Day Twelve- Painesville,OH

23 miles- In 1825 Master builder and architect Jonathan Goldsmith from Connecticut commenced work on a lighthouse and keeper’s house for the town of Grandon, later renamed Fairport Harbor, located at the mouth of the Grand River where it empties into Lake Erie. The natural harbor there was important to the economy of the Western Reserve. The lighthouse itself was 30 feet high topped with an octagonal lantern. Samuel Butler was the first keeper and was an ardent abolitionist. It is said his light was known as the terminus of the Underground Railroad where Canadian boats would carry the enslaved to freedom.

No mention is made of the building materials the lighthouse was made of, but by 1868 it was in such disrepair that temporary lights were placed on a tower while they tore down the first and built a second lighthouse. Completed in 1871 the first keeper was one Capt. Joseph Babcock. Two of his sons were born there and a third son was the last keeper there before this second lighthouse was decommissioned in 1925.

Befitting old keeper’s houses, this one is haunted-but by a cat. Apparently Mrs. Babcock was fond of keeping many cats in the keeper’s house. After the lighthouse and keeper’s house was decommissioned, they were turned into a museum. A woman curator, who lived in the museum for a while, reported seeing a ghost cat skitter across the kitchen floor several times and even jump on her bed. Later, contractors found a mummified cat in a crawl space.

By the nineteen teens the second lighthouse was showing its age and a new one was funded in 1917. However, WWI got in the way, so it wasn’t until 1925 that it was built. Surprisingly the two story keeper’s house and attached tower were not constructed on site. They were prefabricated out of plate steel in Buffalo, NY and then the whole structure was strapped on the steamer “Wotan” and ferried to Fairport Harbor. It was placed on the west breakwater. The final finishing of the interior was done onsite.

By the 1940’s new technology no longer required a lighthouse keeper and the lights were being automated, so the Fairport Lighthouse West Breakwater was decommissioned. It sat abandoned until 2011, when Sheila Consaul bid $71K for it in a government auction and won. Since that time she and a group of friends and enthusiasts, have restored it to its 1925 utilitarian grandeur.

As for me, well I left the motel just after 7AM and walked bike paths north several miles to the Mentor Lagoons Nature Preserve. From there it was east on forest trails until I finally saw Lake Erie. Eventually I got to Driftwood housing development, built probably from the 1940’s-60’s. Then it was into Headland Dunes State Natural Preserve which is where I got a distant look at lighthouse number three on the west breakwater. After that I headed south in a driving rain for about 10 miles until I turned up at the motel for tonight. As I mentioned the next two days will be camping again!

Until tomorrow, Happy Trails!