44.0°,
Mostly Cloudy Donations save Point Lookout flag tower
Community church to hold ceremony on June 12 to unveil restoration
Point Lookout residents helped save the town’s historic flag tower from being taken down after an online campaign successfully raised the funds needed to repair the local landmark, which dates back more than a century.
Kevin Haff, chairman of the Point Lookout Civic Association, posted the campaign on GoFundMe.com, a popular crowdfunding website, on Feb. 14. Originally hoping to garner $8,500 by April 1, the town eclipsed its desired goal in a week, Haff said. Donations to the webpage, as well as checks sent through the mail totaled more than $10,000, which is being used to repaint and strengthen the aging tower.
“This town never ceases to amaze me at how generous they are,” Haff said. “It’s such a small town, there’s only 850 houses; everybody pretty much knows everybody else and when somebody is in need, this town, I think more than any other, comes together.”
The tower sits on the property of the Point Lookout Community Church, once the original U.S. Life Saving Station, which was built in the mid-19th century and later housed the United States Coast Guard through World War II. The church bought the grounds from the government upon its closing in 1947 and still has a typed letter from President Dwight Eisenhower congratulating the congregation for obtaining the property, said Pastor Greg Kemper. Though the barracks were refashioned and a steeple was added to the structure, Kemper said the church retains the history it inherited.
“They have a couple plaques on the front of our church,” Kemper said. “One says, ‘this property was dedicated to the saving of people’s lives.’ The other plaque on the other side says, ‘Now this property acquired by the community church is dedicated to the spiritual health of people’s souls.’ It went from the physical to the spiritual but it’s still reaching out for people and saving them in one way or another.”
Kemper said a single donor in the community funded the last two refurbishments of the flag tower, in 1968 and 2000. Nobody was willing to do that this time, and while the church donated $1,000 to the effort, the congregation could not raise the funds alone. The town helped take the cost burden off the sanctuary and its people, said Kemper, providing financial assistance quicker than expected.
“I had envisioned myself selling raffle tickets on the beach and setting up tables at the post office and it would be this long fundraising campaign, and the whole thing was done in less than a week so we’re just thrilled the way the town came through,” Kemper said. “This town is very into their history and literally put their money where their mouth is.”
The online campaign had 55 backers consisting of residents and local businesses, including J.A. Heneghan’s, an Irish tavern that opened in 2013. One of the restaurant’s owners, Kevin Heneghan, said he thinks with the closing of the town’s old firehouse to disrepair last year, special attention is being paid to preserving historical landmarks.
“This idea of a landmark in Point Lookout, and then with the experience of watching a landmark not survive,” said Heneghan, whose restaurant donated $1,000 to save the flag tower, “…Put the two of them together and I think you saw this acknowledgment of how these historical sights are valued by the community.”
Repairs to the tower began last month, as several areas needed to be welded and have the angle iron and rods replaced, Kemper said. A final coat of paint is being administered this week before the unveiling, which is slated for June 12 at 11:30 a.m., the Sunday before Flag Day, and the money left over will be put into a separate account for future maintenance.
Haff added that Bill Kelly, a longtime Point Lookout resident and a commander in the Coast Guard Auxiliary, would provide an American flag as well as a Coast Guard flag to be lifted, as members of the U.S. Coast Guard stationed at Jones Beach will be in attendance. Members of the church will show their gratitude by hosting a barbecue for Point Lookout residents who attend the ceremony.
Though flags are ripped apart in winter months by the weather and wind, Kemper said during warmer months, the American flag flies on the tower, illuminated at night by a halogen floodlight. The flag’s presence honors the service performed on the property decades ago, while celebrating the values of the Point Lookout community today.
“They haven’t lost the patriotism that maybe seems like it’s waning in other areas of the world or our country,” Kemper said. “It’s an ecumenical community, but still really believes in faith and country, and I think when we put this opportunity out there for this flag tower, that kind of proved it.”
