Now You Can Buy A Real Lighthouse (For As Little As $10,000)

In 2022, Rich Cucé—a father of four who owns an industrial painting company in Pennsylvania—made headlines when he used his life savings to buy the 120-year-old Hooper Island Lighthouse in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay. “I kind of did it on a whim,” Cucé told me in an interview. “I was looking for something more meaningful in my life.”

Cucé is posting videos of his adventures on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube and says that owning a lighthouse has been more rewarding than he ever imagined. “Getting away from the noise and stress of modern life and having nothing around you but nature and the most amazing sunrises and sunsets makes it all worthwhile,” says Cucé.

Sound dreamy? Now you can also own your own lighthouse. The U.S. government is selling lighthouses across the country to the public for as little as $10,000 and also giving them away to nonprofit organizations—for free. It’s part of a program run by the General Services Administration (GSA), an arm of the government that manages and sells all kind of federal property, from real estate to cars.

During this year’s “lighthouse season,” the GSA is selling a record number of lighthouses—10, to be exact—as a way to preserve these historic structures. Four lighthouses are being offered to the general public at auction. Another six are being offered for free to federal, state or local governments, nonprofits and educational organizations—with the caveat that they need to be made available to the public for educational, recreational or cultural purposes.

“It’s exciting this year to have so many opportunities for the American public and local communities to take ownership of these iconic landmarks,” John Kelly, director of the GSA office of real property disposition, told me in an interview. “We want to find good homes for these ten lighthouses, as we already have for more than 100 around the country over the past couple of decades.”

What is it about lighthouses that makes them so captivating? “People like lighthouses for a variety of reasons,” Kraig Anderson, who runs lighthousefriends.com, told me in an interview. “Who doesn’t like going to the shore?”

Anderson—whose website is dedicated to the love of lighthouses—celebrates the simple aesthetic appeal of these structures, as well as the people behind them. “The engineers who designed them made them functional and beautiful,” he says. “Then there are the stories of the dedicated keepers, who, at times, risked their lives to save mariners or stayed up all night to turn a light or toll a bell when something broke down.”

The four lighthouses being auctioned to the public this year are spread across the country and are uniquely different. There are two lighthouses in the midwest. There’s Cleveland Harbor West Pierhead Light, a maritime treasure perched at the entrance of Cleveland’s harbor and accessible only by boat. Keweenaw Waterway Lower Entrance Light is a 1919 lighthouse that stands tall on the shores of Michigan’s Houghton County.

There are also two lighthouses in Connecticut. Penfield Reef Lighthouse features a 51-foot octagonal lighthouse and a two-story keeper’s quarters. Stratford Shoal Lighthouse is set on a gravel shoal in the middle of Long Island Sound, with a three-story dwelling and a 35-foot light tower.

Some of the lighthouses being given away include Warwick Neck Light in Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island (an 1827 lighthouse perched at the top of the Warwick Neck peninsula); Plymouth (Gurnet) Light in Massachusetts (which was built in 1842 and is accessible only by four-wheel drive or boat); Connecticut’s Lynde Point Light (which comes with a two-family house and a garage); and Little Mark Island and Monument (a beacon from 1827 located in Maine’s North Casco Bay). If any of these aren’t taken by nonprofits, they will be auctioned off to the public.

This is not the first time the GSA has sold or given away old lighthouses. Since the passage of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act in 2000, more than 100 lighthouses have been offloaded, ranging in price from $10,000 to $933,888, according to the GSA.

So who has bought lighthouses in the past? In addition to Cucé—who spent $192,000 to buy Hooper Island Lighthouse—here’s a look at a few of the modern lighthouse keepers.

Borden Flats – Massachusetts

Set on the Taunton River in Fall River, Borden Flats was sold in 2010 to James “Nick” Korstad of Portland, Oregon, who moved across the country, rehabbed the space and opened it to the public for tours and overnight stays. Kevin Ferias—who had stayed at the property as a guest—fell in love with the lighthouse and purchased her in May 2018. Ferias still run the wildly popular Lighthouse Keepers Overnight Educational Program.

Graves Light – Massachusetts

Dave and Lynn Waller purchased Graves Light—a National Historic Landmark set on an island—for nearly $934,000, the highest price of any lighthouse sold at auction. He has done an elaborate renovation. “When you’re out here, the whole world stops,” Waller told Outside. “It’s peaceful.”

Fairport Harbor West Lighthouse – Ohio

Sheila Consaul, an executive based in Washington, D.C., was looking for a summer home when she came across Fairport Harbor West Lighthouse. She snapped it up in 2011 for a little more than $70,000 and now lives the dream. “It is amazingly calm and serene and pretty much in the middle of the lake with 360 degree views of the water,” she told the BBC. “At night you can see stars everywhere.”

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