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Vocational Students Give the Parks a Spring Jump Start
If you stopped by Pemaquid Beach Park on a Friday in May, you would have seen nearly 200 hard-working high school students, each wearing an orange tee shirt, helping to get Bristol Parks ready for the summer season. The students, part of the Bath Regional Vocational Center at Morse High School in Bath, spent the morning raking, cleaning up debris and painting as part of an annual Community Service Day event.
The vocational program draws students from four area high schools: Lincoln Academy, Wiscasset and Boothbay High Schools and Morse High. According to program director Tricia Bursey, each year the BRVC selects a park in one of the areas it serves and offers the donation of the students’ time and energy. According to Bursey, “it’s a way for our students to give something back to their communities. It also teaches the students that giving is a good thing to do.”
When the event ended, Pemaquid Beach, Hannah Landing and the Pemaquid River Canoe and Kayak Launch were all in great shape and ready for summer. “It’s amazing what these kids did in just two hours,” says Parks Commissioner Gordon Benner. “They’re really good workers, and we were lucky to have them.”
Look, Ma -- No Wires!
It's what you DON'T see at Pemaquid Point that's newsworthy -- the overhead utility wires. Thanks to the Bristol Lighthouse Committee and a host of local contractors, the electric, telephone and cable TV lines that used to mar the seaward view of the Light and Keeper's House are gone. Starting last year, a huge ditch was dug across the parking lot and the lines for the Keeper's House were placed in underground conduits. After getting approval from the Coast Guard, we were able to complete the project this spring by placing the electric line for the tower underground as well. According to Park Commissioner Jon LeVeen, "get out your cameras, because we now have a view of the Light we haven't seen since the facility was electrified in the 1930's."
 
The project would not have become a reality had it not been for the generous support of
Pemaquid Electric; Jon Prior Excavation; Rusty Bryant Excavation; Hanley Construction;
Joe Winchenbach Excavating; O W Holmes Inc.; and Benner Excavating. Bristol Parks staffers Gordon Benner, John Tilton and Arthur McFarland donated time to the project as well.
"It just shows", says Parks Commissioner Gordon Benner, "how much the lighthouse means to the town. We've got a great bunch of people here who were very, very generous."
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