FAIRPORT HARBOR, Ohio — It is a big summer for Fairport Harbor’s two historic lighthouses, which are both fixtures along the Lake County shoreline.
The original Fairport Harbor Lighthouse, which is now the Fairport Harbor Marine Museum, is celebrating 200 years with a party on Saturday, June 21, from 7 to 10 p.m.
Meanwhile, its successor, Fairport Harbor West Breakwater Light, is celebrating its 100th anniversary this weekend and will commemorate the milestone with an open house on Saturday, June 7, from noon to 4 p.m. The community is invited to tour the lighthouse during the event.
Fairport Harbor West is privately owned by Sheila Consaul.
“It’s a fascinating place to be, literally in the middle of Lake Erie,” said Consaul.
She lives outside Washington, D.C., and purchased the lighthouse in 2011 from a government auction to serve as a summer home. However, the lighthouse had sat unoccupied for 60 years and had no utilities.
“I had done historic renovations before,” she said. “I love saving historic buildings and doing the renovation work.”
We visited Consaul and her dog, Faro, which means "lighthouse" in Italian, this week to see how hard she has worked to restore and preserve the structure.
“It’s definitely off-the-grid living,” she said. “It’s not for everybody. You can’t drive to it!”
The only way to access the lighthouse is by parking at Headlands Beach State Park. Section P1 is recommended. Then, do not take the boardwalk, but instead take an adjacent pathway referred to as the “Fisherman’s Trail.” That takes you on about a half-mile, sandy trail along the breakwall, and at the end is the lighthouse.
It is a vision: an iconic white building with a red roof.
The walk to get there offers stunning views, as you stroll through Headlands Dunes State Nature Preserve.
But it’s a haul when you think about all the trips Consaul has had to make over the years to renovate and care for the lighthouse. There is also no pier or dock at the lighthouse.
“It’s really been a labor of love,” she said.
Consaul said for big projects, like the kitchen and heavy appliances, they had to be brought in on a ship and a crane to load them into the lighthouse.
“Oh gosh, it’s so beautiful,” said Ellen Braybant of Bay Village. “We were just down there, and there’s a cute little dog on top of the lighthouse – it was so cute!”
For 100 years, Fairport Harbor West has been catching the eye of mariners and admirers like Braybant and her friend, who walk by the lighthouse and are taken by its allure and charm.
“We saw it on the map, and I was like, ‘We have to go to the lighthouse,’” smiled Braybant.
Be it the romance, the mystery, or the rich history, there’s something about lighthouses that draws people in and captivates our attention and curiosity.
“It’s an opportunity like no other,” said Consaul. “I envision sometimes what it was like when the keepers really lived here.”
From 1925 to the mid-1940s, keepers lived at the lighthouse year-round, she said.
They maintained the light, ensuring it was lit. Their living quarters were on the second level of the lighthouse.
Consaul salvaged the original hardwood floors. And the original seafoam green color of one of the bedrooms.
She’s converted what was the kitchen into a bedroom and the pantry into an attached bathroom. Consaul has melded historic integrity with modern amenities, making the lighthouse into a charming 3-bedroom, 3-bath home.
Speaking of utilities, Consaul installed a generator for electricity, a sustainable rainwater capture system for washing, and compostable toilets, which now enable her to stay all summer.
The spiral cast iron staircases are also original. It gets narrower as you ascend.
Atop the lighthouse, you see that while it’s a private residence, the lighthouse continues to serve as an active aid-to-navigation. The beacon is now automated by solar and activated by the U.S. Coast Guard, said Consaul.
The lighthouse also houses a National Weather Service detection system (Station FAI01), which displays current marine weather observations.
Lake County boasts 31 miles of Lake Erie shoreline, and it feels like you can see every inch of it from atop the lighthouse.
“It’s really a symbol of this county, and I was privileged to be able to save it and restore it, and bring it back to something that the community can be proud of,” she said.
She has been hosting open houses since 2012 and said they’ve been growing in attendance, with last year being her biggest year yet.
“I have volunteers, we stage throughout the lighthouse to make sure everyone’s safe coming in and out, and for the 100th anniversary, we’re expecting over 1,000 people,” said Consaul.
She said a high turnout might mean you'll need to wait to enter the lighthouse.
She also reminds people of the half-mile walk in the sand to reach the lighthouse and about some of the potential accessibility challenges posed by the historic nature of the building, such as the stairs, including the need to climb up a few rocks to reach the entrance.
Food trucks will be available in the parking lot of Headlands State Park.
Built in a factory in Buffalo, New York, shipped to Fairport Harbor and placed on a platform built by the Army Corps of Engineers, the Fairport Harbor West Lighthouse, with its 2-foot-thick walls, has weathered a century of lake life in Northeast Ohio.
“They don’t build these anymore,” said Consaul.
Its survival to this date has in large part been thanks to its caretakers, who now include Consaul and Faro. She hopes that the iconic and treasured structure will continue to survive.
“This building has been here a lot longer than I’ve been here, and hopefully it’ll stand another 100 years,” she said. “I need people to embrace it, and to commit to keeping it going and keeping it available to the community.”
The U.S. General Services Administration has been selling lighthouses since an act of Congress in 2000. Since then, more than 150 have been auctioned to new owners.
Fairport Harbor West is the successor to the original lighthouse on land that’s now the Fairport Harbor Marine Museum, which News 5 featured in our “Hidden Gems” series in June of 2021. Watch more below:
RELATED: The Fairport Harbor Marine Museum and Lighthouse is filled history—and a 'Ghost Cat'
