New Mural in Havre de Grace

Photo and more information found here

Have you seen the recently completed mural by Shawn Forton? The Lighthouse and O'Neill cannon are both featured prominently. The mural is located behind the Susquehanna Hose Company's House No.1 off of Juniata Street. What a fantastic way to add art to the city and display some of our local treasures...including Shawn!

Cannon Returned

After more than a year of rehabilitation at the Maryland Conservation Lab, the War of 1812 cannon has been returned to Concord Point!  We are excited to have it back, especially with the burning of Havre de Grace Bicentennial next May 3.  The cannon marks the spot where John O'Neill singlehandedly fired on the British during their attack.  John O'Neill was our first light keeper, in part because of his heroics that day.

Come take your photo with the cannon today! Link to article and video on The Patch here.

1st Place!

The Friends of Concord Point decided to create a float for the Havre de Grace Independence Day Parade this year and we won 1st place in the Sr. Organizational Float category!  Hopefully, some of you saw the parade.  It was lots of fun even if it was hot!

Photo Credit: Leo Heppner

Congratulations to everyone and thank you for all of your hard work!  We will have to start working now to come up with something to top this year's design next year!!

Star Spangled Banner

The version of the  United States flag flown during the War of 1812 is now for sale at the Keeper's House!  This flag had 15 stars and 15 stripes for the first 15 states.  This was the only flag with 15 stripes.  In 1818, Congress decided that from then on the flag would have only 13 stripes for the original colonies.

Fly your own Star Spangled Banner! We are selling 3x5' flags at $20 each.  Get yours today and celebrate the importance of the War of 1812!

2012 Member Reception

The 2012 Member Reception took place on June 3 and it was a great success!  It was wonderful to see so many members and a few new faces.  Musical entertainment was provided by Dr. David Jaffe and the weather was lovely.

A rainbow just for us!

Dr. Jaffe sharing his musical talents.

Raffle winners Brenda Jaffe and Vince Nowakowski with the artist Carol Albert.

Our wonderful members!

If you are interested in becoming a member of the Friends of Concord Point, please contact us at 410-939-3213 or concordpointlighthouse@verizon.net. We welcome everyone!

Special Exhibit in the Keeper's House

We are pleased to have a special temporary exhibit in the Keeper's House, courtesy of Dallas Kane.  Dallas is a 4th grader at Harford Christian School and recently completed a project on the Lighthouse.  He did the research and built the model all by himself!  Dallas' presentation advanced and won third place in the competition. 

Thank you Dallas, for sharing your hard work with all of our visitors!

Stop by soon and see his wonderful model!

2012 Star Spangled Banner Commemorative Coin Program

Obverse side - depicting Lady Liberty waving the 15 star, 15 stripe flag with Ft. McHenry in the background

Reverse side - depicting waving modern American flag

The US Mint has issued several coins commemorating the Bicentennial of the War of 1812.  We are pleased to announce that a limited number of these coins will be available for purchase in the Keeper’s House gift shop.  The silver coin proof is $54.95 to purchase.  There is a mintage limit of 500,000 through the US Mint.

The Star-Spangled Banner Commemorative Coin Act was signed into law on August 16, 2010 in commemoration of the bicentennial of the writing of our national anthem.  According to the law, the designs shall be emblematic of the War of 1812, particularly the Battle of Baltimore that formed the basis for the lyrics of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Visit the gift shop to buy your coin before they are all gone!

Free State's Finest 2012

Havre de Grace has been featured in Maryland Life Magazine's Free State Finest awards!  We won several awards, one being Best Historic District.   Here is the link to the full list: http://www.marylandlife.com/articles/2012-free-states-finest/index.html

These are just a few more reasons to visit Havre de Grace and come climb the lighthouse!

See you soon!

2012 Season

We are now open for the season!  The Lighthouse and Keeper's House will be open on Saturdays and Sundays from 1pm-5pm until the end of October.  Come visit us!

