SALEM — Boy Scout Troop 24 member Will Cullimore recently earned the rank of Eagle Scout after repainting the Derby Wharf Light Station as his community service project.
The light station, constructed at the south end of Derby Wharf in 1871, is a two-story and 12-foot square brick structure topped with an iron deck and cupola. It underwent large-scale renovations in 1989 that included repointing the masonry, replacing the window, repairing doors, installing a floor drain and repainting the building.
The light station was placed on the list of the National Register of Historic Places in 1987, and is now a part of the Salem Maritime National Historical Park.
In searching for an opportunity to benefit the local Salem community, Cullimore contacted Salem Maritime to inquire about the multiple projects that they were seeking assistance with. Officials at the historic site suggested a variety of projects including refurbishing the sign for the Friendship of Salem, creating a community bulletin board near a public restroom area, or redoing the mortar for a brick curb-cut on Canal Street.
Cullimore, a Salem High School junior, would eventually decide on repainting and refurbishing the more than 100-year-old light station.
The following four days of work on the lighthouse was spent scraping off as much old paint, salt, and dust as possible, and then applying a fresh coat of paint. Cullimore had previous experience painting doors and fences, but no projects of such a scale.
“This has been a big part of my life for probably about a year or so now, and after going through all of the paperwork and preplanning for this project, it’s really refreshing to have that level of stress taken off my plate,” he said.
As Cullimore discovered while working on the project, he isn’t the only Salem resident who now has direct ties to the Derby Wharf Light Station. One day as Cullimore walked down to the pier, he says he met a man, who he estimated to be in his 60s, who said that he was the one who had previously painted the light station for his own Eagle Scout project back in the 80s.
“It felt good to know that I did something that allows me to almost carry a part of Salem with me forever,” Cullimore said.
“When I come back to Salem in 10 or 20 years or whenever, I’ll be able to see it and say ‘Oh yeah! I painted that.’”
Michael McHugh can be contacted at mmchugh@northofboston.com or at 781-799-5202