Owning a piece of maritime history

GSA is also offering 12 historic lighthouses free, though takers must be eligible state or local entities, nonprofit corporations, historic-preservation groups, or community development organizations.

“The US General Services Administration is looking for a few good stewards to preserve a key slice of the nation’s maritime history,’’ the agency said in a news release.

The lighthouses are being made available as part of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000. The federal government owns about 250 lighthouses, which are maintained by the Coast Guard. Once critical for navigation along the nation’s coastal and inland waterways, many have been made obsolete by the advance of radio, radar, and satellite navigation.

Under the terms of the legislation, if the Coast Guard decommissions a lighthouse, the government tries to find a caretaker agency or buyer rather than see the structures demolished or fall apart from neglect.

“They’re in varying states of repair or disrepair,’’ Smith said. “They’re not cheap to maintain.’’

Over the past half-dozen years, 54 lighthouses have been transferred from the federal government, including six to public agencies, 16 to local governments, three to states, and 29 to nonprofits, according to Smith.

Twenty-two others have been sold to the public, at prices ranging from $10,000 to $260,000. The first choice is to find a qualified entity to take over a lighthouse. Interested parties are subjected to “a rigorous application process,’’ according to the GSA, including a review of whether they are able financially able to maintain a lighthouse.

The entities have responsibility for upkeep and must make the station available for education, park, recreation, cultural, or historic-preservation purposes to the general public. If no takers can be found, the lighthouses are put up for public auction. “If they’re sold, a lot of the restrictions come off,’’ Smith said.