The lens room area of the Newburyport Lighthouse received a new coat of tough epoxy paint and extensive caulking to help prevent leaks in the roof. Both interior and exterior surfaces were addressed. Our professional painter and consultant, Stu Schulman, suggested an epoxy paint, because the old lens room floor paint was constantly being ruined by all the foot traffic from our many diners. The new, tougher, epoxy paint has worked well to solve both our problems with leaking from the roof, and the damaging foot traffic on the floor.
In addition, a talented artist, Jean Guerini, who dined with us this past year, suggested we paint the interior ceiling dome, so it looked like the sky, with clouds. We liked the idea, and consequently hired her to create the heavenly effect. It turned out divinely – a bit reminiscent of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel dome, minus God and Adam.
The past year also saw the installation of a much-needed powerful heater at the base of the tower that now blows hot air during the winter months into the cavernous 5-story stairwell shaft. It does a good job of taking the chill out of the air on cold winter nights.
In addition, a long-awaited architectural and engineering survey of the Newburyport Lighthouse was completed at the end of 2016. In the coming year, we will be addressing some of the issues raised in that study.
