After 100 Years, the Fairport Harbor West Breakwater Lighthouse Is as Good as New

What started from a factory in Buffalo, New York, in 1925 is now a continuous beacon of light along Lake Erie — literally and figuratively.

by Julia Lombardo | Jun. 5, 2025 | 9:00 AM

Photographed by Matt Lance, Lance Aerial

The glow of many lighthouses has faded. Since new ones are no longer being built, most have been taken out of service, and they’re now maintained as tourist attractions. The National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000 was enacted amid efforts to pass lighthouses off to federal agencies, community organizations and private entities for preservation. Some went through auctions, and many are still uninhabited. The Fairport Harbor West Breakwater Lighthouse, however, remains a success story.

Fifteen years ago, the property off the shore of Headlands Beach State Park was purchased from the federal government by keeper Sheila Consaul. She has treated it like the treasure it is. The steel structure, painted white with a red roof, reaches higher than 40 feet and remains unchanged. But the 3,000 square feet of space inside has been completely revitalized. Unlike many lighthouse keepers, Consaul lives in hers seasonally, immersed among Lake Erie.

“I really loved saving old properties,” Consaul says, “so I heard about the auction, bought it and have been renovating it ever since.”

The three-bedroom, three-bathroom home brings the Washington, D.C., resident to the small town of Fairport Harbor every summer — a rather scenic work trip.

Unlike many lighthouses, the Fairport Harbor West Breakwater Lighthouse has stayed lit continuously for all its 100 years, so it’s still maintained by the U.S. Coast Guard as an active navigation aid. Consaul’s job is simply to notify them if the lighting system fails. If it does, a crew comes from Buffalo, New York, to fix the error.

Buffalo has been part of Fairport Harbor West Breakwater Lighthouse’s history since it was built in the 1920s. The structure started there in a factory before being shipped to Fairport Harbor via boat. The lighthouse was finished on-site on a platform built by Army Corps of Engineers, and it was first lit on June 9, 1925.

“They knew it had to withstand the worst weather,” Consaul says. “So it’s got two-foot walls, cast-iron staircases, beams. They included a coal boiler for heat in the summer and a cistern to store water so that the keepers could actually live here, have water and heat and cook. The engineering of this building is partly why it’s still standing 100 years later. It was built so well.”

The Fairport Harbor West Breakwater Lighthouse was an extension of the original Fairport Harbor Lighthouse, a tower that now stands at the corner of Second Street and High Street as a museum. Both are prime locations for the salt and gravel industries.

“Fairport Harbor connects to the Grand River, and down the Grand River are a number of industrial plants,” Consaul says. “Massive international freighters were bringing in, bringing out. They knew they needed a lighthouse here, so they built the original one in 1825. Then, they decided it was doing so well that it needed to be even further out and help mariners even more, so they built this one.”

aerial shot of Fairport Harbor Lighthouse

Photographed by Matt Lance, Lance Aerial

Consaul succeeds only three keepers, all of whom resided in the structure between 1925 and 1948. For 63 years after that, the space was vacant, and even then, it was still attracting guests and beachgoers, gracing phone books and postcards and becoming the symbol of a small community.

Though Consaul didn’t have shoes to fill, she did have a reputation to uphold. She was the first person in decades able to let visitors inside. Every year, she hosts an open house to celebrate the lighthouse’s anniversary.

“People of this area — Fairport Harbor, Mentor, Painesville — have literally looked at this lighthouse for their entire lives,” Consaul says. “Most have never been inside, because the Coast Guard never had people inside when they owned it. People are thrilled to be able to take a peek now that it’s renovated.”

Julia Lombardo

Julia Lombardo is the editor of Cleveland Magazine’s home and style section and contributes to coverage of arts, culture and dining. She graduated from The Ohio State University in 2023 with an English degree. As both a journalist and poet, she is inspired by stories with creative flair. When she puts down the pen, she enjoys going to concerts, ranking coffee shops and walking aimlessly through wooded trails.