Rear Range Light effort continues

Seasonal tourist activity may be slowing down, but the Port Boca Grande Lighthouse still has a busy schedule ahead of them through the summer.

Currently, Sharon McKenzie, the executive director of the Barrier Island Parks Society, is working with several agencies in an ongoing attempt to convince the Federal Bureau of Land Management, the Coast Guard and the Army Corps of Engineers to relinquish their claim on the Rear Range Light off Gulf Blvd. The change has already gone through the approval stage with the Coast Guard, but now has to clear the Department of Defense.

“We are currently working on it with Connie Mack’s office, they’re trying to get some answers from Washington,” McKenzie said. “I have been working with the Coast Guard to find out why they won’t release the property. I will also be calling other officials who have helped others in the past in obtaining releases for other lighthouses around the country.”

At a BIPS meeting in late 2007, President Bruce Stirling said that several concerned citizens had volunteered to help in repainting the range light, which has fallen into disrepair over the years. Stirling said they would first have to obtain permission for right-of-way to the range light before any repairs to peeling paint and rust could begin.

Stirling also said at the meeting that a lot of confusion centered around the fact that no one at the Department of Defense seemed to know whose job it was to sign off on ownership, as a decree over 100 years ago was made by the Department of War.

The rear range light was renamed the “Gasparilla Island Light” last year. The skeleton-style range light was moved to Boca Grande from its home outside of Lewes, Delaware after being built in 1881.

On Saturday, Sept. 20, Florida Lighthouse Day will be celebrated at the Port Boca Grande Lighthouse with refreshments, games and crafts for kids, raffles and a visit from the Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter, Dian McKeithen Miller.

McKenzie is also excited that the lighthouse has been named as a charity to benefit from the Howl at the Moon tarpon tournament, which will be held May 31 from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m.

“We are so excited about it, we will be open that evening for the tournament,” she said. “It will be open to the public, and it’s going to be really wonderful. Reggie (Norman, the head judge for the tournament) will be on the porch with the radio, and with the full moon there will be great visibility of the boats in the pass.”

The lighthouse will be open for the entire time that fishing is going on.

T-shirts and raffle tickets will be sold, and all proceeds will benefit the lighthouse directly. The gift shop will be open and wine and cheese will be served.

Also, due to recent fires at Cayo Costa State Park, McKenzie said they are seeking donations for new park vehicles.

“Ever since the big fire a few weeks ago, and the smaller fires we have had out there since, our park vehicles have been damaged,” she said. “They were used vehicles to begin with, and after working with the fires so hard they have totally broken down.”

Any donations toward new park vehicles can be sent to the Barrier Island Parks Society, PO Box 637, Boca Grande, Fl. 33921.

Summer hours begin on June 1. The lighthouse will be closed on Monday and Tuesday, and will be open Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday, 12 to 4 p.m. It will also be closed on all major holidays, and will also be closed the entire month of August.