Free Lighthouses: No-Cost Transfers Under the NHLPA

Can you get a lighthouse for free?

Yes, if you are a public body or a certified nonprofit. The National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000 lets eligible groups receive a surplus federal lighthouse at no cost. About 81 lighthouses have gone this way. Individuals and companies cannot apply and must bid at auction.

The lighthouse costs $0 and the obligations do not. The two offers open this year show it: Boston Light has seven acres and six buildings to maintain, and Cleveland West Pierhead is gutted and sits half a mile out in Lake Erie. Who owns US lighthouses covers the owner groups and the transfer counts.

Who is eligible under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act?

Federal agencies, state and local governments, nonprofits, educational agencies and community development organizations are eligible. Nonprofits, educational agencies and community development groups must provide state-certified articles of incorporation. The Act gives priority to public bodies and nonprofit corporations over other applicants.

Only lighthouses the Coast Guard has declared excess are offered. Many are still active aids to navigation, and the Coast Guard keeps running the light. Boston Light is one: the new steward gets the island and buildings, and the Coast Guard keeps the beacon and fog signal.

How does the NPS application work?

GSA issues a Notice of Availability, and you have 60 days to send a letter of interest. The National Park Service then sends the application, a site visit is set, and you have 90 days after the visit to finish it. The NPS reviews the applications and recommends one steward to GSA.

1. Notice of Availability. GSA announces the lighthouse.
2. Letter of interest, within 60 days. Include the property, your name, a contact and, for nonprofits, your articles of incorporation.
3. Site visit. GSA and the Coast Guard set a date.
4. Application, within 90 days of the visit. Joint applications are allowed, with one lead entity.
5. Review. The NPS committee looks at completeness, past performance and fit with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards.
6. Selection. The Secretary of the Interior tells GSA who is recommended, and GSA conveys the title.

The Globe reports that the process usually takes 12 to 18 months.

What obligations come with a free lighthouse?

You maintain the station to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and open it to the public at reasonable times. The Coast Guard keeps its aid to navigation and can enter without notice. If you stop preserving the lighthouse or stop opening it, the property can revert to the United States.

The law lists these conditions, and your application sets out the hours and terms of public access. Money is the practical obligation. A lighthouse needs paint, masonry, roofs and boat access on a schedule, and the offshore ones cost more to reach. See lighthouse restoration and funding for how groups pay for it.

What happens if nobody applies?

If no eligible group applies, or the NPS finds none suitable, GSA offers the lighthouse for sale by competitive bid or auction. Warwick Neck went this way after a 2023 free offering with no taker. Cleveland West Pierhead faces the same fork this year.

Cleveland’s letters of interest were due May 26, 2026, and six groups asked to be considered. Full applications went to the NPS in mid-September. If the NPS picks none, GSA auctions it again. See how GSA lighthouse auctions work.

Which free lighthouses are on offer now?

Two are in the NPS process now: Boston Light in Massachusetts, whose letters of interest closed October 2, 2026, and Cleveland West Pierhead in Ohio, under review after a May deadline. Neither takes new letters. GSA posts each Notice of Availability with its own deadline, and each one has a page in this directory.

• Boston Light: seven-acre island, six buildings, no cost, letters of interest closed October 2, 2026.
• Cleveland West Pierhead: four-story tower and fog house, no cost, NPS review in progress.