Lighthouse club installs replica at Mohave Point

Anyone who thinks putting up model lighthouses sound like a quaint hobby should have been along Tuesday on an expedition with Lake Havasu Lighthouse Club volunteers.

The scene was not for the faint of heart as club president Bob Keller, 70, and about a dozen members of the Marine Corps League clung to the margins of a high, skinny spit of land called Mohave Point — about two and a half miles north of Cattail Cove — installing the club's newest lighthouse replica.

Because the point was narrow and steep, and the site for the light surmounted a 30-foot bluff, volunteers had to haul the 12-foot-long body of lighthouse up the cliff from the deck of the club's pontoon boat.

Once they got it up there, they had to work around an existing navigational light to lift the lighthouse onto its cement footings, all the time slipping and sliding on steep, gravely ground.

Once in place, the bright red and white lighthouse, a replica of the Barnegat Light on the coast of New Jersey, stood out stunningly against the blue sky and was visible for miles.

"It looks exactly like the Barnegat Light," said Keller, who couldn't take his eyes off the light as the club boat headed back to the Cattail Cove launch ramp.

Since the club was founded exactly eight years ago, volunteers have erected 13 replica lighthouses, 12 of which serve as navigation lights on the lake. Keller plans to complete five lighthouses this year, including the Barnegat Light on Mohave Point.

All the lighthouses have been sponsored by local businesses and individuals. The newest lighthouse was sponsored by Ruth Naven and family as a memorial to Naven's father, who grew up in the shadow of the Barnegat Light.

Each lighthouse is an exact replica of the original and bears its "day mark," the unique pattern every lighthouse has that identifies it and distinguishes it from other lighthouses.

"When we build a lighthouse, we try to go to where the lighthouse is and get in touch with the people there," Keller said.

The club acquires the lighthouse's actual plans and works off those to create the replica. East Coast lighthouses are placed on the Arizona side of the lake, West Coast lights on the California side and Great Lakes lights around Parker Dam, Keller said.

Up to now the lighthouses have been site-built, usually with stick-frame construction and stucco like houses. But with lighthouse sites becoming more and more remote, the club has switched to making them from fiberglass off-site.

"These have to be pretty seaworthy and have to withstand the elements. We do get a lot of vandalism," Keller said.

The lights themselves are solar-powered, LED navigation lights manufactured in Canada. They're visible for three nautical miles and require just five hours of sunlight a month to operate.

As charming as the lighthouses are, the real purpose of them is to aid navigation on the lake, Keller said.

"A lot of people don't know what they're there for. They just think they're beautiful lighthouses," he said.

As soon as volunteers have put the finishing touches on the Barnegat Light at Mohave Point they'll get to work installing the Berwick Light, from Louisiana, south of Cattail Cove across from Parker Dam.

The Barnegat and Berwick lights will share a dedication ceremony at London Bridge Beach Park in the spring, Keller said. Other lights are planned this year for the 15th green at the Island Golf Course, Spectator Point and Copper Canyon.

The club has identified 35 sites on the lake where lights could be added or replaced, though dealing with the panoply of state and local agencies that controls the lake can be a challenge, Keller said. It sometimes take years to secure the necessary approval to move forward, he said.

The club has eight sponsored lighthouses in the pipeline and can always use more members, cash donations and volunteer labor, Keller said. It costs $4,000 to sponsor a lighthouse.

For information contact Bob Keller at 764-1699.

You may contact the reporter at dparker@havasunews.com.