On a blustery morning in mid-May, some two dozen people transferred from a large boat to a smaller one and then onto a rocky island in the middle of Lynn Canal.
Left on the boat were stacks of wood meant for building bunk beds in the red-and-white lighthouse perched high above the shore.
“I don’t think we’re going to get this lumber off from Haines,” said Sue York, who was leading the group. “It’s just too rough and too dangerous.”
York is the executive director of the Eldred Rock Lighthouse Preservation Association. The non-profit is working to restore the facility, which is the oldest original lighthouse in Alaska.
“All the other lighthouses, like Sentinel, that you pass going to Juneau, they were all rebuilt,” York said. “They're now just these concrete block towers. And the actual keeper quarter house, the house where the keepers live, were all burnt down.”
York and volunteers from Haines and Juneau made the journey to the rock last weekend to build beds and tackle other projects before a long-awaited grand opening ceremony at the end of the month. The event will mark the first time the lighthouse has ever been open to the public.
The ceremony is the culmination of six years of work by the group, which first leased the property from the U.S. Coast Guard in 2020. Since then, they’ve fundraised and spent upwards of $600,000 restoring the lighthouse and making sure it's safe for visitors.
“You just feel a part of history, staying here and touching the walls and using the kitchen, and reading the books, and playing games,” said York.
“I just think it's important for every human to understand the trials that people before us endured to allow us to enjoy what we have now,” she added. “I don't want to take that for granted.”
The lighthouse was first commissioned in 1906. Its construction was kickstarted after a steamship named the Clara Nevada ran aground near Eldred Rock in 1898 with dozens of people on board. “It was assumed all lives were lost,” according to the lighthouse preservation group website.
Keepers lived and worked on the rock until 1973, when the U.S Coast Guard started automating lighthouses across the state.
Among them was Ralph Crane. Reached by phone on Monday, Crane said he hasn’t been back since he packed up and left more than five decades ago.
He’s 75 and lives in Homer, but Crane worked at Eldred Rock in 1969 and 1970, when he was just 19 years old. He spent his days operating the light and radio beacon, making weather reports, and doing everyday chores.
When Crane was off duty and the weather cleared, the keepers and their two dogs — Kenmore and PP — would take the boat out to set crab pots, fish and comb nearby beaches.
“It was the best and worst time of my life, and a lot more best than worst,” Crane said,
He sees the restoration effort by local volunteers as a true “labor of love” that amounts to “keeping history alive.” He’s planning to drive to Haines from Homer with his daughter for the opening ceremony.
“That’s a lot of history to see crumble into disrepair,” he said. “It was heartbreaking for me, knowing how we kept that thing, and then to have it literally abandoned.”
A number of keepers worked at Eldred Rock after Crane. But since then, York said, the only longer-term residents, at least that we know of, were of a different breed.
“Sea otters came in and spent the winter up in the attic. And they crapped everywhere,” York said. “And so the first job that some of the volunteers did was put on a respirator and Tyvek to clean up otter crap.”
Moving forward, the space will be used largely for educational events, including artist, writer and family retreats – all organized by the preservation group. There will also be tours offered by a local operator, which will help fund ongoing restoration efforts.
Allowing that meant dealing with widespread lead contamination.
“Our goal has been to get rid of the source of the contaminants, which is lead paint falling off every single surface you see,” York said.
The soil on the island is also contaminated. York said a federal contractor is set to start remediating that problem this fall.
The ordeal has been a major feat of logistics, fundraising and collaboration. It’s been made more complicated by the reality that doing any work at Eldred Rock requires hauling people and equipment to the island, often in bad weather.
The most recent trip was cut short when York had to ask most volunteers to pack up and quickly get off the rock to avoid getting stuck there.
“It’s the worst weather in the north Lynn Canal,” she said. “Our challenge has always been transportation and safety coming on and off the island.”
York and a handful of volunteers stayed behind. They’ll spend the week there, making sure the lighthouse is ready for visitors in a few weeks’ time.
