After six years of restoration, the Eldred Rock Lighthouse opened to the public. A group of 16 passengers departed Haines early Saturday morning for the grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony at the lighthouse 17 miles south of town. One of the passengers aboard was Ralph Crane, who was stationed at the lighthouse from May 1969 to May 1970. Crane and his daughter drove from Homer to witness the grand opening.

Passengers and crew of the M/V Northwest Adventurer await arriving at the Eldred Rock Lighthouse for it’s grand opening on May 30, 2026, 17 miles south of Haines, Alaska. (Lizzy Hahn/ Chilkat Valley News)

“It was my best and worst year of my life, ever,” Crane said. “It was a rude awakening to remoteness, but we had so much fun out there.” Crane and three others from the U.S. Coast Guard worked at the lighthouse, along with two dogs. Crane was fresh out of bootcamp when he selected Eldred Rock as his next post. Coming back to the lighthouse 56 years later, Crane said he noticed small changes like not seeing the foghorn stand anymore, but overall said it still looks the same on the outside. The U.S. Coast Guard unmanned the lighthouse in 1973 and then “just essentially abandoned it,” according to Crane. He said that his time out on the island helped prepare him for his career as a firefighter “where you’re 90% bored and 10% sheer terror.”

Ralph Crane, right, tells passengers tales of his time working out on the Eldred Rock Lighthouse in 1969, as they approch the lighthouse on May 30, 2026. Crane worked out on the lighthouse, located 17 miels south of Haines, Alaska, for a year in 1969. (Lizzy Hahn/Chilkat Valley News)

Some of Crane’s tasks on the lighthouse included chipping ice off the windows at the top of the tower during storms. Reflecting on the storms, Crane said the Chinook winds would build up so much momentum that the ocean spray would hit the top of the light tower.

“Our job was to make sure that the navigation stayed available for navigators,” Crane said. “It got pretty severe out there at times.”

At one point, Crane said he woke up and heard loud puffing coming from the ocean. One of the two dogs living on the island, Kenmore, had gone out into the ocean and was chasing a pod of orcas headed for Haines. The lighthouse members hopped on a boat and pulled Kenmore from the water.

Finished in 1906, the lighthouse is Alaska’s oldest original. Located 55 miles north of Juneau and 17 miles south of Haines, the red-and-white lighthouse is now open for tours and guests to stay the night.

Tom Ganner, Kathy and Tim Benner take photos of the flag raising during the Eldred Rock Lighthouse grand opening on May 30, 2026, 17 miles south of Haines, Alaska. (Lizzy Hahn/ Chilkat Valley News)

Some passengers from the Juneau boat “Goldbelt Seawolf” boarded a landing craft, which took them to the island. A floating dock has not been installed, so Haines passengers were not able to disembark. 

Stephanie Hawney, co-owner of the Skagway company Fairweather Marine Services, said that “it was seemingly an impossible task with three weeks of consistent 20 knot winds.” Only one of the four anchors was able to be placed for the floating dock and gangway. The Northwest Adventurer will be the main vessel transporting groups of 26 to the lighthouse. Fairweather Marine Services has partnered with the Eldred Rock Lighthouse Preservation Association, or ERLPA, to run tours to the island.

Stephanie Hawney, right, waves to volunteers on Eldred Rock who are working on fixing up the lighthouse after the Grand Opening on May 30, 2026 outside of Haines, Alaska. (Lizzy Hahn/ Chilkat Valley News)

After viewing the grand opening from the ocean, the Haines boat circled the island and landed, picking up a volunteer and co-owner of Fairweather Marine Services, Rob Caldwell, who had been working on installing the floating dock.

Michael Marks, secretary of the ERLPA, said that because of these tours, the U.S. Coast Guard is preparing to clean up contaminated debris and dirt and remove it from the island.

“They wouldn’t even consider removing that debris until there was actually public going on a regular basis,” Marks said Saturday. Marks first saw the lighthouse in 2002 while he and his wife, Lorrie Dudzik, were on the ferry up from Bellingham. Although the restoration has mainly occurred within the last six years, Marks said that it took 20 years of talks with the U.S. Coast Guard to get to this point.

About 15 years ago, before there was the Eldred Rock Lighthouse Preservation Association, the Sheldon Museum’s Eldred Rock Lighthouse Committee worked on how to restore the lighthouse. Then Haines Borough manager David Sosa told the committee to separate from the museum because the Haines Borough could not “accept the liability of what you guys intend to do at the lighthouse,” according to Marks. After that, the non-profit preservation association was founded. Their first income 15 years ago came from T-shirt sales with a logo designed by Laura Rogers.

Michael Marks, right, gives Evren Baskaya, left, an Eldred Rock Lighthouse carpenter pencil during the lighthouse’s grand opening on May 30, 2026, 17 miles south of Haines, Alaska. (Lizzy Hahn/ Chilkat Valley News)

Then began what Sue Waterhouse and Marks called the “stealth era.” The U.S. Coast Guard owns the lighthouse and did not want members from the ERLPA to go to it. However, volunteers still kept coming out to the lighthouse for five years during the “stealth era.” The ERLPA leased the lighthouse from the U.S. Coast Guard and began making improvements. Marks said every improvement had to be approved by the U.S. Coast Guard and the state historical society. Volunteers like Waterhouse were trained and became hazardous materials abatement specialists. Crews performed lead and asbestos containment and removal.

The ERLPA has leased the lighthouse for the past six years. Their contract with the U.S. Coast Guard allows for four five-year terms, with two terms remaining after 2030. The association hopes to buy the lighthouse from the U.S. Coast Guard after the leases are up.

Marks called Saturday’s grand opening “history in the making.” He said that the association set the date for the grand opening three years ago. “We all knew it was never going to happen, but it happened.”