Chesapeake Bay Mag, New Lighthouse Owner Steps Inside For The First Time
The Pennsylvania man who bought the historic Hooper Island at auction, sight unseen, just made his first trip out to see his fixer upper—miles from shore and up a precarious ladder.
We were the first news media too see inside the 120-year-old lighthouse. Cheryl Costello exclusively captures the new owner’s reaction to the project that may be his biggest challenge yet.
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To call it a fixer-upper would be generous. There’s no running water, no heat, no electricity.
Once one gets past the romance of buying a historic Chesapeake Bay lighthouse, there’s lead paint, asbestos and toxic benzene. Vandals broke down the door and seabirds died inside. Crap is everywhere. Oh, it sits in about 18-feet of water within a U.S. Navy testing site called a “danger zone.”
Who wants the Hooper Island Lighthouse anyway?
When the federal government auctioned the 120-year-old lighthouse in September, as a last resort, a bidding war broke out. The price jumped from $15,000 to $38,000. Then $189,000.
“I was expecting nobody to want it,” said Greg Krawczyk, vice president of the Chesapeake chapter of the U.S. Lighthouse Society.
Five anonymous bidders wanted the rusty “spark plug,” so-called for its cylinder base and 70-foot tower, three miles off the coast of Dorchester County. In the end, someone paid $192,000.
“Odd Chesapeake Bay lighthouse sells for absurd sum at auction,” a website mocked.
The buyer remained a mystery until the clerk of court for Dorchester County recorded the deed on Dec. 27. It lists a name: Richard Cucé, of Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
One might have guessed a nonprofit foundation, but Cucé? He runs an industrial painting company outside Allentown. He knows rusty metal, but isn’t even a boater. What does a divorced father of four who plays in a band and teaches yoga want with a broken-down lighthouse 200 miles away?
A 52-year-old contractor, Cucé (Cu-Chay) started the industrial painting and sandblasting business Blastco during the mid-1990s in Eastern Pennsylvania. In two decades, he’s blasted and painted everything from train cars to roller coasters. Why not a lighthouse?
“I get excited about making something rust-proof forever,” he said.
. . .
“If somebody tells him it won’t work, he’ll go and do it. That’s been the fire for a lot of things in his life,” said Dominic, his oldest son.
Now, he’s still dreaming, of a nonprofit foundation and a marketing slogan. “Restore the lighthouse, restore the bay.” Cucé started a Facebook page with a glamor shot of the old light. “Feeling Rusty, might delete later.” He wants to invite environmental groups to monitor water quality and marine life from its deck. It sits near the edge of oxygen-depleted water known as the “dead zone.”
He wants to hire watermen from the three Hoopers Islands to help with the work. His thoughts race with the possibilities. He sent pitches for a documentary on the renovation. How about a YouTube series? A Hollywood film? Later, sunset cruises, a wedding dest ination, a yoga retreat. Just taste it — Hooper Island Light beer.
First things first. Cucé had to get a boat.
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| Hoopers Island |
This tiny, off-the-beaten-path island is one of Maryland’s best-kept secrets. Hoopers Island is located in western Dorchester County and is surrounded by water with the Chesapeake Bay on the left side and the Honga River on the right side.
The drive to Hoopers takes only about 40 minutes from Cambridge but once you're there you'll feel worlds away from the mainland.
Depending on what month you plan your visit, you'll find plenty of watermen and women baiting trot lines, crabbing, and harvesting oysters in the late fall and winter. Hoopers has a rich history as a seafood empire that got its start in the early 1900s.
As the article mentions, you can't visit Hoopers without indulging in their authentic culinary scene, which features some of the best seafood restaurants Maryland offers.
Among them include Old Salty's an iconic institution that serves some of the freshest seafood in the country. Open even in the winter, Old Salty's is known for its wide variety of crab dishes from crab pretzels to crab sandwiches, even crab nuggets.
It's a long drive from here, but it might be kind of fun to try to get lunch there by boat.
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| I was there a couple weeks ago |
It’s a real estate opportunity that doesn’t come around too often: the chance to own a historic Chesapeake Bay lighthouse.
That opportunity is on the table right now, as the federal government attempts to auction off Hooper Island Light, marking the shoals 3-4 miles west of Hooperville on upper Hooper Island.
The lighthouse, first lit in 1902, is the only cast-iron caisson lighthouse in Maryland with a watch room and lantern surmounted on the tower, according to the U.S. Lighthouse Society (USLHS) Chesapeake Chapter. It is exactly halfway down the Chesapeake Bay.
One of only five lights constructed in the Bay during the 1900s, Hooper Island Light had a fourth-order Fresnel lens built in Paris in 1888. That was changed to a fixed white that flashed every 15 seconds in 1904, controlled by a lightkeeper until 1961 when it was automated and the keepers removed. Sadly, the fourth-order Fresnel lens was stolen in 1976 and the Coast Guard replaced with a solar optic.
The lighthouse was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002 and declared “excess property” by the federal government in 2006.
Now, a U.S. General Services Administration online auction is open with an opening bid of $15,000. It has no bids so far.
What will the new owner of Hooper Island light get? Vertical-style living and plenty of privacy.
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| An interior view |
The four-story tower rises about 63 feet above the waterline. The first level is the kitchen. The second, a bedroom. The third level served as an office and the top floor was a living space for the keepers. The living spaces are “lined with white glazed bricks,” according to USLHS. There is also a watch room level and lantern level.
The lighthouse boasts a deep water “slip” as it sits in about 18 feet of water.
There is some fine print to the purchase of the lighthouse. The buyer gets the structure, but the underlying submerged land does not convey in the sale—it remains with the U.S. government per a cession deed from 1924.
The Coast Guard will continue to operate and maintain the automated light as an Aid to Navigation. The owner must adhere to historic preservation covenants. And finally, the buyer must come to an agreement with the U.S. Navy. Hooper Island Light is located within a Navy-controlled surface danger area. So the buyer must enter into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Navy stipulating when access to the lighthouse is allowed for safety reasons.
If your curiosity is piqued and you’d like to go see the property, you must do it from a safe distance. “Tying off to, climbing, anchoring to or trespassing on the property is strictly prohibited due to safety concerns,” the online auction states.
Bidding is open from now until Sept. 21, 2022. To find out more about the lighthouse auction and seeing the property, contact GSA’s Tod J. Taylor:
Phone: 404-215-6751
Fax: 404-215-8600
tod.taylor@gsa.gov
Tempting, but no place to walk the dog.
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| Sharp's Island Light |
