Plum Beach Light
In 2003 the Plum Beach Lighthouse's exterior was completely restored and its beacon re-activated soon after; it is now licensed as a Coast Guard Private Aid to Navigation.The Friends of the Plum Beach Lighthouse designed, submitted and introduced an official License Plate to be distributed to any Rhode Island private passenger registration.In 1971 and 1972, a University of Rhode Island professor and graduate student began making weekly visits to the lighthouse to conduct studies on the pigeons.After years of ownership squabbles between the Coast Guard and the State of Rhode Island, with neither side wanting to cover the maintenance costs, the dispute was finally settled when James Osborn, a painter who had worked at the lighthouse in the 1970s, sued the state in 1984 for $500,000 as compensation for a rare disease called histoplasmosis he contracted from all the dried guano in the lighthouse.When the State of Rhode Island was given the deed to the property in 1999, they gave ownership to the Friends of Plum Beach Lighthouse.In a ceremony held at Plum Beach, the Friends' President and founder Shirley Silvia accepted the deed from DEM Director Jan Reitsma.In 2000, after visiting the site, the Newport Collaborative Architects gave an estimate of $955,000 to restore the entire exterior and interior of the lighthouse.