Hereford Inlet Lighthouse Ready For Festival at End of Restoration

NORTH WILDWOOD — It has stood there silently for the past 137 years — a sentinel of the sea. Its beacon has warned seafarers to stay away from the dangers that lurk in the shoals surrounding it, and it has shined its light to welcome them home after a long voyage.
According to Steve Murray, chairman of Friends of the Hereford Inlet Lighthouse, the Hereford Lighthouse holds the distinction of being the first structure built on what is now known as Five Mile Island. “It was an isolated island,” said Murray. “And because the lighthouse was here, the first city, Anglesea, was built around it.”
The lighthouse’s history is peppered with stories of lost mariners, shipwrecks in snowstorms, bootleg whiskey runs, and a myriad of other memories. Its list of lightkeepers and their day-to-day existence reads like a tale of adventure. Children were born in the house, the first church services on the island were held in its parlor. When a lightkeeper suffered a paralyzing stroke, his wife took over his duties as keeper of the light as well as taking care of her very frail husband. Another lightkeeper died while rowing his boat back to the island from Court House.
In 1913 the lighthouse was almost lost to a storm that eroded the very ground it was sitting on. It was moved, by rail, 115 feet back from its original position to the place where it stands today.
Murray shared that the Hereford Lighthouse is the only one of its kind on the Eastern Seaboard. “It was designed by Paul Pelz,” he said. In addition to designing lighthouses, Pelz, along with architect John L. Smithmeyer, also designed the Library of Congress. Of the six Pelz designed, five were located on the West Coast. Only three remain – two in California and Hereford.
Like the towns around it, the lighthouse has seen its share of the ebb and flow of prosperity. At one point the lighthouse was in total disrepair. Initial repairs and renovation of the building began in 1982.
In 1998, however, the lighthouse got its chance to be restored to its heyday when the committee hired Hugh McCauley, a preservation architect, to assist them.
“Hugh came on board and we were able to get grants,” said Murray. “Because then the renovation would be done by the guidelines of the Secretary of the Interior.”
And the one thing this old lighthouse needed was money. To date, over $1.5 million has been used its renovation. Most of that funding was through grants, matching money, and donations.
The most recent portion of the renovation is the last piece of the puzzle. The lighthouse has been restored to its original condition.
A new staircase was replaced going from the first floor to the second. A staircase, taking visitors from the second floor to the third was refurbished. New wainscoting was added along some of the staircases. Plaster was repaired, structural beams were replaced. Many of the repairs were done to correct damage that had happened from leaks in the building. Most interesting of the recent renovations, though, is the addition of a staircase on the outside of the building as well as a veranda on the second floor.
“We knew there had to have been a staircase out there,” said Murray. “We could see the cuts in the siding but no one knew there was a veranda out there.”
Using Pelz’s original architectural drawings, it was apparent that the outside staircase led to a door. That door, however, was converted to a window some time ago. The veranda, though, wasn’t part of the original drawings.
“The problem,” said Murray, “is that there was one set of plans for all the lighthouses. The one in California looks exactly like this one.” But like most buildings, modifications can be made while the building is under construction.
Serendipity, though, is what brought the veranda back to the lighthouse. “About five years ago a local guy stopped by with photographs,” said Murray. “He had pictures of a local resident, Thomas Corson, with him.” The photographs were from the late 1800’s. While the photos were of Corson holding a fish he had caught, the lighthouse was in the background. “We could see the lighthouse,” said Murray. “And there was the only visible evidence of the staircase.”
In addition to the staircase, there was a fuzzy image of what seemed to be another structure. “On closer exam of the fuzzy area, we were able to see it was a veranda.”
“The veranda had to go back,” said Murray. “The plan was whatever was there in 1874 had to go back.” So intent has the committee been in restoring the lighthouse to its original splendor, a paint archeologist was hired to take paint chips from the structure to ensure it would be painted correctly. The building was given a coat of historically correct straw-colored paint in 2004.
Money for the final phase of the renovation to the lighthouse was obtained from a matching grant from the N.J. Department of Transportation, the Garden State Historical Preservation Trust Fund, and the NJ Historic Trust.
The Friends of the Hereford Inlet Lighthouse are making funding for the management of the restoration possible.
A ‘coming out” party for the finished building will be held at the lighthouse on Saturday and Sunday, July 16 and 17 for the first Hereford Inlet Lighthouse Maritime Festival.
Tours will be available of the lighthouse and the gardens as well as artists, crafters, authors, and maritime organizations from throughout the state. There will also be a children’s area set up with special activities.