1860 Light Station

I had so much fun today! I met my sister-in-law in Port Washington for lunch, as it's about the half-way point between her home & mine, & while there, I took this photo of the 1860 Light Station. Port Washington built it's first coastal lighthouse on this site in 1849--it's high on a natural bluff overlooking Lake Michigan. In 1860 that lighthouse was demolished & this building was put in it's place--a single structure that housed both the keeper & the lighthouse. It maximized visibility from Lake Michigan, & the keeper could light this lantern from inside the house. In 1935 the city built a new art deco styled pier lighthouse (blipped July 23rd), so at that time this old light station was converted into a duplex; the keeper & his family lived there, as the keeper still had to walk out to light the lantern in the new lighthouse, but the tower & lantern on top of this building were torn down. Fast forward to the fall of 2000. This house was empty & falling apart, so the Port Washington Historical Society aquired it from the city & began a restoration with a most unique partner, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. The Duchy built an exact replica of the original tower & lantern room in Luxembourg, Europe; they then dismantled it, & shipped it to the US., along with 6 Luxembourg craftsmen who, with the help of local volunteers, re-assembled the structure & hoisted it into place. Luxembourg donated this amazing gift 1) in honor of the American GI's that liberated their country from Germany in the WWII Battle of the Bulge, & 2) in memory of the many Luxembourgers that settled in this areas in the 1840's & 1850's.