So far, almost 50 have been transferred or sold, with the most expensive -- Chesapeake Bay's Baltimore Harbor Light -- going for $260,000. This auction season, at least seven are expected to land in private hands, including Borden Flats, which was purchased Sept. 22 for $55,000. The winner, not yet publicly identified, has 60 days to close the sale.
Potential bidders must make a refundable deposit of about $10,000. The auction opens at about $5,000, and competition can get fierce.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday, October 26, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 23 words Type of Material: Correction
Lighthouse auctions: A caption in Section A on Oct. 19 about federal auctions of obsolete lighthouses misspelled Fall River, Mass., as Falls River.
"At some point we were in a bidding war," said Aimee Russell, a first mate on a private yacht, who won the Baltimore Harbor Light auction in 2006 with her husband and their friends.
"We were bidding back and forth," said co-owner Jane Cox. "You have to put your money where your mouth is."
To get that money, members of the group refinanced their homes. They now spend much of their free time at the lighthouse, more than a mile and a half off the western shore of Chesapeake Bay -- chipping off old paint, redoing woodwork and worrying about installing impact-resistant but historically accurate windows, which can cost about $1,000 each.
Since the program began, every released lighthouse but one has been considered historically significant, said Ralph Conner, director of real property utilization at the General Services Administration, the federal agency that oversees the lighthouse transfers. As a result, proposed renovations must be cleared with state historic preservation offices.
"You won't be seeing an advertising billboard on these lighthouses or someone coming in and painting them fuchsia," he said.
Gonsoulin and his extended family paid $31,000 for their lighthouse three years ago. They have invested about $130,000 to transform the tower, which resembles a red wedding cake, into a comfortable spot -- complete with glossy paint, finished floors and a flat-screen TV -- for relaxing and enjoying the view of passing ships in one of the country's busiest harbors.
But one question inevitably follows those who decide to invest so much in what appears to be so little: Why?
For some who make it their business to collect unusual things, a lighthouse is simply the ultimate novelty item. For others, there are more nostalgic undercurrents.
Lighthouses, particularly on the East Coast, where U.S. maritime commerce began, have long enjoyed a cult following.
To enthusiasts they symbolize a kind of purposeful seclusion, inextricably tied to a time of tall ships and treacherous sea crossings.
