An informative exhibit on Stuart Island’s Turn Point Lighthouse will grace the walls of the Lundeen Room at Orcas Senior Center during April.
Built in 1893 and designed by the architect Carl Leick, the sturdy Queen Anne/late Victorian building and its adjoining museum will be open to the boating public July 4.
The exhibit at the Senior Center contains detailed information about the light station’s equipment, personnel, buildings, events (including a notable shipwreck) and about the Turn Point Lighthouse Preservation Society (TPLPS), which opened the museum in the old “mule barn” last July 4.
“My husband and I sailed out there in 2003, hiked up to the lighthouse and found everything all boarded up, and I said ‘I’m going to open it,'” said Margaret Jonas, president of TPLPS, the 501 (c) 3 nonprofit which needs to raise some $100,000 to complete restoration of the buildings.
“Our biggest goal is to restore the water catchment system, which means putting a new roof on the mule barn,” she said.
Turn Point is at the southern end of Stuart Island, on the American side of Boundary Passage. Boaters anchor in Prevost Harbor and hike about three miles up to the lighthouse, or in Reid Harbor, a six-mile hike. However, on special dates, including one in August, transportation will be provided.
For anyone wanting to make a donation to TPLPS, the address is PO Box 243, Orcas, 98280.
Eclipse Charters also includes a look at the Turn Point facility from the water, on its tour of the five local lights, the others being Cattle Point and Lime Kiln Point on San Juan, Pole Pass (on Orcas) and Patos.
For more information, call Jan Koltun, 376-3394 or Margaret Jonas, 376- 5246.
