1915), Roscoe M. Chandler (1916 1917), Harry M. Kelley (1917 1919), George E. Woodward (1919 1920), Arthur E. Ginn (at least 1921), Eugene L. Coleman (1923 1924), Myron L. Wilson (1924 1925), Andrew H. Kennedy (1925 1928), Fred C. Batty (1930), Frank M. Rumery (1930 ), Howard W. Gray (1932 1934), Hoyt P. Smith (1935 1936), Harry H. McClure (1936 1937), Henry S. Brown (1937 at least 1941), Calvin Dolby (1944 1945), Russell G. Carpenter (at least 1945), Clifford Gustavson (at least 1947), Charles Kendrick Capon (1951 1953), Harold L. Roberts (1956), Ron Schultz (1959). When I accepted the post, I closed my ears against the reports of the former keeper, treating them (as I now find) too lightly, and here I shall remain so long as a vestige of the lighthouse remains; but the truth must be told. But what happens when the king dies? Sager has been taking photos of youngsters from war-torn countries for several years now, as he and his family have traveled the world practicing what he calls "eyeball-to-eyeball philanthropy.". I think its the same kind of analog fascination that makes people want to slaughter their own chickens, or take up sewing, but it feels a little more exciting than that. 4 We have come to Graves Light Station on a good day. And with that, the discussion about lighthouses and meteorites was over for the moment. The U.S. General Services Administration, which is essentially the real estate arm of the government, was tasked with getting rid of it. Sager grew up in Malden, on the North Shore of Massachusetts, so maybe he just has that same nostalgia-fueled fascination. In spite of Boston Lights historic importance, it will be a huge challenge for the next steward to preserve the station, says Jeremy DEntremont, when I later reach him inside New Hampshires Portsmouth Harbor Light, home of the American Lighthouse Foundations local chapter. Order In 2013, the Kittery Historical and Naval Museum announced it was having difficulty paying the premium on the $800,000 insurance policy for the Boon Island lens. 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. They try to put them in the hands of groups that will keep them open to the public, but sometimes, like in Minots case, no public entity wants the responsibility. He amassed 13 units in a luxury Boston high-rise to create for himself a spacious, highly individualized home occupying three floors. The Lighthouse Establishment heard and responded. The auction attracted seven bidders, who submitted a total of seventy bids, and ended on October 13, 2014, with a high bid of $222,000. Thomas Farragher is a Globe columnist. Bobby Sager - Address & Phone Number | Whitepages No longer used as a main navigational aid, the lighthouse as we know it is slowly being rendered obsolete. This lens was one of two lenses, built using the Mahan system, that were displayed at the Columbian Exposition held at Chicago in 1893. In 2014, Polaroid Chairman "Bobby" Sager won the bid for Minot's Ledge . To find the money, he and his wife mortgaged their house, as did his mom, to help them out. Mahan devised a system where the flash panels in a Fresnel lens were so arranged to indicate numbers. 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. He says no. When the Coast Guard, which now owns only a small percentage of lighthouses, no longer needs a lighthouse, the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act facilitates a transfer with right of first refusal, at no cost, to a public or nonprofit organization. Keepers at Boon Island occasionally assisted mariners who found themselves in dire circumstances near the station. During 1842, civil engineer I.W.P. Exactly 40 feet overhead, like something from a dizzying Escher painting, is the maroon door to his second home, Graves Light Station. View Bobby Sager results including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. I had read that. At the bridge, I can finally move laterally, my soles sinking into the planks, and I tell Waller, with only 13 feet left, I dont like heights. We cross the bridge to the former oil room he turned into a guest house. 6th 5th In December 2014, just months after acquiring the lighthouse, Girard sold the property to Boon Island LLC for $119,673. The ladder up from sea level, Graves Light, built in 1905. Donovan (1895), Charles G. Everett (1895 1905), Ernest H. Small (1905 1909), Vivian A. Currier (1909 1910), Eugene N. Larsen (1910 1911), Fred M. Pease (1911 at least 1912), Percy A. Evans (at least 1939 1940). Unlike my grandmother, Im not pulling bass into a boat by hand. White Shoal Light, Lake Michigan With an asking bid of $15,000, this delightful candy cane of a lighthouse has been made famous for its representation on the "Save Our Lights . Mary Luther spent summers there with her grandfather, William C. Williams. At the time it was the most anyone had paid for a lighthouse. When youre out here, the whole world stops, as far as youre concerned, says Waller. When a whale went by, spouting, Id make believe that was my submarine. And Harold Hutchins daughter Shirley Kelley said: As a kid, it was my idea of Paradise! Part way to the tower, the dory sprang a leak. While the island itself is barren, it has a lush history best told in the words and deeds of its keepers and their families. To improve the conditions described in 1888, the exterior of the stone dwelling was torn out and rearranged, and a frame upper story was added to the dwelling. of Lamp Wicks 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. White Shoal Light. The Blizzard of 1978 helped write the last chapter in Boon Islands history as a manned light. They always say the best government is a benevolent king because his heart is in the right place, he says. The money was well spent, though; although many waves have crashed over the ninety-seven-foot tower and even broken windows, the lighthouse has sustained no significant structural damage. They were relied upon and honored. After the events of 9/11 over a decade ago, without a primary need, government lighthouse maintenance funds were absorbed during the incorporation of the Coast Guard into homeland security, leaving enough only to maintain the automated lights and foghorns. Captain William H. Swift, an engineer in the U.S. Topographical Department, knew that it would be terribly expensive if not impossible to build a traditional solid cylinder that could survive full exposure to the ocean. When he ran out of money a year into the renovation, he teamed up with another original bidder who matched his million, a local businessman named Bobby Sager, who has hosted celebrities like Sting and Tom Hanks at Graves. I dont have to fill in all the boxes before I decide to do something, for better or worse.. During the early 1930s, Fred Batty was an assistant keeper at Boon Island. 