The lighthouse at Summersville Lake is lit! Congratulations to Steve and Donna Keblesh of Summersville Lake Retreat for putting it together. Perhaps the largest repurposed item in the state of West Virginia? This is recycling at its finest. Following, the article on the 2-plus year project from the spring/summer Gorge Guide.
When Steve Keblesh of Summersville Lake Retreat purchased a damaged wind turbine base in 2010 from Beech Ridge wind farm in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, it weighed 72,000 pounds and was 100 feet long. Over the next several years, he consulted with tower engineers and historical lighthouse experts to repurpose the metal tube into as authentic a lighthouse as possible.
Welding and drafting students at Fayette Institute of Technology and Nicholas County Career & Technnical Center helped create the inner stairs (there are 122) and landings. Keblesh found a 1941 Westinghouse beacon in an old airplane hangar at Rader airfield in Summersville.
The lighthouse officially opens June 20th of this year. Tours will be offered on that day and after. Go to summersvillelakeretreat.com for more information.
Photograph by Julie Jones
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