- [Richard Norgard] Once the lighthouse got out here, and especially once we really started to fix it up, this has become a showcase.

- [Lynda Wakefield] On a warm summer day, it's almost impossible to find a parking place within two blocks, and we're very fortunate to have this in our community.

- [Justin Chaffin] Great Lakes in North America account for 20% of the Earth's fresh water.

We want to drink it, we want to play in it, we want to swim and fish in it, so it needs our protection.

- [Sheila Consaul] There are two kinds of people who come.

First kind is local people.

They want to see the lighthouse, they're coming to the beach.

The second kind of people, they are hardcore lighthouse lovers.

(tranquil music and seagulls crying) - The Marblehead Lighthouse is unique in many ways, but the one thing is the permanence.

It has been lit for over 203 years.

You don't have a light on Lake Erie, Lake Superior, Lake Huron, any of the Great Lakes that have been lit that long.

There's a permanence to that.

You can put your hands on history, you can walk up history, you can stand where people have stood for 200 and some years in the worst of times and the best of times, and you can always come back to that place.

- [Richard] This is more than a structure to me.

This is all our hard work.

To do all this, to have the vision, to conceive it, and then to do it.

And I think we've inspired people in this town with that kind of can-do attitude.

- [Lynda] I think it's important for future generations to remember what the past generations have done.

It's important to preserve what we have as much as we can and to treasure what it is and the memories that it creates.

- Well, when we started having tourists back in 2003, we said, now's the time for the people to come out to the lighthouse to see what it looks like, and what we've been doing.

We have older people that were 90 years old wanted to go to the top of the lighthouse.

It's always been in their bucket list.

So they went up there, you know, and they come back down and says thank you.

You know, it is just that years nobody could come into the lighthouse and they sat on shore and saw it and wondered what was out here.

We feel we owe it to them, the public because they are the ones contributing to this lighthouse and we wanted to show what's going on.

We want them to see it.

And also the kids, and it was school kids.

They built little lighthouses and they would go around and collect pennies that raised 5005 cents to help build this lighthouse and keep it going.

So the kids is what really in my heart, I wanted them to come out and see what they saved.

I'm getting choked up, I'm sorry.

- In the early part of the restoration, it was one fall, I came to close the lighthouse and I was walking down the break wall and on the break wall were a group of girl scouts.

Well, there was one girl who was sort of hanging back and she was really scared and she didn't like being on the break wall.

And the leader was kind of trying to encourage her and the other girls were sort of running ahead and I said, hey, would you like to see the inside of the lighthouse?

And the little girl's eyes got really big and she said, yeah, can we?

And I said, yeah, just come on, we're going to go inside.

And then the leaders were so appreciative that I was able to show them the lighthouse that they asked if there was anything that they could do.

I had just gotten some new windows.

So I gave each of the Girl Scouts some window cleaner, some paper towels, and they did their community service.

- The people growing up today, you know, lighthouses are just sort of these pretty buildings.

And if you think about it, lighthouses as structures are pretty much obsolete, really, we don't need them.

You can build a pole, it looks like a flag pole with a light on it and it's a perfectly fine navigational aid, but it's not a lighthouse.

All the right people came together at the right time.

I just feel lucky, blessed really, that I arrived here at a point in time when I was able to get involved in this.

Our original committee, we drew in all these different people who in their own way brought something special to it.

How did we get so lucky to be able to do this?

You know, you feel so energized when you work with people that feel that way about something to believe in it, but it's that lighthouse.

There's something about that lighthouse.

It does that, and I don't, I can't describe what it is really.

- [Frank Sipkovsky] Volunteering, it's almost a lost art anymore.

Everybody wants to be paid.

If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have what we have today.

It's a labor of love, you know, you enjoy it.

The caliber of volunteers, you know, one's an engineer, one was an eye doctor, retired, one works as supervisor for steel mills.

There's different categories, but it's amazing how they'd step up and say, we heard that you were looking for somebody to do something at the lighthouse.

It helps us and it keeps this lighthouse going.

- The original committee, the Lighthouse Preservation Committee, has been disbanded because we did what we were going to do and we turned it over to the city.

We were able to hand off the idea when we had the light installed, and we accomplished that in two years.

It made more people aware of the lighthouse.

It increased community support of the lighthouse.

And I think that was the important thing.

My favorite part about having been involved with the lighthouse and still being involved with the lighthouse is that it's something we can pass on to our children.

