For Sale: Historic Island Lighthouse
Ok, how about this one: an 1867 active, automated, fully functioning gray stone Lighthouse on a remote island near the eastern end of Lake Ontario. It is the oldest lighthouse on Lake Ontario and presides on over an acre of waterfront land, surrounded on three sides by a New York State operated “wildlife refuge” which has recently been sold. The lighthouse itself is 55 feet in height and, including the attached two-story limestone keepers dwelling, contains 2500 square feet of space all of which overlooks its own beach and 160 frontage feet of private Lake Ontario shoreline. The complex is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Galloo Island covers some 2,000 acres of land and measures some 4.5 miles (7 km) in length with variances in width up to 1.5 miles (2.5 km) at its widest point. It’s located approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) from the New York mainland and 5 miles (8.0 km) southeast of the international border between the US and Canada. (As an aside, the building does need extensive restoration and the nearest Home Depot is in Watertown, NY, some 24 miles (38.6 km) and a boat ride away … Just say’in.) As you can imagine, this may create a bit of a challenge for me and my obsession with hardware stores (I have no alliances, I equally enjoy Home Depot, Lowes, Home Hardware – in fact, I find these stores all interchangeable with no real differences – bit of a missed brand differentiation opportunity if you ask me … but what do I know?) The realtor states in one of the listings that the island is easily accessible by boat or helicopter (neither of which I have access to, and just how many sheets of plywood can one load into the average helicopter. Something to ponder.)
The original structure was commissioned on March 3, 1819, by US Congress who appropriated $12,500 for its construction. This structure was replaced in 1867 by a new state of the art sixty-foot-tall tower and head keeper’s dwelling. The original 1819 lightkeepers house, it was decided was to be retained and repurposed for use as a residence for the light keeper’s assistant. Now, I have to pause for a sec here and ask, “What does a lighthouse keeper really do?”. It must be really complicated and important to require a 7-24 keeper and an actual role (and a house) for an assistant to that keeper (I should really Google that). So, I guess you change the light bulbs, Windex the glass and … um … read manuals? I have to admit, the isolation would be an amazing break every once in a while, but day in day out, winter, summer, could be somewhat daunting. I would like to think the lack of distractions would offer a great opportunity to take a few on-line cooking classes or to learn a new language (learning Italian would be a nice complement to the cooking course) or to finish that great novel I have been noodling around in my head (assuming of course, you have a strong internet connection – which is iffy at best I would assume.) More than likely, it has the potential to turn into that great opportunity Jack Nicolson had as winter caretaker at the infamous Timberline Lodge … Damn Jack Nicolson for ruining this dream too!
Despite protests from boaters at the time, the Galloo Island Lighthouse was automated in 1963, with a communication line installed to connect the lighthouse with the island Coast Guard boat station allowing the remote operation of the facility, eliminating the need for a resident keeper (and assistant). In 1983, The Galloo Island Lighthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places, and fifteen years later in 1997, the Coast Guard, with new satellite navigation services now the norm, declared the station redundant. This decision, coupled with the inability of the government to devise creative or alternative uses for the historic site (far be it for the government to be creative!), the “General Services Administration Office of Property Disposal” (how’s that for a specific Government Agency title?) put the property up for auction with a minimum bid of $50,000. A condition of the sale pertains to the existing light, which is to remain housed in the tower and maintained by the Coast Guard (and well Windexed I presume).
There were four bids submitted for the lighthouse which were opened on September 27, 2000, identifying an oddly specific winning bid of $87,654, submitted by Cara C. Divnah of Vallejo, California. Philip J. Kemper, who the previous year had made a successful $2.47 million bid for most of the balance of the 2000 acres of Galloo Island (on behalf of PRK Holdings Group of Syracuse) came in third, with a bid of $55,000.
Mrs. Divnah and her husband are investors who specialize in buying and re-selling unique and unusual properties and apparently put their bid in on the lighthouse “sight unseen.” It seems they were drawn solely to the financial opportunity of a quick flip, not by the attractiveness of the property nor the creative opportunity of the location, as, a mere two months following the successful purchase of the property, the opportunistic couple put the lighthouse back on the market for more than four times their purchase price at an ambitious $395,000. At first light, this would not have been a bad return on their initial $87k investment, however, the VERY limited market for a remote lighthouse apparently makes it hard sell resulting in the property being on and off the market at various price points since then – including a failed attempt to sell the lighthouse on eBay in 2006. In 2007, a dedicated website was created for the lighthouse, offering the property for the low, low price of $295,000. At a similar time, the larger, privately held balance of Galloo Island was also placed on the market for an ambitious asking price of $12,750,000. The link for that opportunity is here and includes: an airstrip; a seven-bedroom lodge constructed in 1889 and 9 additional structures including; a guest house; a log home, barns and the islands sole protected access harbour. Prior to being listed, it had been available for short term rentals at a weekly rate of $19,500. In 2015, the owners reduced the asking price for this large parcel to $9.9 million. (Including a waterfront lot on the mainland with a boathouse).
On Jan 4, 2022, it was reported that the “Galloo Island Farms LLC of Williamstown, Mass purchased the large parcel from owners, The Galloo Island Corp, for $5.8 million dollars. From what I can tell, they also acquired the one-acre portion on which the lighthouse resides. The purchasers, Michael S. Patten, of Naples, Florida and his son, John, said Tuesday that no development of any kind is planned for the island, as there goal is to restore and conserve the land, which is more admirable than my plans for an isolated retreat. My first thought was to take the Patten’s statement as the BS it sounds to be, however, the family does have a history of environmental stewardship with another property they own, Woodlife Ranch, an 1,100-acre preserve in the Berkshire Mountains where they have focused on habitat restoration, soil regeneration and resource conservation.
Although this location is no longer an option at this time, exploring the potential of an isolated island lighthouse retreat remains appealing … so appealing!
