Tale of a Lighthouse
Cecil B. Thurmond, grandson of the founding father of Thurmond Kentucky, Ulysses P. Thurmond. Cecil B. was an old Navy man, when he retired he turned in country to become a landlubber. He never forgot his career on the water and all the ports where he harbored. After returning to his hometown, he decided to build a home for himself, as he never married, having a free reign to do as he wished. So being the eccentric person that he was, built it in the style of a lighthouse he passed many times on the Puget Sound, Point No Point. He built it on the banks of the Wide Clyde River of all places, just outside Thurmond Kentucky.
It was built of the river rocks found in the basin and on a higher cliff found in the area. He built it complete with a working searchlight and a foghorn that the people claim today, that at the break of dawn and at twilight he would sound the horn. Some say, as he owned most of the businesses at that time in town, it was to inform his employees it was time to go to work, and when to quit. They also claim that at night if a seldom seen coal barge or grain barge came up the river, he would turn on the light as if telling a ship of the location. To say he was weird to even build a lighthouse somewhere in Kentucky is beyond disbelief.
After he died, the old lighthouse stood abandoned for some time. Over the years it was used for many things. Once a horse and buggy shop, an antique store, a bootlegger had a “moonshine still” there at one time and caught the tower on fire, thus the stucco section of the tower now. A young couple had it for their residence at one time but left after only a few months, claiming it to be haunted by Cecil B. roaming around in his old pea jacket. A group of teenagers had it at one time and called themselves the Lighthouse Brigade. They were told that Cecil B. hid a fortune in the area somewhere and they were bound to find the treasure. The town council of Thurmond purchased the land and is trying to raise enough money to restore the building and turn it into a museum to promote more tourism to their town, but the plastic people would just as soon forget the name of Cecil B. Thurmond.
So I thought I should take some pictures of this rarity, a lighthouse in the middle of nowhere, before it disappears.
(scratch built) by Jim Marksberry
The workers arrive to appraise needed repairs and the suits are waiting.
Cecil B. Thurmond, grandson of the founding father of Thurmond Kentucky, Ulysses P. Thurmond. Cecil B. was an old Navy man, when he retired he turned in country to become a landlubber. He never forgot his career on the water and all the ports where he harbored. After returning to his hometown, he decided to build a home for himself, as he never married, having a free reign to do as he wished. So being the eccentric person that he was, built it in the style of a lighthouse he passed many times on the Puget Sound, Point No Point. He built it on the banks of the Wide Clyde River of all places, just outside Thurmond Kentucky.
It was built of the river rocks found in the basin and on a higher cliff found in the area. He built it complete with a working searchlight and a foghorn that the people claim today, that at the break of dawn and at twilight he would sound the horn. Some say, as he owned most of the businesses at that time in town, it was to inform his employees it was time to go to work, and when to quit. They also claim that at night if a seldom seen coal barge or grain barge came up the river, he would turn on the light as if telling a ship of the location. To say he was weird to even build a lighthouse somewhere in Kentucky is beyond disbelief.
After he died, the old lighthouse stood abandoned for some time. Over the years it was used for many things. Once a horse and buggy shop, an antique store, a bootlegger had a “moonshine still” there at one time and caught the tower on fire, thus the stucco section of the tower now. A young couple had it for their residence at one time but left after only a few months, claiming it to be haunted by Cecil B. roaming around in his old pea jacket. A group of teenagers had it at one time and called themselves the Lighthouse Brigade. They were told that Cecil B. hid a fortune in the area somewhere and they were bound to find the treasure. The town council of Thurmond purchased the land and is trying to raise enough money to restore the building and turn it into a museum to promote more tourism to their town, but the plastic people would just as soon forget the name of Cecil B. Thurmond.
So I thought I should take some pictures of this rarity, a lighthouse in the middle of nowhere, before it disappears.
(scratch built) by Jim Marksberry
The workers arrive to appraise needed repairs and the suits are waiting.
