Who is this?
This is Keeper Jack Netherwood, who kept the light at Wood Island 1962-1963.
New Webcam
The webcam is being installed by Restoration Chair, Kyle Noble, his brother Barry and Matt St. Onge. A special fundraising drive for the reinstitution of the Wood Island webcam was amazing in that it took only 12 days to raise the necessary funds to move forward on this project. It shows how important the webcam is to our "Friends." This new system will have the capacity to be expanded with more cameras in different locations. Of the many donors a special thanks goes to Phyllis Domm's family who gave a substantial amount in her memory.
Keeper Netherwood's
Daughter and Neice visit the Lighthouse
Daughter Jackie Netherwood Kennedy lives and works in the Washington DC area. She came to Wood Island to see her old home and brought her Neice Morgan to feel the memories. The family is sharing new photos which have not been seen before.
2009 General Meeting
A highpoint of our General Meeting was a tribute to Dave Curran. Dave was a hard working FOWIL volunteer and helped us tremendously with the needed architectural planning. He singlehandedly found the product "bendy wood" which became the solution for the handrails in the tower. These handrails made it possible for our visitors to ascend the tower - a true highlight of our tours. Dave lost his battle with cancer in early Spring and we will all miss him. He did not leave us empty handed but brought in a new architect (and friend) to carry on with the project. Architect Ed Theriault is now carrying the planning torch. He brought us up to date on how restoration plans would be proceeding. We also started our drive for funds to re-establish our webcam at the meeting with a roaring response.
Good Bye Keeper Cliff Trebilcock
Cliff with FOWIL Chair Brad Coupe
With all of the bad weather, the summer flag raising on the island was late this year. Keeper Cliff Trebilcock and Bill Cameron raise the flag for 2009. Bill had been an alternate keeper at Wood Island.
Cliff and his wife Linda are leaving Maine for a new life in New Mexico. Cliff has been a big supporter of all of FOWIL's efforts since it was founded in 2003. He will be missed. They will be welcomed back anytime they want to visit!
Summer Tours - 966 visitors!
Even with a very hard start on July1st (8 out of the first 9 tours were cancelled due to weather), we successfully brought 966 visitors to the island on 76 tours! All this could not have happened without the continued work of our Captains, Crew, Reservation Line volunteers, Hosts,Woodchucks (who maintain the grounds and make repairs), Work Day participants and the Red Geranium.
Happy Anniversary
There were several special tours over the summer, including this one. The Kellys were celebrating their anniversary by visiting Wood Island Light. They were married in a lighthouse in New York and visit a different lighthouse each year to celebrate their anniversary. As luck would have it, there was a beauitiful full moon.
This book is written by Ron Kolek and Maureen Wood of the New England Ghost Project. It is an excellent read - well organized, exciting and believable. The NEGP has investigated Wood Island twice and has reported their findings in a chapter of this book - the only lighthouse to be included.
The book can now be purchased at http://www.neghostproject.com/
Maybe we should have them back..............
2009 Fall Work Day
On Work Day, we continued upgrading the one half mile boardwalk, cleaned out the boathouse, did a beach clean-up, dwelling house clean up and webcam re-installation.
Workers: (backrow) Brad Coupe, Kevin Burke, John Sciaba, Darryl Hager, Mark Nelson, Sean Murphy. (Front Row) Renee Rotman, Steve Sullivan, Anne Bassett, Walt Fowski. (Not in photo) Kyle Noble, Marshall Goldthwait, Jack Moore and Sheri Poftak, Captain Mal Stallings and Crew Chuck DeLong.
FOWIL Merchandise
may be purchased at Sheri's house.
Give her a call and come on by.
Reservation Line
number 207 286-3229.
If you live far away, don't forget that we have a Web Store.
If you need a last minute unique gift, this is a great way to acquire it, as well as help a great cause.
Coast Guard Open Lighthouse Day
Pouring Rain on Open Lighthouse Day could not keep the 60 visitors, who wanted to see Wood Island Lighthouse, away. Four of the five scheduled tours were launched before the seas made landing on the island too dangerous. Most of the people on the cancelled tour, made it out on Sunday, when FOWIL went the extra mile to make a tour available on Sunday. A big "Thank You!" to the 15 volunteers who made this event happen!
Four boat loads of bow hunters on the island early in the morning caused a delay but was not a show stopper as they were gone by 10:30 a.m. and only caused a 30 minute delay in our tours.
Restoration
The EC met with Architect Ed Theriault and Stone expert, Scott Whitaker in early Fall - The process for the restoration of the tower is gaining momentum. We will keep you updated via the website.
The Friends of
Wood Island Lighthouse
is a chapter of the
American Lighthouse Foundation.
It was formed in the Spring of 2003 specifically to
preserve and restore the Wood Island Light Station.
Please visit our website.
From webcam Sept 21, 2009