History of Tibbetts Point Lighthouse Historical Society, TPLHS

Since the first lighthouse built in 1827 at Tibbetts Point, expenses for construction, repairs or renovations were paid for by one form of the government or another.  This arrangement proved successful for over 150 years.

This all changed in May of 1981, when the US Coast Guard automated the lighthouse.  The first thing that became obvious was the lightkeepers were no longer needed onsite.  The lighthouse became serviced by a remote Coast Guard station out of Oswego, NY.  This left the property without anyone maintaining these historical structures day-to-day.  Since the Coast Guard anticipated this automation, the unfortunate result was major repairs were neglected for several years prior to the automation.  For three years the property and buildings remained unattended by everyone.

In anticipation of relinquishing control, the Coast Guard submitted paperwork; and, on July 11, 1984  the lighthouse was added to the National Registry of Historical Places.  And, the National Parks Service was tasked to oversee the transfer of the property to another government agency.  The property was transferred to the Town of Cape Vincent, NY.  At the same time Hosteling International was granted an agreement to use the keepers’ houses as a hostel.  This agreement, which lasted until 2014, enabled hostel volunteers to maintain the property and the keepers’ houses.  However, they were not tasked with maintaining the lighthouse tower and foghorn building.  The historic buildings continued to deteriorate.  

In 1988, Shirley Hamblen, of Cape Vincent NY, had the vision to see that the area's most recognized landmark would be lost forever if something did not change in the preservation efforts.  Ms. Hamblen organized a dedicated group of community minded volunteers whose goal it was to raise money and focus on the repair of the Lighthouse structures.   They also wanted to create a continuing revenue source to keep up with the future Lighthouse maintenance.   This was the beginning of the Tibbetts Point Lighthouse Historical Society.

By starting the paperwork to become a NY State Non-Profit  organization, they chose to raise funds by focusing on a triad of sources.  The first is the solicitation of donations from a generous public by  starting with $5 membership fees from the original members.  They realized a second area was to seek various grants available to nonprofits.  The final piece was the creation of a gift shop in the Visitors’ Center which is staffed totally by volunteers.  

For almost 40 years, the TPLHS has been responsible for the repairs and renovations to the  lighthouse tower, foghorn building, Visitors’ Center, and grounds.  While the Town of Cape Vincent has provided minor, routine maintenance and repairs since they assumed ownership, there is a need for funds to cover the larger expenses when they occur.  Since repairs of buildings on the Historical Registry must be completed by qualified historical contractors approximately every 10 years, these costs can rise quite rapidly.  What started out with $5 membership fees from the original members has grown over the years.  On-going donations and the work for our numerous volunteers have enabled us to fund almost $200,000 in repairs and renovations. 

On April 14, 1989, The Tibbetts Point Lighthouse Historical Society of Cape Vincent, New York was   officially granted an absolute Non-Profit provisional charter through the Regents of the University of the State of New York as an Educational Non-Profit Corporation.  On November 14, 1997, they were granted their Absolute Charter