The iconic Ledge Lighthouse, which sits at the mouth of the Thames River in Connecticut, between New London and Groton, has just undergone a quarter of a million dollars of repair work to prevent it from falling apart.
Although it’s still an active aid to navigation for ships and vessels using the waters around it, the Coast Guard transferred its ownership and upkeep to a local New London nonprofit in 2014, and they have maintained it as a museum.
Bruce Buckley is the president of the Ledge Light Foundation, whose volunteers help to maintain the lighthouse, and said it’s all part of a government sell-off.
“They want to divest themselves of as many of the lighthouses that make sense. There are some important ones around the country that they don’t want to sell. The other ones, like Ledge Lighthouse, they can’t afford to pay for the upkeep," Buckley said. "They like to get some private or public organizations involved. So, what they do is they solicit bids from non-profits that would use the lighthouse as an educational platform or one that they could just install in a museum and have people come out."
Buckley said the repairs to the structure have made it safe for visitors to return next spring, but they will need around three to four million dollars in the near future to restore it completely. They are hoping to raise that money through a GoFundMe campaign and money from state bonding.