The view from the tower is wonderful and there are new exhibits in the Keeper's House.  Put us on your list of places to visit this summer.

We would love for you to become a member of the Friends of Concord Point.  Contact us at 410-939-3213 or visit our website, www.concordpointlighthouse.org  for more information.

Let's 'Keep the Light Burning'!

Changes

Posts without rails.

Stacking the rails.

He has to cut every rail by hand!

We are beginning to make some changes to the lighthouse and keeper's house grounds.  The house has been restored to the 1880's time period and now we are ready to restore the grounds as well.  One of the first things to go is a fence installed around the lighthouse probably in the 1970's.  With concrete posts and pipe railings, it doesn't really convey the historic feel that we want.  So, out with the fence and hopefully, in with a more appropriate split rail fence painted white.  We have images of the lighthouse from the late 1800's with this type of fence so it will be a wonderful addition to the property.  We would also like to add wooden boardwalks to the keeper's house grounds.  These are historically accurate as well and were desperately needed during those years because the property flooded frequently and the family living here had to be able to get the privy located some feet from the house!

 More updates to come as we proceed.

Did You Know...

Penfield Reef Light in Fairfield, Connecticut is currently up for auction.

Did you know that the US General Services Administration administers a federal program that conveys historic lighthouses to new stewards in accordance to the provisions set forth in the National Historic Lighthouses Preservation Act?

"Lighthouses across the country will be made available to federal, state, and local governments and eligible nonprofit organizations. Organizations interested in these lighthouses will compete through a rigorous application process. If no suitable steward is identified, the lighthouses will be auctioned to the general public (found here)."

Click here to see the list of lighthouses available this year.

Concord Point was decommissioned by the US Coast Guard in 1975 and given to the city of Havre de Grace for safekeeping.  A group of citizens concerned about its preservation incorporated as "The Friends of Concord Point Lighthouse, Inc" and the rest is history!

Those who have followed in the original "Friends" footsteps will continue to 'keep the light burning' and preserve the lighthouse and keeper's house for future generations.  Thank you to the original group for having the passion and vision to save the lighthouse!

Lighthouse Quilt

J. Hartsell - Concord Lighthouse 2012 - Painted Quilt

This beautiful quilt was created by an artist, Jill Hartsell, who grew up here in Havre de Grace and has since moved to North Carolina.

Her description, "The middle of the quilt is painted with appliqué clouds and the outer squares are painted from scenes around Havre de Grace from...pictures [taken] on the Cheasapeake Bay. This is special textile paint that keeps the fabric soft and is washable. Then the rest has squares were sewn in a pattern around it. The quilt will be in an art show in NC in March. I hope you enjoy."

Jill remembers climbing the lighthouse in the days when it was left unlocked and open all the time!

What a beautifully unique depiction of our lighthouse!
Thank you for sharing, Jill!

Lighthouse Keeper

THE LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER from THE LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER team on Vimeo.

I just ran across this video on Vimeo.  Although obviously fictional, there are many challenges a lighthouse keeper faces each and every night.  Bravo to all of the brave men and women who kept the light shining during their tenure as Keeper of the Light. 

There were at least seven keepers here at Concord Point and we honor their work by maintaining the lighthouse and retelling its history.

Lighting the Way

I was reading through The Lighthouse Endeavor's Keeper's Journal and he posted this image of the recent Italian cruise ship tragedy.  Look at the lighthouses flanking the ship.  Are the lights still shining?  Do you think that they helped the survivors find their way as I'm sure they did so many times in the past? 

Never doubt that lighthouses and even more modern navigational devices are extremely important and always help to light the way to safety.

One last look at the Holidays

Happy New Year!  2012 promises to be a great year for Concord Point Lighthouse.  Many projects are in the works, so make a visit (or several) to the lighthouse a priority. As always, check back here for frequent updates and information.  In the meantime, I leave you with one last view of the holidays in Havre de Grace and the decorated lighthouse with this video created by ScenicRoadTrip.