It's something that is so much a part of Vermilion.

It speaks to our history.

It speaks to our love of the lake and the importance the lake is to all of us.

- So the lighthouse no longer functions as a lighthouse for navigation purposes.

The navigational tower's right next to it.

There's also a weather station.

We utilize the South Bass Island lighthouse for education and outreach purposes.

We can utilize it to house guest researchers.

So we have researchers come from all over the country.

A cool thing with the lighthouse is that it overlooks the lake.

Guests can look at the lighthouse, they can go up in the top of the lighthouse and they can see the entire western basin on clear days.

They can see the ferries coming and going.

And then they can go back downstairs and see what types of algae are in the lake or on different days, what type of fish are in the lake.

We take science that we do to Stone Lab to the lighthouse.

So our visitors at South Bass Island can see what we do at Stone Lab for free.

It really helps them connect the dots between what's in the water, the lake, and the outreach that Stone Lab does.

So today we're going to take our small research boat out to a buoy, collect the water sample, we're going to bring that sample back into the lab, and we're going to show you some of the things that we do to our water sample to see how much nutrients are in the water and what types of algae are in it.

We take these water samples next to these buoys several times a week.

So we can compare what a water sample says to what a sensor on our data buoy says.

So this high tech instrument is called an integrated tube sampler.

It works like a straw, you know, if you put your straw in a glass of water, put your finger on it, lift it out of the water, your water's stuck in there.

So this is just like a straw.

Ready?

So I'm going to pull this up, bring the water up, and it gets emptied into a bucket.

(lively music) Okay, so next is measuring water temperature, water connectivity, pH of the water, measures the turbidity, and it also has how much blue-green algae and how much total algae's down there.

So we can... go and lower it in the water.

And it also does dissolved oxygen.

So there's 10 or so buoys like this in Lake Erie that are recording all this data.

And all that data is beamed to a website.

So it gives researchers and water plant operators or beach managers early warning on algal blooms, biomass and another parameters.

Having Lake Erie basically in our backyard is a huge natural resource.

The Great Lakes in North America account for 20% of the earth's fresh water.

So we should care for it.

We want to use it to our advantage.

You know, we want to drink it, we want to play in it, we want to swim and fish in it so it needs our protection.

And so the water samples there we're analyzing today are from the lake.

So we routinely monitor how much nitrogen phosphorus is in the lake in addition to how much algae is in the lake.

So then we can better understand the lake and then eventually develop toxin forecasts for the lake.

The work we do, understanding the toxins, there's a human impact.

Everyone needs fresh drinking water, safe drinking water.

So I feel like I'm playing a part in that.

- [Robert Cailor] The Ohio State University Stone Lab has events here maybe four times a summer.

They show how important Lake Erie is to everyone in the area and what they're doing to learn more about it.

All the work that they're doing, it's a good thing for them because they get a chance to touch base with people being in awe of looking at Lake Erie.

You watch people who have never seen the lake and they didn't realize it had waves and they'll stand there.

You'll see people just bring a chaise lounge or their chairs and sit there all day, not even read a book and just look out to the water.

- [Lynda] On a warm summer day, it's almost impossible to find a parking place within two blocks, but it's worth it.

The beach is beautiful and well maintained and we're very fortunate to have this in our community.

- [Richard] We get visitors of all ages, shapes and sizes.

The population of this area swells in the summer.

This beach will be packed.

There will be as many as 50 boats out here right off shore.

They'll do what they call raft their boats together.

This is definitely the spot to come in the summer.

- [Robert] You'll have probably a million visitors come to this small park each year.

The view is spectacular.

It's a wonderful park, very well maintained by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

One of our newer exhibits is the lifesaving station.

It's a recreation of the lifesaving station that was about a mile down the road where the Coast Guard is right now.

You walk in the door and you see this rescue cart, they would grab this cart, six men would roll the cart as close as they could, put an anchor in the ground and shoot a cannon with a rope on it over the mast.

And they effectively, in the worst storms, formed a zip line that went from the ship to the dry land.

One of the key items in the lifesaving station is a restored 1930 S-boat.

There's only three of these boats in the United States that have been restored.

At one time, there were hundreds and hundreds of these boats.

It was found in a peach orchard and the owner of the peach orchard called the Historical Society and said, Hey, I've got this boat.

It's yours, you come and get it.

It turned out the Coast Guard used it in Chicago as a boat to run back and forth to the islands with construction men and materials.

