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Iconic Connecticut Lighthouse Sold at Auction

Juliejules
/
Wikimedia Creative Commons
The Saybrook Breakwater light sold for $290,000.
The sale is preliminary, as the winning bidder has to negotiate a lease.

Credit State of Connecticut
"Preserve the Sound" license plates are available from the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles.

A famous Connecticut lighthouse featured on some state license plates sold at auction for almost $300,000. 

The Hartford Courant reports the federal government's General Services Administration, which oversees lighthouse sales for the Coast Guard, said that Saybrook Breakwater Light went to an unidentified bidder for $290,000 in an online auction. 

The sale is preliminary because the winner must negotiate a lease with the state for the submerged lands under the 127-year-old structure.

This negotiation process snarled a previous sale. The 48-foot lighthouse sold in 2013 for $340,000, but the bidder could not negotiate a lease with the state for the land for the submerged lands. Since then, the state legislature enacted a law smoothing the way for negotiating such leases.

The lighthouse is featured on some Connecticut license plates and proceeds going to the Long Island Sound Fund.

This report contains information from The Associated Press.

Tucker Ives is WNPR's morning news producer.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.