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. The US General Services Administration put the lighthouse up for auction in 2014. 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. The GSA says theyre a symbol of the strength and longevity of our countrys trading practices and communal spirit. In less governmenty terms theyre markers of a kind of simplicity and purposeful adventure, which is now all but obsolete. Yeaton (1864 1867), Joshua K. Card (1867 1874), Alfred J. Leavitt (1874 1886), Orrin M. Lamprey (1886 1888), William C. Williams (1888 1911), Mitchell Blackwood (1911 1916), Harry Smith (1916 1920), Albert Staples (1920 1923), Harold I. Hutchins (1924 1933), Charles E. Tracy (1933 1937), Hoyt P. Smith (1937 1942), William Parmenter (1944 1945), John Morris (at least 1945), Archie McLaughlin (at least 1947), Jerry Russell (at least 1954), Robert Edwards (1970 1973). In my winter gloves, treadless rubber boots, ski pants, and a life jacket, I climb, pausing on each step to prevent my forearms from seizing up in the cold. Find your friends on Facebook. 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. Maybe he just wants to be able to see it flash. What kind of a guy, Fine. Thirteen bidders participated in the auction, which closed on August 17 with a high bid of $78,000. See Sarah Sager's age, phone number, house address, email address, social media accounts, public records, and check for criminal records on Spokeo. 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. Sign up today. What kind of a guy can buy a lighthouse? Seacoasts, Sounds, River Entry, Bays, Channels, Range Lights. Log in or sign up for Facebook to connect with friends, family and people you know. I kind of feel guilty buying it, taking it, and making it mine, because it was built with public money, but it was put up for free to non-profits first and there were no takers.. . Minot's Ledge Lighthouse - Cohasset, Massachusetts In the case of the lens built for Minots Ledge, the number 143 was produced by eight flash panels that created three groups of flashes: the first showing one flash, the next four flashes, and the last three flashes. The men sought refuge in the tower as the angry seas damaged the fuel tanks, helicopter pad and generator building, and destroyed the boathouse and boat launch. He even salvaged a stanchion railing from a World War II minesweeper for the mahogany deck. Sometime after this, the light was dubbed the I-LOVE-YOU light do to its unique 1-4-3 flash pattern. Plus: lighthouses where you can spend the night. Minots blinks 143, so people call it the I Love You Light, and before Ray J made it a bad R&B song, my parents would sign letters and then send texts 143. As a seven year old, Moise was a soldier in the Congo. At our return to the house found all our water gone and all my turnips and cabage washt away and my walls all Down. Lighthouses across the country are crumbling amid worsening storms and dwindling funds. See list below of other lighthouses that allow tours and lodging. See Photos. Henry David Thoreau described passing Minots Ledge Lighthouse in 1849: Local nonprofits and people in the public sector have begun exploring an ownership transfer of the historic landmark through the 2000 act. Musician Annie Lennox and philanthropist and photographer Bobby Sager arrives for the 'Power Of The Invisible Sun' photocall at the Saatchi Gallery. As a whole, theyre basically obsolete theyre only designed to do one thing but theyre also historically significant, so the feds dont just want to flatten them. A before and after view of the fourth level inside the tower. 3.15 Keeper Williams account of the storm included the following: It was the hardest night we ever passed, and no one slept on the island during the entire night. Brazil. 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. The Dalai Lama, Sting, and Bobby Sager at Sager's home in Boston in 2012. Thomas Farragher is a Globe columnist. Philanthropist and photographer Bobby Sager, founder of the Sager Family Traveling Foundation and Roadshow, met Moise in 2005. 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. Boon Island In May 2000, Boon Island Lighthouse, from which a flashing white light, visible for nineteen nautical miles, is emitted every five seconds, was leased to the American Lighthouse Foundation. Instead, Swift proposed a radical new design consisting of nine, sixty-foot-long iron pilings cemented five feet into the submerged rock, atop which would perch the lantern and keepers dwelling. But he is. Sager also was a partner and the president of Gordon Brothers Group from 1985 to 2000. Rick Friedman/Sager Family Found Stay up-to-date with important news developments, delivered right to your inbox.. 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. . Perhaps its best that the lighthouse has been left for the ghosts to inhabit in solitude. Dave Waller sits in the lantern room during a NorEaster last winter. Although William C. Williams remained at Boon Island longer than any other keeper, his mind was not immune from the effects of the storms that often raked the island: The 1888 Annual Report of the Lighthouse Board described the structures at the station. residents on the mainland could hear the keepers furiously ringing the fog bell. 220 People named Bobby Sager. During the 28 years that he's lived on Tremont Street, Bobby Sager said he loved to hear the sounds of the bell at Park Street Church. Waller has done a ton of work on the tower. Phone Number: (661) 296-MJKV. Log In. Though the government has the right to reject all bids if it believes a fair market price has not been achieved, the $78,000 bid was approved a few weeks after the auction closed, and the lighthouse was awarded to Arthur Girard a real estate developer from Portland, Maine.
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