The best part of fixing up The Graves hasn’t been the fabulous sunsets, discovering the dramatic history, or even watching. those cute baby seals.
It’s the wonderful people we’ve met along the way.
Hats off to the fellow whose been with us since the early days and still the most eager to jump on the early morning work boat.
Randy Clark, ladies and gents!
Italy’s magnificent ship-rigged Amerigo Vespucci has visited Boston again!
She is seen passing by Graves Light as she entered the harbor on July 17.
After a trans-Atlantic trip to the Americas, the 330-foot ship made its first visit to Boston since 2000. The Boston Globe covered the visit.
We saluted the Amerigo Vespucci as it entered Broad Sound, passing us as a light fog burned off the harbor.
The ship is an Italian Navy training vessel. It honors the great Italian explorer – whose Latin name, Americus Vespucius, inspired the name of the two American continents and, consequently, our country.
Vespucci (1454-1512) proved that the American continents were their own land masses, and were not, as had been believed, parts of East Asia.
Nat puts up the tile in the first-ever Graves Light bathroom.
Lots of enthusiasm here at Graves Light as we ready the new bathroom.
The lighthouse never had indoor plumbing as we know it, so a bathroom here is a first.
Master carpenter Nat is at it again.
He built the wooden bathroom in his Portland, Maine, shop, and installed it a few weeks ago.
The mahogany door, with porthole, is salvaged from an old boat.
Here, Nat is tiling the shower after he and Lynn laid out the marble pattern on the dock outside.
The plumbing and water treatment system are already in.
Soon we’ll have a fully functional sink, toilet, and shower.
Alexander von Humboldt II, a new square-rigger from Bremen, passes Graves Light. (We got this picture from Giles Parker’s Twitter account, but don’t know whom to credit.)
Fog failed to dispel the excitement of 50 tall ships visiting Boston Harbor for SailBoston 2017.
Square-riggers from around the world joined classic schooners like Canada’s Bluenose II, assembling near Graves Light to visit Boston.
The June 17-20 event was a breathtaking opportunity from our lighthouse observation point.
Even though the morning of the big sail parade began with a pea soup fog, we got the rare treat to watch the ships raise their sails as they entered Boston Harbor.
Below is a gallery of some of our pictures, and shots taken by others. We want to get these posted for the public to enjoy, and will work on captions and credits soon.
Where’s the bathroom?
That’s a common question at Graves Light.
Up until this year, we’ve been using a nifty composting toilet in the shed.
But all that changes as we install a fully functional bathroom with shower, toilet and sink on the third floor of the tower.
The system will give Graves full running water for the first time in 112 years.
The guys have been busy ferrying the heavy pipes and fixtures out and installing them.
Galvin from NorEast Marine is building the manifold connection for a state-of-the-art water treatment system.
We just scored a beautiful antique sink from periodbath.com.
Back-to-back great weather days let us get stuff done!
Up from Karl’s Nantucket wood shop, we load the custom-built curved kitchen cabinets aboard Miss Cuddy.
In the gallery below, John and the gang install the “fair weather ladder” as Lynn surveys the cove (really), we all haul the new kitchen cabinets 90 feet up using a new “super bag,” and Randy applies spar varnish to the kitchen benches.
Pat attached the spliced line to an antique US Lighthouse Service block.
Cap’n Pat splices line to hang a lamp.
Staying at Graves during the nor’easter meant that the guys would spend the eve of St. Patrick’s Day eve having some quiet fun when the storm hit.
We took an antique U.S. Light House Establishment (USLHE) dock lantern, and repurposed it to become a hanging lamp in the kitchen.
The kitchen is on the watch deck just below the operational U.S. Coast Guard navigational beacon.
Cap’n Pat spliced an old length of line through an old USLHE pulley block.
Then we hung the lantern from the apex of the arch formed by the recovered First Order Fresnel Lens, just beneath the navigational beacon.
Then we hung the lantern beneath the actual navigation lamp.
Safest place in the harbor, 100 feet up.
We finally got to spend stay in the lighthouse during a winter nor’easter.
The storm, Stella, was pretty tame, as it turned out, but with some good preparation and common sense we had a fine time.
Graves at night during Winter Storm Stella.
Cap’n Pat of the Keep-ah joined us just before the storm, when the seas were still calm.
We were well-equipped. Plenty of bacon and beans. Lots of spirits to drink. Wood and coal for the potbelly stove. An electric generator plus solar panels and good communications to shore.
Plus lots of work to do.
For us, it was a normal winter trip. Basic maintenance, wood finishing work, attachment of bronze window hardware, and stuff. It was good to be in the lighthouse during a solid rain so that we could find where the windows leaked, and seal them up.
Earlier, Keeper Dave installed an anemometer on the chimney so we could get real-time wind speed.
We didn’t realize so many people were following us on Facebook, and didn’t think to take a lot of pictures or send messages. Here are some of our Facebook postings during the storm:
Cap’n Pat catches up on his history of New England shipwrecks as the bacon and beans bubble on the potbelly stove.
Today we slept late because the sleeping bags are so warm! Did a bunch of chores today – put the paneled ceiling back up after running some plumbing and electrical lines, put on some cabinet knobs, ran a cold water line up the six stories. (See the exciting pictures.) Now I’m installing an improved method of securing the storm shutters. The ribs are going on the stove in an hour!
Keeper Dave on the roof of Graves Light, installing an anemometer on the new chimney to catch wind speeds.
Thwarted by ill weather over the weekend, the dauntless crew of Lynn, Randy, John and Dave today installed the remaining 12 feet of stovepipe and added an anemometer to measure wind speed.
The top of the bronze chimney is salvaged from an old yacht. The rest of it, we built.
A wonderful view of the frosty harbor from the very top!
Carlos helps prepare for an improved access spot to treacherous Graves Ledge.
Inputting coordinates for a 3-D image of the ledge.
A stunning February morning finds CLE Engineers surveying Graves Ledge in preparation for a new landing area and improved access to the treacherous island.
Mike recorded over 300 points so Carlos can generate a 3D topographic map.
The map will be the basis for designing and permitting compliant structures which will make life a lot easier out here.
Critical aspects: Anything we build must be in harmony with the natural and historic aesthetic of the property.
It also must be strongly built to withstand the harshest North Atlantic weather.
