Buffalo Lighthouse

The keeper's wife got him a world map for the lighthouse site, and he spent part of this last windstorm sticking pins in it for every state (all of them plus four territories), Canadian province and other country (51 of them!) represented by a site visitor over the past few years. Now we just need a place to hang it!

Still some sizeable snow and ice drifts at Lighthouse Point today, along with a bitterly cold wind off the Lake Erie ice. But the groundhogs have broken their hibernation, and the NYPA tug is keeping a channel open in the river. Best of all, it looks like only minor storm damage repair work this spring, which is always a relief!

The post-Christmas heavy gale caused only minor damage at Lighthouse Point, but it looks like the remnants of the old Horseshoe Reef Light took another heavy beating. It's a bit too far for my cell phone camera, but it looks like more erosion of the center support and a little more tilt. A 6-foot seiche, 20-foot waves and 79-mph gusts will do that. There really are only two of the five support legs still hanging on.

Lake effect storm near sunset today, taken while checking the 1833 lighthouse. The 1961 lighthouse is out there on the breakwater, and the snow is headed for the towns south of Buffalo!

Lake Erie around noon today, just south of Buffalo. The city's usually visible in the distance, but not today!

In the lull between lake effect squalls, Alex Vogel and James Kruszka added some Christmas sparkle to our gate lighthouse at the 1833 Buffalo Lighthouse Historic Site. Lights for the light! Merry Christmas, from the keeper crew!

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us in the keeper crew to all of you and your families!
Today was a gusty, cold and mostly gray day at the lighthouse, but the gale and subsided enough for our resident geese to take wing lest they be mistaken for turkeys. A lot of water over the breakwater, though!

Winter weather was much on our minds at the 1833 lighthouse today, not because of the snow on the ground but because it was the 50th anniversary of the loss of the Great Lakes freighter Edmund Fitzgerald in a November gale on Lake Superior.

We were proud to host an Erie County Historical Society ceremony organized by chairman Rich Pyszczek on a very cold afternoon. Keeper Mike Vogel tolled the fog bell 29 times for each sailor lost in the sinking of the Fitz on Nov. 10, 1975, plus one more time for all the sailors lost through time on the Lakes' estimated 6,000 shipwrecks. There were remarks by Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz and others, and the names were read by County Historian Doug Kohler, City Historian Lindsey Lauren Visser, Buffalo Maritime Center president Anne Conable, and Jack Messmer and Mike Casillo of the Buffalo Harbor Museum.

Vogel also commemorated the loss, on the same date of Nov. 10, of the Buffalo lightship, L.V. 82, in the "White Hurricane" of 1913. Six sailors died trying to keep the lightship on station in 90 mph gusts, 40-foot waves and whiteout snow squalls. Only one body was ever recovered.

Today, we remembered.

Switching plans a little for tomorrow, Saturday 10/11 -- we will have the tower open for climbing from 11 am to 1:30 pm, thanks to our volunteers! Probably the last time this season! The site will be open from about 10 to 3. $4 for the site, $10 for the site plus tower climb.

OPEN AGAIN SATURDAY -- Loved seeing so many of you last weekend, so even though temperatures will be cooler the 1833 Buffalo Lighthouse Historic Site will be open again for more sunshine and great water views from 10 am to 3 pm this Saturday 10/11. Not enough volunteers to open the tower, but $4 admission gets you the views and historic signage and artifacts. Come stretch summer out just a little more!

OPEN TOMORROW -- Beautiful summer weather, and some limited volunteer availability come together for a while this Saturday, so the 1833 Buffalo Lighthouse Historic Site will be open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. as the thermometer flirts with 80.

We won't be able to open the tower for climbing, but the site has interpretive signage, outdoor artifacts and stunning views of the lake and the city. Admission is $4 as usual, which helps us dent site costs. Join us for the post-season!