THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 9, 1994 TAG: 9409070117
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Ida Kay's Portsmouth
SOURCE: Ida Kay Jordan
LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines
The re-discovery of the Hog Island Lighthouse lens might eliminate the question of whether to put a merry-go-round in the atrium on the top floors of the new Children's Museum of Virginia.
The Hog Island prism has been owned by the city for two decades and stored at the city operations center off Frederick Boulevard.
After City Council approved the atrium on High Street, museums director Betty Burnell remembered the prism, which is nine feet tall and seven feet across.
``I've known it was there in storage for a long time and I've tried to think of an appropriate place to display it,'' she said. ``It's a beautiful piece and it's interesting.''
As with any thick clear glass, the prism has a greenish-blue cast in certain light. The glass is cut in prisms that enable its light to be seen 18 miles or more with a 25-watt bulb.
The prism is encased in a brass frame.
``We once tried to get the light on the waterfront,'' Alice Hanes of the Shipyard Museum said. ``Some people wanted to erect a stand for it and have it shining like a beacon to Portsmouth.''
The effort failed back then and the light has been in storage. Now it might be resurrected as the landmark for the new museum.
Hog Island Lighthouse was established in the 1850s as a coastal beacon to help fill the dark area between the Assateague and the Cape Charles lights with a dual purpose of marking the Great Matchipungo Inlet.
Originally, it had only a fourth-order lens, much weaker than the first-order lens now owned by the City of Portsmouth.
In 1888, the Lighthouse Board decided the light was inadequate as a coastal light and recommended that a new tower, 150 feet tall equipped with first-order lens, be erected.
In November 1895, the keepers moved to the new site and the first-order lens was lighted Jan. 31, 1896. That same lens should be shining from the Children's Museum by 1996.
The lens has a bit of interesting history. According to accounts from the turn of the century, the tower literally was attacked by birds. On Washington's Birthday 1900, a flock of birds began pelting the lighthouse, breaking panes of glass.
The watch called the other keepers who arrived with their shotguns. They fired on the confused and frightened birds, trying to drive them away to keep them from damaging the lens. The birds kept coming and, in time, the keepers ran out of ammunition.
By morning, the birds were gone. The keepers counted 68 wild geese, brants and ducks dead at the foot of the tower.
Two days later, the birds returned. With no ammunition, the keepers were forced to club the birds with sticks. They knocked down 150 birds before they were driven inside by another flock of wild creatures. Wave after wave pelted the tower. When they finally passed, the keepers found a number of panes broken and the light out.
The tower, of course, was repaired and the light continued to function until 1948, when the Coast Guard tore down the lighthouse.
It's very appropriate for the Children's Museum in a city that is the 5th District Coast Guard headquarters. It is appropriate historically as well as scientifically. Future Children's Museum exhibits could examine prisms, magnification and light refraction.
The Fresnel lens, valued at $1 million, seems like exactly the right thing for the atrium that will be highly visible on High Street.
City Councilman Cameron Pitts pressed the idea of installing the atrium in the building after he decided the museum building needed to be more distinctive and more inviting.
Pitts wanted to install a merry-go-round, which also is a good idea. While a lot of people didn't agree with the carousel on High Street, they did agree that the atrium would open up the building and improve its looks.
The idea of using the lighthouse prism ends any dispute for the time being. And it certainly seems like the most appropriate of all additions to the building. MEMO: Whether you agree or disagree, The Currents would like to hear from you.
Send your thoughts to The Currents, 307 County St., Suite 100,
Portsmouth, Va. 23704-3702 or fax us at 446-2607.
by CNB