Historic lighthouse on the auction block: Government to sell Stratford Shoal Light Station in Long Island Sound

The lighthouse sits on a submerged reef in the middle of Long Island Sound, the nearest neighbor is five nautical miles away and the property can be yours for as little as $10,000. 

On June 12, the federal government’s General Services Administration is scheduled to auction off Stratford Shoal Middle Ground Light Station, which is accessible only by boat and is roughly equidistant from the Old Field Point Lighthouse in East Setauket and the Connecticut coastal town of Stratford. 

Nationwide, Stratford Shoal and three other lighthouses are going to auction; six more will be offered free to nonprofits or local governments, part of a yearly unburdening mandated by the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000. Some lighthouses have been converted to homes, inns or museums. Stratford Shoals' light, which is owned by the United States Coast Guard, will remain Coast Guard property and will have to be maintained to prevent deterioration, a GSA spokesman said.

In a news release last week, the GSA said it had conveyed 150 lighthouses to new owners since passage of the law at prices, selling about 70 for prices ranging from the $10,000 auction minimum $10,000 to $933,888. Upkeep costs can vary, the release warned: “New owners should expect to have to paint, clean, and possibly restore broken or missing items. Most lighthouses do not have any utilities, so there would be a cost associated with making the lighthouse livable.”

Stratford Shoal is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and its 1989 nomination form describes a “carefully crafted” three-story granite house built in 1878 on less than an acre with a “cast iron spiral stair” and Gothic Revival touches. The lighthouse has been vacant since 1970, when the Coast Guard installed a 600,000 candlepower beacon and an automatic fog horn. 

According to the website lighthousefriends.com, which gives locations and histories for lighthouses across the U.S., 17th-century maps of the Sound by Adriaen Block, Block Island’s namesake, show two islands where the lighthouse now stands; now there is only a “dangerous” shoal three-quarters of a mile long.

Nick Korstad, who owns and lives at Big Bay Point Lighthouse Bed and Breakfast in Northern Michigan, said he was awarded ownership of Stratford Shoal in 2016 but backed out over regulatory hurdles he said would have made it difficult to renovate the property or make money by giving tours with overnight stays.

“What can you do with property in the middle of the ocean if you can’t go out there and spend the night?” he said in an interview. 

The lighthouse is in Connecticut, just over the New York State border, he said. Korstad said he’d dealt chiefly with Connecticut’s Department of Energy & Environmental Protection. A spokesman for the agency, Paul Copleman, said that Korstad's "intended use of the property did not meet the allowable uses within existing statutes nor the required stipulations during the permitting process. Efforts were made to work with the applicant, but ultimately the application could not be approved to move forward." 

Korstad, who last visited the lighthouse in 2016, said he’d taken a 45-minute boat ride from Stratford. From the lighthouse, he saw the Long Island and Connecticut shorelines, he recalled. The lighthouse was built to endure nature’s worst, he said, with 2-foot stone walls. Inside were three bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen, living area and dining room, with the staircase leading up to the glassed-in lantern room with 360-degree views. “The quality of craftsmanship was amazing — there’s rafters in the attic that look like they were just cut,” he said. 

“If you just want to own it and maintain it, go out there for the day, then it’s the perfect property,” he said. “If you’re trying to develop it as an inn, that’s something you’re going to have to work out” with Connecticut officials. 

Eric Jay Dolin, author of “Brilliant Beacons,” a history of America’s lighthouse system, said they were “incredibly important to the evolution of this country” in the centuries before electronic navigation. Of the thousands that once dotted the nation’s coastline, hundreds remain, including about 20 on and around Long Island. 

Maintenance can be expensive and difficult, as North Hempstead officials learned after taking over the 150-year-old Stepping Stones Lighthouse off Kings Point in the Long Island Sound in 2008. Critics have faulted the town for not opening it to the public or restoring it. 

Lighthouses surrounded by water, like Stepping Stones and Stratford Shoal, are among the hardest to maintain, Dolin said. “They’re buffeted by waves, salty spray, wind, cold, heat.” The ideal owner, he said, would be someone with “fairly deep pockets” who is “a little bit adventurous … dedicated to the preservation of a small piece of American history."

Pam Setchell, a preservationist who works with a Great Neck Historical Society committee formed to restore Stepping Stones, said her experience with that lighthouse had been a “nightmare” but that preservation was worthwhile. “Lighthouses are magnificent — they hold spirit and lore unlike anything else," Setchell said. "To be out there and surrounded by the water, the elements — it’s just magical.”