FRHL volunteer Elaine Roberts sweeps down the wood staircase in the keeper's house (Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.)
ALF’s Friends of Rockland Harbor Lights will open the door to Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse for the season during Memorial Day weekend and welcome visitors inside to tour the historic site. Before this annual occasion occurs, volunteers have made sure your upcoming visit will “pass inspection.”
On Saturday, May 18, 2013, a group of energized volunteers journeyed to the lighthouse to sweep clean the vestiges of inactivity that settled in over the winter; vacuuming rooms, wiping down fixtures, cleaning windows and making sure all working parts within the lighthouse and keeper’s house functioned as they should.
In addition to tidying-up the light station, the volunteer work crew flexed their muscles during the effort to temporarily move the gift shop from its traditional location in the engine room of the lighthouse to the kitchen area in the keeper’s house. The move of the gift shop proved necessary so that the engine room’s cement floor can be professionally restored during the month of June.
Moving a couple of the gift shop display cases required some creative thinking and a good amount of strength on the part of the volunteers, who had to lift them through the narrow, L-shape entryway between the engine room and kitchen. In true keeper-like fashion, the move of the fixtures was accomplished without a scratch to the painted walls or wood floors!
FRHL volunteer Craig Mathieson helped move a number of gift shop fixtures (Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.)
Once the fixtures for the temporary location of the gift shop were configured, volunteers then began filling the shelves with a host of lighthouse related merchandise for people to purchase during their visit to Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse in 2013.
At the end of the day, the interior of the light tower and keeper’s house was left with a fresh, clean gleam in each of the rooms and was once again ready to welcome visitors for a one-of-a-kind educational and cultural experience that includes the opportunity to go to sea without ever leaving land – lighthouse keeper style!
Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse is open to the public on weekends from Memorial Day to Columbus Day, 11 am to 5 pm. Be sure to stop by and visit the lighthouse this summer and see up-close all the great things that the Friends of Rockland Harbor Lights continue to accomplish at the site. They’ll “leave the light on” for you!
(L to R) FRHL volunteers Marilyn Trask and Sally Cran multi-task - performing inventory and displaying gift store merchadise (Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.)
FRHL volunteer Kathy Macpherson made sure the windows in the living room sparkled (Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr)
FRHL volunteer Eric Davis vacuums the walls and floor of the engine room (Photo by Bob Trapani, Jr.)
