Lighthouses up for sale

The United States Coast Guard is looking to give away lighthouses in Manitowoc and Kewaunee as a way to cut costs. The Coast Guard stills wants to make sure; however, that the properties end up in hands that can afford the hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix them up and keep them up.

The Manitowoc Breakwater Lighthouse was built in 1918. The Kewaunee Pierhead Lighthouse was built in 1931. For decades, they've offered a beacon of light to Great Lakes mariners.

"It was essential to the commerce, the shipping that took place here," Norma Bishop, the director of the Wisconsin Maritime Museum, said of the lighthouses.

Bishop said the Coast Guard will still maintain the lights and fog horns at the lighthouses, but that disposing of the properties will save it hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The Coast Guard is giving local governments and non-profit organizations priority to take over the lighthouses at no cost. Otherwise, they will be sold.

"They're drawing back from the buildings. The maintenance of the buildings is the expensive thing," Bishop said.

Bishop said the Wisconsin Maritime Museum is working with the city to come up with a plan to take over the Manitowoc lighthouse, but it's a lengthy and expensive process.

"The best way to go about this, in any community, is to look for viable partners," Bishop added.

Community members in Kewaunee have already formed a lighthouse preservation committee.

"Anyone that would be taking ownership of a lighthouse has to have a plan in place for the preservation of the property and the educational aspects" Jeff Vollenweider, chairman of the committee, said.

Vollenweider said there is a lot of interest in old lighthouses, which is why he's excited about opening up the properties to the public for the first time.

"There's just not two alike. Every one is unique. They may be similar, a lot of them, but every one is unique. They're literally America's castles," Vollenweider said.

Anyone interested must submit a letter of interest to the National Park Service by August 24. They then have 90 days to fill out a lengthy application similar to a business plan.