A Nevada businessman bought the Chesapeake Bay?s Bloody Point Bar Lighthouse at auction from the U.S. Coast Guard for $100,000.
“It just seemed like a piece of our heritage that was about to very much sink under the wave unless someone stepped forward. I decided I would take it under my wing,” said Michael Gabriel, of Carson City, Nev.
Gabriel cast the winning bid Thursday, but it took until Monday for the federal government to confirm the bids.
Seven people bid on the lighthouse, which is 1 mile from the southern end of Kent Island, said Gary Mote, spokesman for the General Services Administration, the federal agency that sells property.
Gabriel ? president of Lawyer at Large, a business that provides legal educational materials ? said he will travel to the lighthouse in his amphibious red convertible car.
Bloody Point will continue to be lit up as a navigational aide. But Gabriel said he wants to restore the building, which was built in 1882, over the next two years.
The lighthouse was gutted by a 1960 fire, and it leans about 3 degrees due to erosion. Gabriel said he plans to install two to three floors inside, which may have to be tilted in order to compensate.
Under the federal government?s Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act, Gabriel must apply for permits from the National Historic Commission and other government agencies in order to renovate the building.
The challenges of transporting workers and materials to an offshore lighthouse can make renovations take more than twice as much time as in a normal building, said Henry Gonzales, vice president of the U.S. Lighthouse Society.
When restorations are complete, Gabriel said he plans to turn the building over to the Maryland Historic Trust or another nonprofit organization.
“It?s too historical a structure just to let it disappear through neglect,” Gabriel said.
