Ceremony to Transfer Ownership
of the Rondout Lighthouse
to the City of Kingston

5:30 pm, Sunday, June 9th, 2002
at the Hudson River Maritime Museum

Rondout lighthouse
A ceremony to transfer ownership of the Rondout Lighthouse to the City of Kingston will be held at the Maritime Museum, 5:30 pm, on Sunday, June 9th. Mayor James Sottile will accept the deed from the U.S. Coast Guard in a ceremony that includes local and national political leaders and representatives from the National Park Service, America Heritage Rivers, and Hudson River Greenway.

The Rondout Lighthouse is currently leased by the Museum from the Coast Guard for $1 a year. Under City of Kingston ownership, daily operation of the lighthouse would continue to be done by the Maritime Museum under a contract with the City. There are plans to establish a "Friends of the Rondout Lighthouse Conservancy" to do fund raising to finance the Lighthouse's maintenance, operation, and preservation and to promote the Lighthouse as a tourist attraction.

In November, 2000, President Clinton signed into law a bill affecting the ownership of about 500 lighthouses across the nation, including the Rondout Lighthouse. This law set up a detailed process for transferring ownership of the lighthouses from the U.S. Coast Guard to new owners.

Criteria for the selection of the new owners include firm respect of the Secretary of the Interior’s Guidelines for Historic Preservation, provision of a high degree of public access to the lighthouses, and the financial ability to meet the other guidelines. Through this process, it is expected that ownership of the Rondout Lighthouse would be transferred from the Coast Guard to the City of Kingston.

On May 7th, the Kingston Common Council authorized the mayor to accept the deed for the Rondout Lighthouse from the Coast Guard and to enter into an arrangement with the Maritime Museum for its operation.

City to Take Ownership of Rondout Lighthouse
from the Daily Freeman, June 7, 2002

Kingston Goes After Rondout Lighthouse
from the Daily Freeman, May 8, 2002

City Eyes Lighthouse Takeover
from the Daily Freeman, April 22, 2002

These periodic newsletters and announcements are published to promote the historic, cultural, and maritime resources of the Hudson River.
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Index of 2002 Newsletters