Spring Point Video DVD Available This Week

The new Spring Point Video is available for the first time this week on DVD. Produced for the Spring Point Ledge Light Board of Trustees by Free Street Productions of Portland, the DVD contains a 16-minute movie discussing the lighthouse's history and giving viewers a tour of the lighthouse from top to bottom.

Pricing for the DVD will be set later this week. The DVD is expected to be available for sale during Open House events.

You can view an excerpt of the movie below.

More Lens Photos Received

Steve Gronow, of the Maritime Exchange Museum, owner of the original Fresnel lens from Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse has sent us a couple more photos of the lens on its display stand. See the article below for more information.

Spring Point Ledge Light Trust Seeks Funding for Repairs

The Board of Trustees of the Spring Point Ledge Light Trust has started a capital campaign to raise $71,000.00 for major repairs to the Spring Point Ledge Light located on the campus on Southern Maine Community College.

There have been two newspaper articles written about this campaign (one by Linda Hersey of the Current newspaper in its December 13, 2007, issue and one by Josie Huang in the Portland Press Herald in its January 16, 2008, issue). To date, SPLLT has received $5,000.00 from Saco & Biddeford Savings Institution and two private donations of $25.00 & $5,000.00 from two South Portland residents for a total to date of $10,025.00.

Donations should be made out to "Spring Point Ledge Light Trust" and sent to the following:

Spring Point Ledge Light Trust
PO Box 2311
South Portland, ME 04116

Spring Point Ledge Light Trust is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

Spring Point Board of Trustees to Release Lighthouse Video

The Spring Point Ledge Light Board of Trustees is announcing the upcoming release of a new video DVD featuring Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse. The video, narrated by Mike Harris and produced by Free Street Productions of Portland, Maine, will treat lighthouse aficionados to a fascinating look at the history of Spring Point Lighthouse, a top-to-bottom tour, and a slide show featuring archival and current photographs of the interior and exterior of the lighthouse. The DVD is expected to be released by the end of June 2008.

The Spring Point Lighthouse was completed in 1897 and is the only caisson-style lighthouse accessible to the public by land. It was deeded to the Spring Point Ledge Light Trust in 1998 under the auspices of the Maine Lights Program.

Spring Point's Original Fresnel Lens Located.

It's location has been a mystery since it was removed from the Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse in the 1950s. For over 50 years, no one knew what had happened to the original fifth-order Fresnel lens. Until now.

Through the efforts of volunteers working with the Spring Point Ledge Light Board of Trustees and a bit of luck in Internet research, the lens has been found in the hands of a private collector in Howell, Michigan. Researchers doing an exhaustive search of the Internet came upon a list of classic Fresnel lenses compiled by the American Lighthouse Coordinating Committee, part of the Optics Work Group of the World Lighthouse Society. The list was compiled by lens researcher Tom Tag and others, including Mike Vogel of Buffalo, NY.

This list included a notation for the Spring Point Light's Fresnel lens, including the fact that it had been verified, and the tantalizing notation "Howell" beneath the Location column. But Howell where?

The researchers finally managed to contact Mike Vogel who was able to pinpoint the location as Howell, Michigan. The lens is owned by Steve Gronow's Maritime Exchange Museum. He explains how he came into possession of the lens:

"We obtained it from the widow of the owner of Automatic Signal, which is the company that removed the Lens in the 1950's and converted it to a solar powered modernized optic. The Lens was given to him by the Coast Guard official in charge of that area back in those days. Both of them are now long gone, and the Widow said that they had the lens for over 50 years before her husband passed away. It was his personal legacy to his career in Navigational Aids and the family treasured it very much."

The Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse was completed in 1897 and is the only caisson-style lighthouse accessible to the public by land. It was deeded to the Spring Point Ledge Light Trust in 1998 under the auspices of the Maine Lights Program.