COLUMBUS, OH -- Renovations continue at Marblehead Lighthouse State Park in Ottawa County and the facility remains off-limits to the public until next May, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR).
We are happy to have the project underway, said Scott Doty, park manager. It is important for the long-term preservation of this historic site.
The $500,000 NatureWorks project began in mid-October. Currently contractors are replacing overhead brick and masonry work on the exterior of the 180-year-old lighthouse and performing extensive repairs to the nearby on-site keeper's house.
TSC of Toledo, the main contractor, has milled special replacement boards to authentically match the rest of the siding on the 1880s-era keeper's house, now serving as a museum. Inside, workers are refinishing several wood floors, upgrading some electrical lighting and installing air conditioning - important for preserving historic items displayed there. Work is also progressing on the home's foundation. Both the lighthouse and the on-site keeper's house will receive a fresh coat of paint by the time the project is completed in the spring.
The George Gradel Company, also of Toledo, is finishing an extensive redesign of the site. The plan calls for a relocated and enlarged parking lot for better traffic circulation and a new picnic area located east of the parking area.
More than 400,000 people have visited Marblehead Lighthouse State Park during 2001. The Marblehead Lighthouse Volunteers, United States Coast Guard Auxiliary and The Marblehead Lighthouse Historical Society assist the park staff with public tours during the summer months. Records show people from all 50 states, as well as 33 other countries, have visited the park over the years. Marblehead Lighthouse is the oldest continuously working lighthouse on the Great Lakes. It became Ohios seventy-third state park in 1998.