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Sanibel Museum will feature Sanibel Lighthouse Hurricane Ian exhibit at reopening

Sanibel Museum
Posted at 4:49 PM, Mar 22, 2023
and last updated 2023-03-22 19:15:00-04

SANIBEL ISLAND, Fla. — The Sanibel Historic Museum will reopen on March 28, six months since Hurricane Ian.

To embrace the day that changed our lives, the museum is adding a Sanibel Lighthouse exhibit to its site.

"We are responsible for preserving the Sanibel history," said Celina Kersh Monte-sano, president and Board chair of the Sanibel Historical Museum and Village. "We are blessed to be able to, following Ian, open four of our buildings."

The four buildings did have slight damage, such as screens, roofs, and water.

"We did get about 12-18 inches of water inside [Bailey's General Store]," she said. "We’re not going to clean that mark off. We’re going to say this is the Ian storm and this is what it rose to."

Other buildings, mainly on the west side, suffered significant damage to the buildings, but they are still standing.

"These historic buildings have gone through many hurricanes before," Monte-sano said.

They're now dedicated to preserving the history of the island including Ian's wrath on the Sanibel Lighthouse.

"We’re dedicating a portion of that building [Shore Haven] to a lighthouse exhibit, which will show the before and after pictures," Monte-sano explained.

The lighthouse was surrounded by keeper's quarters, which housed the people who took care of the lighthouse. Hurricane Ian wiped out the houses.

"There was very little evidence that it ever existed," Monte-sano said. "It’s such a shame that our keeper houses were destroyed."

All that's left of it are some bricks and a piece of wood.

Next to it is the Sanibel Lighthouse, where a leg broke off.

Monte-sano says it was caused by a piece of the keepers' quarters, which the Board had talked about restoring and making another museum.

"One of the foundations slammed into the lighthouse tower itself and that’s what broke the leg," she said. "The leg in three pieces was right at the base of where the tower was."

Currently, contractors are assessing the lighthouse as a whole with the intention of recreating the cast iron leg.  

It's one of the oldest pieces of history, which the museum will show inside its welcome center.

The Coast Guard lit the lighthouse on March 2 and replaced the lantern. They gave it to the City of Sanibel at a city council meeting on Tuesday.

"We are hoping to exhibit that light in the Shore Haven exhibit," Monte-sano said.

It's this symbol and the buildings that created the history of Ian. A history they're going to preserve as the community comes back to life.

"Celebrate the fact that we are survivors, we are strong," Monte-sano said.

The soft opening is on March 28 from 3:00 to 5:00 at the museum. They will be open from Tuesday to Thursday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. until June 1 for free.

Tours will start inside the gift shop, Shore Haven, at 10:30 a.m. Once they close, the museum will work on restoring all its buildings.