Penfield Reef Light Goes To Non-Profit Group
August 6th, 2008 | by Sue |City of Fairfield Loses Out
It looks like the GSA has decided to award the Penfield Reef Lighthouse to Beacon Preservation, Inc. of Ansonia. It was thought that Fairfield was a shoe-in for the awarding of the lighthouse, said to be haunted by someone referred to as Ernie, but the GSA decided that the non-profit group had a better plan for its restoration and use.
Ken Flatto, First Selectman, had repeatedly said that the lighthouse would be closed to the public due to liability reasons. Beacon Preservations is planning to use the lighthouse as a marine research center, and will look into opening the light for limited public use in the future.
The lighthouse, which originally had several groups interested in acquiring it, including PETA for its Fish Empathy Project, ended up with only the town of Fairfield and Beacon Preservation applying for it. According to the story in the Connecticut Post, Flatto says the town of Fairfield is “very supportive” of Beacon Preservation. He said both the town and the organization have the same goals, and that is the preservation of the light, a symbol of the town. He added that if the town would have been awarded the light, they would have had to turn to a non-profit group to help anyway. The National Park Servie, inits letter outlining the decision, encourages both Beacon and the town to work together on the lighthouse preservation project.
Casey Jordan, Beacon’s president, said, “They’re expensive. It’s a lot of work,” Jordan said. “You either get it or you don’t. They’re icons not just of history but of hope.”
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