BRISTOL, Maine — Brick by brick, the historic bell house at Pemaquid Point has come back to life.
The small brick building with the white wooden tower, perched for 127 years on the rocky ledges above the surf, was ripped apart seven months ago by powerful twin storms in January. Ferocious waves, higher than any in the town could remember, smashed into the face of the building and tore out two walls.
The storms caused other damage at the Pemaquid Point lighthouse property, but the bell house was by far the worst. The property is managed by the Bristol Parks Commission. Chairman Clyde Pendleton said there was never a question whether it would be rebuilt.
“We were hoping to get it done this summer," Pendleton said. "And when we got Larry, he said, ‘Yup, we can build that.’”
That's mason Larry Luce, who with his business partner Sam Smith took the bell house structure down to the ground, saved as many of the old bricks as possible, and rebuilt it. Because the structure is historically significant, Luce said it needed to be put back as close as possible to how it was.
“Yes, we have to use at least half the (original) materials, half the brick. … We are using more than that, actually," Luce said while taking a break from laying the final few courses.
The windows must also be wood, and the dimensions and details of the structure needs to be copied from old photos.
Pendleton said the town is using donations and money that had been set aside for a new bathroom building to pay for reconstruction. Bristol has applied for Federal Emergency Management Agency funding to help cover hundreds of thousands of dollars in storm damage but hasn’t been awarded any funds yet.
That appears to be the same situation in other Maine towns, including those that also have damaged lighthouses, such as St. George. There, the Marshall Point Lighthouse is awaiting repairs while the town waits for word on FEMA funding.
The small lighthouse itself was undamaged, but it stands on rocks about 40 to 50 feet from shore and is accessed only by a wooden walkway. That walkway was made famous by the movie “Forrest Gump,” where the title character runs out the walkway and back as he runs across the country.
That famous walkway, however, has been closed ever since the January storms because the waves moved some of the granite blocks in support piers, undermined others, and washed out the blocks that connect the walkway to the shore.
Nat Lyon is head of the Marshall Point Lighthouse Museum, which cares for the town-owned property, and said repairs are estimated to cost $100,000.
Lyon said the town is waiting for word on funding from FEMA before moving ahead with repairs to the popular walkway, but he also said time for that work is getting tight.
“I would love to have them here late October to November, when no one is here, to get the work done," Lyon explained. "I think the specs are out, and it's whether we find someone able to bring the equipment and restore everything.”
Lyon is confident the repairs will be done and hopes that can happen before winter storms return.
“It's hurricane season, (and) if we get a hurricane and a big surge comes through, all bets are off on the piers," he said.
Back at Pemaquid Point, repairs will soon be completed. A celebration of the rebuilding is planned for Sept. 14.
Memories, however, will remain long after the storm damage is fixed.
The Maine coastline took a severe beating from the tides and storm surge, and there are many who worry and wonder if more such storms could be coming, including the chairman of the lighthouse park in Bristol.
“With the way the weather changes, I don’t know if it’s a big cycle that will come around again or if it’s the new norm," Pendleton said. "A lot of people think it’s the new norm. I hope not.”