York Town News
Innovative Nubble plan could put you in the keeper’s house
By Jennifer L. Saunders
YORK BEACH - It has been 20 years since a lighthouse keeper's family lived within the charming 19th-century cottage attached to the town's beloved Nubble Lighthouse.
But that may change - at least for one week of each year.
The Sohier Park Committee and York Parks and Recreation Director Mike Sullivan have come up with a preliminary plan to fund much-needed repairs and improvements both at the Cape Neddick Light Station and at Sohier Park, overlooking what is believed to be the nation's most photographed lighthouse.
The plan is an annual raffle in which 1,000 tickets would be sold at $100 each - raising $100,000 to preserve the lighthouse and the park each year - allowing one lucky winner, drawn at random, to spend a week living at the caretaker's house on the island.
Although it is still in the very beginning stages, the Board of Selectmen has agreed this fundraiser is one worth exploring.
"I think all of you know that the majority of the funding that supports Sohier Park and Cape Neddick Light Station is derived from the park itself," Sullivan told the Board of Selectmen at its meeting on July 9, explaining that while the Sohier Park Gift Shop is the key funding tool for the lighthouse's maintenance, the Sohier Park Committee also organizes fundraiser to keep the town-owned lighthouse from becoming a burden to taxpayers.
This past April, when the Patriots' Day Nor'easter battered York's coast, both Sohier Park and the Cape Neddick Light Station sustained significant damage - including the destruction of the dock that provides access to the island for Parks and Recreation Department employees who maintain the grounds.
While the assessment of the full extent of that damage is reviewed, those anticipated costs - plus the need for implementing the Sohier Park Master Plan improvements and maintaining the keeper's house and grounds - has had the committee thinking about innovative ways to generate annual funds in addition to the gift shop sales.
"I think everybody feels as though it would be a very successful endeavor," Sullivan said.
Both Ed MacGorman and Brenda Knapp of the Sohier Park Committee confirmed that the all-volunteer group has given its full support to the idea.
"There's little question that if we can ultimately make it a feasible project that it would sell very quickly," MacGorman told the selectmen.
Sullivan explained that the committee was not looking for a vote from the selectmen at this time, but simply direction as to whether there is support to continue exploring the idea. He acknowledged there are logistical problems that will need to be worked out - including the need for a working bathroom, running water and basic interior renovations within the house.
And, Sullivan told the selectmen, even after additional review, the plan may not come to fruition, depending on such factors as the costs associated with such improvements, but the committee hoped to get a sense from the board as to whether there was support for taking the next step.
Selectmen Vice Chairman David Marshall said that a proposal to allow the keeper's house to be inhabited one week of each year to generate $100,000 in annual revenue is definitely worth the exploration.
"I think it's a great idea," agreed Chairman Mike Estes.
MacGorman said in addition to improvements at the house, the committee will also investigate insurance and legal requirements necessary to offer such a prize at the Nubble.
"Over a period of time a lot of those questions are going to have to be answered," Sullivan said, adding, "We think it is feasible. We think that if, in fact, we enacted this ... the first $100,000 generated would have to go into the lighthouse."
MacGorman and Knapp said an annual fundraiser of this type would allow income to be added to the funds raised by volunteers who greet visitors and sell wares at the gift shop and welcome center.
"We could use several more volunteers than what we have," MacGorman noted, adding that in a given year alone the guestbook there lists visitors from all 50 states and from as many as 54 countries.
Knapp, who served on the acquisition committee that succeeded in allowing the town to take ownership of the lighthouse, said this fundraiser has the potential to protect and preserve the treasured landmark.
"It's a great project. This is an initial step," she said, adding that since it became operational in 1879, the Nubble has been protecting the town's mariners, "but now the lighthouse needs our help."
