Restored boathouse opens next to Port Clinton Lighthouse

PORT CLINTON — Port Clinton's lighthouse in Waterworks Park next to downtown has lured many visitors since 2016, when the restored lighthouse was set up at the edge of the lake.But members of the Port Clinton Lighthouse Conservancy haven't been taking it easy since then. The Conservancy recently officially opened a small building near the lighthouse, a replica of the Lighthouse Keeper's Boathouse.The new boathouse was dedicated June 1, and now visitors can go inside it when they visit the lighthouse.The original boathouse wasn't available to be restored. According to "Lights at the Portage," a short history of Port Clinton's two lighthouses by Richard Norgard, president of the Port Clinton Lighthouse Conservancy, the historic boathouse was torn down in 2010 after city officials decided it was in such bad shape it couldn't be saved."The city tore it down and put in a big dumpster," Norgard said.Conservancy members, however, turned up the original plans for the boathouse."Our guys said, 'We can build one of these'," Norgard said.Milan architect Dan Frederick redrew the plans, and members of the Conservancy built the replica of the boathouse in a building provided by Minderman Marine Products Inc., which is owned by Stuart Gahn.The cost was about $60,000. The boathouse, with a donated small boat inside, was placed at the edge of Derby Pond in Waterworks Park.The lighthouse at Waterworks Park recalls decades of Port Clinton history.According to Norgard's book, available for sale at the boathouse, Port Clinton actually had two boathouses in its history.The first lighthouse, a round stone tower, went into operation in 1833. Various government officials griped over the years there wasn't enough boat traffic to justify the lighthouse, and in 1870 it was discontinued.After U.S. Army Corps of Engineers harbor improvements made the Portage River easier to navigate, Port Clinton residents pushed for a new lighthouse, and a wooden lighthouse on the pier went into operation in 1896. It was closed in 1952.In November 1952, David B. Jeremy was hired to remove it from the pier and burn it and was even supplied with five gallons of fuel to feed the fire.Instead, Jeremy refused and hauled it to a location that became Jeremy's Marina, and then later Brands' Marina. The Jeremys and the Brands did maintenance to keep the lighthouse in decent shape.In June 2010, Darrell Brand went to a hair salon for a haircut. The salon was owned by Debbie Hymore-Tester, then the mayor of Port Clinton, and the two discussed transferring the lighthouse to the city. During a recent trip to Grand Haven, Mich., Hymore-Tester noticed large number of people trooping up to visit the local lighthouse, Norgard's book says.Subsequent mayors were less interested in the opinions of the Port Clinton Lighthouse Conservancy on matters such as where the restored lighthouse should be placed, but in 2016 a lighthouse-friendly new mayor, Hugh Wheeler, took office. The restored lighthouse was located in Waterworks Park and dedicated in September 2016.Port Clinton has another new mayor who just took office. Mayor Mike Snider is supportive and participated in the boathouse dedication.The restoration of the lighthouse took about three years, $200,000 and untold man-hours of labor, Norgard said.Norgard is a Port Clinton native who enlisted in the Army, serving in the intelligence branch for 20 years. He then spent 21 years in Alaska, working as a private investigator and then as a state criminal defense investigator.He did not forget Port Clinton and decided to return."I kept missing the lake. The older I got, the colder Alaska got," Norgard said.Norgard's mystery novel, "Trophy Kill," featuring a private investigator in Alaska, was recently published by Bird Dog Publishing of Huron.Want to Go?Visitors can walk up to the lighthouse and boathouse at Waterworks Park in Port Clinton anytime they like and admire them from the outside. Waterworks Park is located on Ohio 163 in downtown Port Clinton.The lighthouse is open during the summer from noon to 5 p.m. Saturdays and holidays, and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Tours cost $3.The Port Clinton Lighthouse and Maritime Festival will be at the park on Aug. 17, and will feature music, free lighthouse tours and food vendors. "It's going to be bigger this year," Norgard said.Rich Norgard, left, shakes hands with Port Clinton Mayor Mike Snider at the June 1 dedication ceremony for the replica of the lightkeeper's boathouse. The man on the left, Clair Jeremy, a member of the lighthouse conservancy board, is the grandson of David Jeremy, who saved the Port Clinton lighthouse by not following instructions to burn it. The lightkeeper's boathouse, with the Port Clinton Lighthouse in the background.