Lighthouse restoration begins

Beautiful Bakers Island is warming up!  We can wear shorts and T-shirts...in the daytime!

Daily life for us includes painting and repairs, grass cutting and grounds maintenance.  Sun-showers late afternoon, either warm or cool, depending on June sunshine.  Evenings on our front porch to dine, play either cribbage, canasta, Scrabble or Quiddler, and watch the sunsets.  Almost every evening the Western sunset is pink/orange spectacular.  As we relax, we are often treated to evening sailboat clubs tacking around Salem Harbor.

Painting is an especially quiet, contemplative time for us when it is just Greg and Mary.  Having been together 45 years, there is often just the sound of songbirds, gulls and surf.  However, when Leslie, an Essex Heritage volunteer came out a few weeks ago, we talked non-stop all morning.  We painted the first coat of a dark brown paneled mid-20th century room, which we are now transforming to modern white after three coats of paint.

Mason, Martin Nally, and his 3-man crew arrived early yesterday to start re-surfacing of the light tower.  Marty, the mason who did the last Coast Guard resurfacing in 1995, wrote a children's book back then, "My Dad Fixed the Lighthouse."  His 5 year old son Marty was the main character of the book. Marty Jr is now a 25 year old member of the masonry crew.  Power washing is much louder than painting, however it is such a pleasure having these guys who love the island and the sea this much.

Lighthouse restoration will forge ahead for a few more weeks thanks to the successful Kickstarter campaign.  We are very excited that the Essex Heritage "Naumkeag" will start bringing visitors to the Bakers Island Light Station this week.  Also looking forward to two months of hot weather in July and August, the typical New England summer.

Small island life is like none other.  We see the Atlantic Ocean from every window and from everywhere we walk.  Though we are under a Logan Airport flightpath and can see civilization to the North and West, we mostly listen to the surf, the gulls and the green bell buoy just off shore.  Early mornings and evenings, we are in our own quiet, peaceful world.  The automated Bakers Light doesn't go on until after 9pm in these longest days of the year.

Excitement came with visitors from the island who asked to see the lighthouse, then a staff trip from Essex Heritage.   We climbed the 48 narrow spiral steps to the tower to view 360 degrees of ocean, islands and land.  One cannot but be in awe of the light keepers of old who lit candles or wicks one half hour before sunset until one half hour after sunrise.

Challenges to the modern island dweller are nothing compared to the residents of old,  however a few days without solar electricity, well water pressure, nor heat, were a test of our mettle.  New batteries from the mainland to store our solar power, return of the sun to harness solar power and a trip to the grocery store brought back modern comforts.

Painting and restoration of Assistant Keepers House create satisfying improvements every day.

Apple blooms have gone by, as well as the lilacs, but beach roses are in their high, pink bloom.  Gull eggs haven't hatched yet but  two parents per nest squawk and screech at Mitchie and me if we walk too close.  More and more boats in the channel out to sea as well as in Salem Harbor.  Summer is upon us!

                                                    Sunset from our front porch

                                                    Now a plastic replica of the original
                                                    4th Order Fresnel lens.  Original is
                                                    in the Lighthouse Museum, Rockland ME

                                                    Skipper Greg taking us to Misery Island

After 10 days on Bakers Island, our Keeper's House feels like home; work and relaxation every day.

Big events of the last week include professional refinishing of wood floors in Assistant Keeper's House, professional painting of all ceilings and Greg and Mary started repainting walls of first room.

We have our two moorings back after diver restored them after winter losses.  We retrieved the Essex Heritage Boston Whaler from its Salem boatyard and made our "maiden voyage" ending in harrowing fog.  We plan to purchase a GPS.  We decided our Whaler is only suitable for 2 or 3 people and our dinghy is way too heavy to use much.  We will be visiting the mainland frequently but tying up to docks as often as possible.

On Saturday we visited near-by Misery Island.  Great Misery, 83 acres, and Little Misery, 4 acres, are managed by the Massachusetts land conservation group, Trustees of Reservations.  We took the closest mooring on the ocean side of the island and hiked the shore land Red Trail.  Misery is mostly gone to wild, but ruins of summer homes devastated in a 1926 brush fire still remain.  When we got over  to the leeward side of the island, about 50 boats (!) were enjoying the hot bright sun of early
summer.

Yesterday, Sunday, an early summer Nor' Easter moved in.  Rain, wind, fog horn on and off, then our solar powered batteries failed; no water pump, no electric lights.  We survived!  Ended the day playing Racehorse Canasta by lantern light; slept cozy under down comforters with sweatshirts and socks on.

Looking forward to the July start of the Essex Heritage tour boat.  The Naumkeag, carrying up to 18 passengers,  is the best way for friends and family to visit us.  Call 978-740-0444.

Kickstarter Lighthouse repair campaign off to a good start.  Check Essex Heritage under Kickstarter.org