ASHTABULA'S LIGHTHOUSE has been reproduced in several collectibles, including an issue by the Danbury Mint. These items raise awareness of the structure, but don't put money into its restoration fund. The Ashtabula Lighthouse Restoration and Preservation Society is working to obtain a lease from the Coast Guard so work on the 1905 structure can begin this spring.

ASHTABULA - A hand-painted sculpture of the Ashtabula Lighthouse is being offered nationwide by the Danbury Mint, but sales of the knickknack won't bring money into the local effort to restore and preserve the structure.
Joe Santiana, vice president of the Ashtabula Lighthouse Restoration and Preservation Society, said the society was never contacted by the mint for information about the lighthouse. Society members learned about the collectible the same way the public did, when they found the insert in their Sunday newspaper last year.
The insert also appeared in the Jan. 11 Star Beacon.
It offers a 4-12-inch-high hand-painted sculpture of the lighthouse for $39.
"It's a very nice replica," he says. "I was very surprised that they never contacted us about it."
The replica is not the first one to be offered to collectors. Scaasis Lighthouses (www.someonespecial.com) offers a reproduction that is about 6 inches tall and costs $29.50.
Santiana said some society members have purchased the Danbury Mint sculpture, but so far, he's passed on it.
"I live in a log home that is just about filled with lighthouses," he says. "I got so many of them already, but we'll probably get one."
Santiana's sights are set on acquiring the real thing for the community, although it's been slow going. He said the society had hoped to have a lease agreement signed with the Coast Guard by now so they could have a flotation dock at the lighthouse by spring and open it up to tours.
The snafu has been wording in the lease agreement that requires the society to purchase insurance on the structure. Santiana says that after an exhaustive search of insurance companies both locally and throughout the United States, he was unable to find one company that would underwrite the structure.
The committee recently sent the lease agreement back to the Coast Guard along with changes that would have to be made in the language before an insurance company would be willing to write a policy.
"They'll take it up with the legal department and see if they can get it rewritten," Santiana says.
Santiana says the group had hoped that the General Services Accounting Office would have placed the lighthouse on the surplus list by now, which would have allowed the nonprofit group to arrange an out-right purchase.
"The federal government has been very slow releasing them," he says.
Also adding to the delay is the fact that the Coast Guard in Ohio does not have experience with leasing the antiquated structures. Ohio has only eight lighthouses compared to the 125 in Michigan, many of which have already been entrusted to communities or preservation groups.
"The Coast Guard has bent over backwards to help us with this," he says.
The society's goals for the lighthouse are to acquire it and restore the interior to the way it would have looked during the years it was occupied by keepers, until 1970. They want to use it as an educational resource to help both students and adults understand the maritime heritage of Ashtabula.
In the meantime, the group is spreading that message by sponsoring an annual lighthouse festival, scheduled for the third weekend in June at Lakeshore Park. This will be the third year for the festival.
The event draws attention to the lighthouse and has served as a venue for former lighthouse keepers to come together and reminisce. "We've found five or six lighthouse keepers, and four of them visited last year's festival," he says.
The group also has established an online presence at www.ashtabulalighthouse.com, where Web surfers can find both contemporary and historical photos of the lighthouse, merchandise, history and the latest news about the society's work and meeting schedule.