Eldred Rock is an agglomeration of rocks wedged in the middle of the Lynn Canal, where cell signal blows in and out with the wind. Most of the year, the action comes from ravens eager to snag oystercatcher eggs, a herd of harbor seals on the north end of the island, and bald eagles circling the skies.
But for the last few years, there’s been a bustle of human action. On a recent July morning, as the sun peeked out from the melting snow of the Kakuhan Range, one might have heard a loud mechanical rumbling on the remote island.
“I don’t have to worry about the neighbors out here. The oystercatchers don’t complain if I’m working with the generator running at three in the morning,” said Keith McPencow, a contractor who’s been working tirelessly to restore the historic lighthouse on the island.
Keith McPencow in the newly-painted lighthouse tower. Nakeshia Diop photo.
The white octagonal lighthouse with a red roof perched on the south end of the island is a familiar sight to many Haines residents who pass by it on their ferry ride to Juneau. But a dedicated group of volunteers with the Eldred Rock Lighthouse Preservation Association (ERLPA) is committed to making it something more: a destination for weddings, retreats, and tours. They’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars and countless hours over the past few years to make it livable, shoring up structures, sucking up lead paint dust and clearing out asbestos.
There’s nobody more dedicated to the task than McPencow, who holds the unofficial record for most nights spent at the lighthouse since the departure of the last keeper.
“I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing,” he said.
McPencow greets a landing boat. Lex Treinen photo.
He stays at Eldred Rock for as long as five weeks at a time, and works on restoring the lighthouse. This year, he has another companion, Mister Adam Peaches the Dreamsicle, a friendly orange cat. He said his work keeps him busy.
“It’s a lot of cleaning and a lot of painting,” he said. Most of the walls on the lighthouse were once painted with lead paint, which was banned in the U.S. in 1978 after it was discovered lead exposure can cause intellectual disability.
At Eldred Rock, the chipping lead paint is stripped, HEPA vacuumed, and then covered with a special paint that binds with the lead, then painted over with multiple times. McPencow said workers are strict about following workplace safety protocols to avoid exposure themselves.
Volunteers vacuum potentially harmful lead-based paint from the old boat house on Eldred Rock Island. Lex Treinen photo.
“We are making the inside safe for people to live and we are also protecting the envelopes of the building, and we are stopping deterioration of the weather up here,” he said. McPencow’s daily tasks include not only the list of projects outlined in ERLPA’s remediation plan. “You have to boil your water, you have to cook your food, you have to clean up. You’re a housekeeper, you’re everything. You have to fuel up the generators every day, you have to fuel up the heaters every day,” he said. McPencow is only joined by volunteers for half of the month, but the isolation doesn’t bother him. He said he finds joy in getting work done and soaking in the wildlife around him.
“We are helping to heal those buildings and we are getting in touch with ourselves,” he said.
For the fifth year in a row, Eldred Rock Lighthouse was named one of the top ten most endangered properties in the state by the Alaska Association for Historic Preservation. The lighthouse operated from 1906 as a response to Gold Rush-era shipwrecks until 1973. It is the oldest Alaskan lighthouse still standing and the only remaining octagonal one. The list “brings attention to the fact that these properties exist… [and] can protect the property from being demolished,” said Trish Neal, president of the association.
In 2020, after two decades of advocacy, ERLPA got a five-year renewable lease of Eldred Rock from the U.S. Coast Guard. Since then, volunteers have traveled to the lighthouse to work on rehabilitation and restoration.
When CVN visited the island, a handful of volunteers from Juneau were hard at work spraying down walls on the handful of buildings on the island, dressed in clean white suits and wearing full respirators to protect them from possible lead dust from the paint.
One of the volunteers was Brian Peterman, a retired vice admiral of the Coast Guard who married his wife on Eldred Rock in 1997. Peterman spent 12 hours painting the stairway to the lantern room, which only became accessible without the need of respirators and Tyvek suits this week. “Even though it’s hard work, it’s a labor of love,” he said.
When Peterman joined the Coast Guard, lighthouses were still manned. Seeing the dedication of the Coast Guard members to the lighthouse keepers was an inspiration. “I want to honor the people in the past. Lighthouses around the U.S. that are going through the same type of transition that this is, I think they should be preserved to honor those that served. It’s a great symbol of our history,” he said.
Brian Peterman after a 12-hour day of volunteering. Nakeshia Diop photo.
Lighthouses are not just a captivating relic of the past, they are still useful tools of maritime navigation. Even though many boats rely on satellite-based GPS, it is not always accurate, says Peterman.
The Marine Exchange of Alaska, which is working with ERLPA on restoring the lighthouse, operates a weather station on the island and uses vessel- tracking information to communicate with boats and keep them safe.
Ed Page, director of the Marine Exchange, said that while the lighthouse captures many people’s imaginations, “we are [also] creating a safety net to save lives.” For the remainder of the summer, ERLPA hopes to work on concrete repairs, replacing the windows and railings in the lantern room and more remediation.
Sue York, executive director of ERLPA said the goal was to have most of the projects done by 2025.
The Eldred Rock Lighthouse. Nakeshia Diop photo.
“We have a long road ahead, but there’s been slow but steady progress,” she said. In the past, ERLPA has been a recipient of the Alaska Association for Historic Preservation $2,500 matching grant. York says the organization is applying for the grant again this year.
The Chilkat Valley Community Fund and Rasmuson Foundation have also made donations to the project.
“This place needs more life out here, it needs more energy out here, it needs more people out here,” said McPencow.
Those interested in volunteering should stop by the organization’s booth at the Southeast Alaska State Fair or visit eldredrocklighthouse. org.
Editor’s note: The previous version incorrectly stated that ERLPA received a $25,000 grant from the Alaska Association for Historic Preservation. The amount is actually $2,500