And then they lost track of it and sure enough, it ended up in the peach orchard.

So they brought it back and seven years later and $70,000 in the hole, this boat was restored by a local craftsman.

Halfway through the seven years, somebody said, “Well, we're going to have this boat in seven years.

What are we going to do?” So we said, “We'll build the lifesaving station.” It was built in 2016 with the funds directly from the Historical Society, and they put on a lot of activities surrounding the lighthouse.

The Lighthouse Festival is an opportunity to see something that you don't get to see very often, and for one day only people come from all over, bring their picnics, the gift shops open, the towers open.

It's a pretty important event.

It's remarkable how many people who live in this area have never been to the lighthouse.

It's beautiful.

You see the history, you see the other people enjoying it.

- We have a lighthouse festival, this year it'll be in September.

It's a two day festival.

It's pretty much one of our main sources of funds, you know, to run the year.

So we always try to keep it as a nautical theme, if you will.

So there's vendors that come out there and have different things to sell.

They're not mass produced things, they're more artist type vendors And we have entertainment.

We usually have bands.

There's stuff for the kids to do.

There's refreshments, there's food trucks, and weather permitting, there's boats out to the lighthouse.

Up until now, the tours have been out just out around the lighthouse to see it.

We did have a dock out there for a while and we were giving interior tours and they went over real well and that's our next project is to try and get a dock and the access to the lighthouse out there again.

- [Richard] I think by having it where it is and so accessible, it's a natural draw.

It's really important to me that we make the lighthouse available for people to actually see and enjoy it and appreciate the history and what it was.

Because there's so many lighthouses that you can't go into, you can't enter.

So I wanted this lighthouse to be open in particular because of its uniqueness as a wooden lighthouse.

That's one of the things that I'm most proud of, is that we do have that community investment.

People are so proud of this lighthouse.

I mean, once the lighthouse got out here, and especially once we really started to fix it up, this has become a showcase.

I think lighthouses are naturally inspirational.

There's something about them that makes people want to put them in their art.

Photographs, paintings and sculptures and all kinds of things.

And it's because people love them so much.

People will drive by and go, “Oh, we got to pull in and see the lighthouse, honey.” We have people that come out here and paint it during our festival.

We wanted to do something that was more family oriented.

So we came up with the idea for doing a lighthouse festival.

Now we've partnered with the United Way of Ottawa County and they do this rubber duck race, and so that brings in a lot of kids and you know more people.

That's something that we do for the community.

So, that's sort of a way of giving back.

We're gradually getting more people invested in it, involved in it, and so we're building that up.

- [Sheila] Many people have photos, paintings, drawings, you name it, beautiful artwork of this lighthouse.

But what has been even more special is that people have wanted me to have it and now the lighthouse primarily shows art of the lighthouse itself.

I recently had a package, I don't get mail here, so I had no idea what it is.

Turns out it is a painting done by a gentleman in Australia.

He loved the lighthouses of Ohio.

He painted this one and he sent it all the way to me from Australia.

People will see it in a thrift shop or a restaurant.

I have it in wood, I have it in ink, I have it in pencil, I have it in paint.

I have all kinds.

It's very, very touching.

- [Robert] Marblehead Lighthouse, it is the most photographed structure in Ohio.

The trees and the landscaping, it's just beautiful.

Because it is so important and it is an icon of Ohio, we've had a stamp, a U.S.

postage stamp, license plates, the state of Ohio, you can buy a license plate with it.

We have pictures that show this building with a tree out front and every year the tree got bigger and bigger.

So from 1880 there were people already taking pictures of it.

It drives you to this area.

It drives you to the restaurants, it drives you to the stores, it drives you to the other activities in the area.

Wherever you are, you cannot go into any store that doesn't have a lighthouse signia on the wall or they're selling lighthouse towels.

It's quite amazing.

- [Lynda] There always has been an interest of the lighthouse by the people in town.

Prom time, there are always kids down at the lighthouse getting their prom pictures taken and we see wedding parties all the time down there taking their wedding photos by the lighthouse.

That says a lot for what the lighthouse means to the people who have lived here.

There are just lots of things that go on down here.

On the third Thursdays from May till October, there is music all over Vermilion.

There are probably 20 to 30 musicians or groups or bands, and there's always somebody down here by the beach.

There are people who come from all over that third Thursday, the docks are totally full because it draws from everywhere.

- For the last few years, we've had concerts on the Lighthouse Hill, so that's been a pretty popular thing.

