none: The Tender Lilac, A Piece of Lighthouse History

Tuesday, June 15, 2021

The Tender Lilac, A Piece of Lighthouse History

Tenders were the workhorses of the U.S. Lighthouse Establishment of old. They took care of navigational aids, including lighthouses, fog signals, and buoys. They built these aids, maintained them, and took are of the people who lived at lighthouses. An excellent book about tenders was written in 2000 by Douglas Peterson, USCG Retired. Copies are still available on eBay and Amazon.

One surviving tender is the USLHST Lilac. Here's some info about it--

Happy 88th Birthday, LILAC!

To celebrate the anniversary of LILAC's launch on May 26, 1933, artist Aaron Asis and playwright Justin Rivers have presented our ship--and all of us--with a historic bouquet.

88 LILAC

LILAC has been adorned with historic images covering her stack. Panels on the roof incorporate 88 photos from her long career as well as the U.S. Lighthouse Service emblems that once graced her bow. These can be viewed from Hudson River Park's Pier 25 while the ship remains closed to the public. Signage there will remind you to remain socially distant as, we hope, this pandemic is nearing an end. We look forward to welcoming visitors aboard later this summer.

A monologue inspired by LILAC's second captain, Charles L. Lewis, who commanded the ship during her transition--and his--from the Lighthouse Service to the Coast Guard in 1939, reflects upon her spirit and his desire to save remnants of her beginnings. He was commanded to throw away all emblems of the Lighthouse Service, but just couldn't bring himself to do it. The bronze emblems have been passed down through his family ever since. You can access the monologue by scanning a QR code on signage next to the ship when there in person, scan the one to the left, or go directly to the URL.

Thanks to Justin and Aaron, and to all the volunteers who were critical to making their ideas real, especially Angus McCamy.

U.S. Lighthouse Tender LILAC still sports the bronze lighthouses on her bow in this photo from the Andrew J. Davidson Collection, courtesy of his granddaughter Sallie Davidson Macy. Davidson was LILAC's first commanding officer.

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