Mount Pleasant Magazine March/April 2016

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made a few additions to the house.
Because the structure is on the
National Register of Historic Places,
they said their alterations required
permission from the Old Village
Historic District Commission.
The three-story wooden house
was originally 2,200 square feet with
two rooms of living space on the first
floor, two bedrooms on the second
and an attic room on the third. The
homeowners have learned that there
was a doorway on both the first and
second floors leading from the house
directly into the 44-foot-high light-
house tower. The pillars left from the
tower’s foundation mark the struc-
ture’s exact location.
A small brick building dating to
about 1900 also is on the property.
Scrantom explained that it was used
to store whale oil and kerosene for
the buoys in the harbor.
“Part of the light keeper’s job was
to go out in a small boat and light
the buoys. That responsibility con-
tinued even after the lighthouse was
gone,” he said.
Scrantom noted that the structure
still smells like oil inside.
A small cistern and a root cellar
which is now used as a wine cel-
lar also remain on the property. A
previous homeowner had sheetrock
installed over the fireplace in the
kitchen, and the wood plank floors
show a small burned, blackened
mark, hinting at what was behind
that wall. A subsequent owner re-
moved the sheetrock and the fire-
place is again in use.
The curved stairway leading to
the second floor is original, and there
is a small brass medallion about the
size of a half dollar imbedded in the
newel post of the bannister. Scrantom
believes that the original deed to the
house may be rolled up and hidden
inside the hollow post, as was the cus-
tom when the house was constructed.
The current owners are happy
to be preserving the history of their
unique property.
“We even have a list of all the light
keepers and their family members who
have lived here,” Wilkes said.
A small brick building dating to about 1900 was used to store whale oil and kerosene for the
buoys in the harbor.
Photo by Mary Coy.