DULUTH, Minn. (AP) — A historic lighthouse on Lake Superior has been sold to a tech industry executive from San Francisco.
Thirty-four-year-old Steven Broudy won the lighthouse at auction last week with a high bid of $159,000.
The lighthouse, built in 1913, sits on the tip of Wisconsin Point in Superior, Wisconsin. Broudy bought the 56-foot (17-meter) structure sight unseen.
Broudy tells Minnesota Public Radio News that he is a “huge fan” of Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden.” He says “just the idea of finding a place to live in isolation, and just be very deliberate, has always been really inspiring” to him.
Since 2000, the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act has allowed the U.S. General Services Administration and the U.S. Coast Guard to sell historic lighthouses the government no longer needs to own.
The federal government has sold 139 lighthouses for anywhere from $10,000 to nearly $1 million over the past 20 years, bringing in about $7.5 million, U.S. General Service Administration spokesperson Cat Langel told Minnesota Public Radio News.
The U.S. General Service Administration has three more lighthouses currently for sale, including one for $62,071 in Cheboygan, Michigan, off the coast of Lake Huron and one for $5,000 in Ontonagon, Michigan, off the coast of Lake Superior.
Great Lakes Now News Director Natasha Blakely added to this piece.
Featured Image: Wisconsin Point Light House, Photo by Randen Pederson via flickr.com cc 2.0
