This is a fun one and seems rather apropos for your end-of-summer-enjoyment. Although I’d like to state for the record that I’m blogging this from the back porch because we still have a little summer left so stop rushing me, all you pro-Labor Day/back to school types. We’ll get to your pumpkin lattes and what not soon.

But #endrant — since I’m actually here to tell you about a new article, Who Owns America’s Lighthouses? by moi, coming out in the September 2012 issue of Coastal Living Magazine. I didn’t know, until the CL editors put me on this story, that American lighthouses are in rough shape. At least one-third of our 600-odd collection are no longer active and the Coast Guard can’t afford to keep ’em up. Enter lighthouse auctions — yep, you can basically buy them on eBay.

It’s a cool phenomenon and seems like a smart solution to an expensive problem. There are rules about what new lighthouse owners can do with their property (it can’t become a Denny’s), although it is a little sad that they generally aren’t available to the public anymore. That being said, most of them are offshore so it’s not like the public was busing out there anyway.

My story takes a look at what several new lighthouse owners are doing with their new digs — and wow, I thought regular home DIY projects were exhausting. (Actually, I find them hopelessly addictive, much to Dan’s endless delight…)

Check it out here or on a newsstand near you.

PS. If you’re into lighthouses and want more, check out Nick Korstad’s Facebook Page for his lighthouse, Borden Flats — lots of cool pictures of the amazing work-in-progress.