Old Plantation Flats Light Station Replica

A Guiding Beacon

An original set of hand drawn plans for a square screwpile lighthouse was obtained from Kendrick A. Claflin & Son, a nautical antique dealer in Worcester, Massachusetts. Although the plans that Baymark obtained were not originally drawn for the Old Plantation Flats Light Station, they were from the same era. In the late 1880’s many of the square screwpile lighthouses were built from the same basic set of plans. Plans were passed from site to site and, in some cases, the name of the previous lighthouse was scratched out and a new name was penciled in. Field adjustments were often made during construction; some of the light stations received elaborate gingerbread trim and dormer windows, others were kept mostly plain.

Rebuilding history

Although the original design plans were modernized to include electricity, heat and air conditioning, the lumber types and sizes are faithful to the 1886 version. David Brothers of Elizabeth City, North Carolina was responsible for the custom carpentry that was required throughout. A wooden handrail with intricate banisters surrounds the wrap around porch. The lantern is timber framed and the lantern deck features a wooden handrail with banisters identical to those on the first level. The storm panels are framed with cast iron mullions, which support the metal roof capped with a brass ventilator ball and a lightning rod. Interior rooms of the lighthouse are finished with tongue and groove beaded cypress, painted white, and brightly varnished heart pine floors. Like the original, the exterior walls are juniper but, in keeping with modern building codes, are lined with a layer of fireproof gypsum. The new OPF sits on five steel piles, identical in size to the originals, driven to a depth of 30 feet by Waterfront Marine Construction of Suffolk, Virginia.

The Lens

The original 4th order Fresnel lens that was installed in the Old Plantation Flats Light Station was destroyed in an 1893 ice storm and the replacement 4th order lens that was removed from service in 1962 could not be found, so Baymark commissioned lens preservationist Dan Spinella of Artworks Florida to design an exact replica. Spinella also designed the cast iron pedestal, which weighs approximately 180 pounds. When the lens and pedestal, built by Enberg Mold & Tool Castings of Jacksonville, were completed in February 2004, it was the first new Fresnel lens built in more than 80 years.

Water and Heat

Just as in the original lighthouse, rainwater can be collected in a 3-foot x 6-foot redwood cistern made by the Hall-Woolford Tank Company of Philadelphia. Hall-Woolford has been making water tanks since 1854 and used materials and techniques similar to those used in 1886 in fabricating the replica on display.  The Good Time Stove Company of Goshen, Massachusetts fully restored the authentic late 19th Century coal stove.

The Brass Bell

Also installed in the lighthouse is a 1942 Coast Guard bronze fog bell, which weighs 225 pounds and was originally used on a bell buoy. The new bell was sandblasted, polished and fitted with an internal electronic striking mechanism by a bell maker who has been in business since 1842, the Verdin Company of Cincinnati, Ohio. The original Stevens Fog Bell Striker from the Old Plantation Flats Light Station could not be located so an identical replica had to be made. Working with a detailed set of plans depicted in the federal government’s Instructions to Light-Keepers and Masters of Light-House Vessels of 1902 as well as photographs of several surviving Stevens machines housed in museums, Enberg Mold and Tool Castings fabricated the Fog Bell Machine now on display.

Reaching Shore

Replicas of two of the earliest boats known to have been used at Old Plantation Flats hang from the boat davits. The oldest model, a 16-foot row skiff was built by Brush Creek Yachts of Plymouth, North Carolina. Only slightly more modern is the 22-foot power skiff built by Vintage Boat Works of Geneva, Illinois. The bigger boat features a refurbished but completely original 6 horsepower Lathrop motor purchased from a private collector in New Port, Rhode Island.

Dozens of genuine U.S. Lighthouse Service artifacts and light keepers implements dating to the late nineteenth century are displayed in the new lighthouse but, unfortunately, none can be documented as original to Old Plantation Flats.

The new Old Plantation Flats Light Station has already become a beacon for the Bay Creek Resort; its light is visible for several miles and its fog bell can be heard throughout the community. Golfers on the Arnold Palmer Signature course use the distant lighthouse as a target from the 1st tee and putt in its shadow on the 2nd green. A half-size version of the lighthouse now serves as a covered bridge on the 4th hole of the Jack Nicklaus Signature course, a hole that bears the name “Old Plantation Light” for its proximity to the original lighthouse on the Bay.

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