It's sponsored by other groups in the community and we kind of worked together to make things work for that kind of stuff.

They also had a polar plunge down on the beach, which was a lot of fun.

2025, this light station will be celebrating 200 years.

The lighthouse on the breakwater will be celebrating 100 years.

So we're going to try to have a combination of things to be able to highlight the fact that we're both celebrating a big anniversary.

- [Sheila] So generally here at Fairport Harbor West, there are two kinds of people who come.

First kind is local people.

They live in the area, they want to see the lighthouse, they're coming to the beach, or they literally have grown up down the street and seen it every day of their lives.

Or they live in Fairport Harbor and they see it from their houses.

Those are the first kind of people who come and want to see the inside of the lighthouse.

The second kind of people are very dedicated lighthouse lovers.

Those are people who will drive hundreds of miles, who will do tours of all the Ohio lighthouses, who will take their summer and drive around, volunteer, get their passport stamps, collect lighthouses, you name it.

They are hardcore lighthouse lovers.

- [Lynda] One other thing that the Lighthouse Committee started doing is talk to groups who come into town as part of tours, who are lighthouse enthusiasts.

And we do have a Lighthouse Pass book that can get stamped and I enjoy giving talks about the history of the lighthouse to these different groups.

When the third graders come on their May trip down to the lighthouse, they're number one, excited because some of them haven't seen the lighthouse before.

Some of them haven't even been to the beach or to the lake before, and that's hard to believe but that's true.

It's very easy to get them interested in what's going on and hopefully this excitement will carry them through and create more volunteers when they get old enough to be able to do that.

- [Robert] One of the fun things we get to do before the park opens before Memorial Day is bring some of the schools in, talking to the children and helping them learn about the lifesaving service, how a lighthouse was built and why it was built.

It's surprising how few of those people have gone to the lighthouse, but they come back and they bring their parents.

So that's also rewarding.

- [John] There are a lot of things that I assume everybody knows, but they don't.

A lot of history went down on the south shore of Lake Erie in the 1800s and it's fun watching the reaction of people when they hear something and go, “I didn't know that!” Telling that story to other people is what I really enjoy.

- [Dan] We have to preserve the history.

As a matter of fact, a lot of the Lighthouse keepers and their assistants have gotten lifesaving medals.

It's surprising how many lighthouses there were and you know, probably how many people they saved.

- [Richard] There's something ethereal about lighthouses and so I think preserving them is important.

I think it's also important to understand the history and how we got to where we are in our development as a country.

We don't need lighthouses, but people love them, you know, and they don't want to see them go away.

What we had to do was magnitudes of difficulty less than somebody trying to restore a lighthouse that's five miles out in the lake.

You are going to face a lot of obstacles, so be prepared for that.

You know, it could be a long haul, but also I think as long as you believe in what you're doing, if your heart's in it, you're going to get there.

- [Frank] To the past and present volunteers that worked on this lighthouse, they deserve the credit.

We were fortunate with this one 'cause when we started this one, money was good.

There was a lot of industry around.

The economy was great.

A lot of people wanted to help.

When you get done with it, it's gratifying because everybody likes what you've done, but especially if they were involved, they really stand back and say, “Man, we did it.” - [Sheila] There are many unexpected challenges.

It takes longer and it costs more than you can ever imagine or budget for.

I think everybody would agree to that that's ever done any of these restoration projects, but the views are incredible, let alone being able to share it It is well worth it.

I have met so many incredible people.

I have had people volunteer, come help me paint, help me carry things, do restoration work.

I mean it's just been an amazing experience.

- [Richard] I've met so many wonderful people.

You know, I can't help but be into it because they are.

So, it's not just me.

I'm not just some geek who happens to like lighthouses.

There are other people like me!

There's something about this light being this beacon and there's so many religious overtones to it.

- [Robert] You can be in the darkest spot in the world and you go to the light, and that's what lighthouses were.

They were a beacon of hope, and there's something romantic about that.

Why anybody would want to be proposed to here or married here.

There's a permanence.

Lighthouses have been around since antiquities and here you touch history that's been around for 200 some years and it's going to be here for another 200 years.

- [Frank] It's a beacon for the sailors, the shipping, also for the people on shore to sit and relax and look and see it.

Something to look forward to, to have hope.

Something for the public to enjoy.

That's what I hope for, that they enjoy it and love it and continue supporting the lighthouse.

(lively music)