plenty of light. feds selling off light houses

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http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_LIGHTHOUSES_FOR_SALE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-09-04-05-19-15


This undated photo released by the federal General Services Administration shows the Halfway Rock Light Station on a small island in Casco Bay off Harpswell, Maine. The administration is the nearing the end of an online auction for the 76-foot-high lighthouse, with a half dozen bidders and a high bid of more than $200,000. (AP Photo/General Services Administration, Jeremy D'Entremont)

YORK, Maine (AP) -- Lighthouses for sale! Actually, lots of lighthouses for free.

Technological advances and a desire to purge unneeded properties have paved the way for the federal government to get rid of more than 100 lighthouses over the last 14 years, and it intends to keep selling and giving them away. The sold lighthouses, located on both coasts and in the Great Lakes states, have become everything from museums to bed-and-breakfasts.

Dave Waller, who purchased the Graves Island Light Station in the mouth of Boston Harbor for a record $933,888 last year, is retrofitting the turn-of-the-century lighthouse into a private home that can double as a vacation rental. He's trying to fashion a bedroom as far as possible from the foghorn - a challenging feat in a building with about 750 feet of livable space.

"It just seemed like a chance to have something a little more independent and on your own," Waller said.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

1. Very cool. It would be like having you own castle tower

and a seaside house that's a lot sturdier than most, able to withstand storms that would take out most homes on the shoreline.