Picture owning your very own lighthouse, a majestic beacon overlooking a vast bay, embodying both hope and history.
Sheila Consaul, a 65-year-old aficionado of historic preservation, turned this dream into reality.
For a sum of $71,000, Sheila purchased a derelict lighthouse in Fairport Harbor, Ohio, and embarked on a journey that would see her invest over $300,000 in transforming it into her dream vacation home.
Living in a lighthouse is far from ordinary; solitude greets you at every turn.
Forget about a driveway leading to the front door; instead, you park half a mile away and transport everything you need by hand, from groceries to generator fuel. Yet, the experience, once embraced, is unparalleled.
Sheila’s journey began from her passion for historic preservation and a desire for a unique summer retreat.
Upon discovering that the government was auctioning off lighthouses, she saw an opportunity to merge her interests.
Though the lighthouse she acquired was in a sorry state, with cracked windows and peeling plaster, Sheila remained undeterred.
With the aid of a home equity loan, she embarked on a challenging yet fulfilling renovation project.
Renovating the lighthouse presented numerous challenges; every construction material had to be hoisted by crane and transported by boat due to its remote location.
Furthermore, being entirely off the grid posed additional hurdles; rebuilding the electrical system and relying on a gasoline-powered generator were just a few of Sheila’s tasks.
Despite these obstacles, the transformation is remarkable.
Today, the lighthouse boasts a fully equipped kitchen with granite countertops and modern appliances.
The plumbing and electrical systems have been overhauled, while the once-broken windows now showcase stunning stained glass.
However, preserving its historical essence was equally paramount.
Original features like dark brown floorboards and cast-iron stairs remain intact, alongside innovations such as a rainwater collection system.
Since 2012, Sheila has welcomed guests to the lighthouse, hosting annual open houses and sharing this community treasure with others.
Maintained by the Coast Guard and still serving as a navigational aid, the lighthouse stands as a testament to community and heritage.
Would Sheila embark on this journey again? Perhaps not, but the rewards have been immeasurable.
While she currently has no plans to rent out her unique summer home, she remains open to the possibility.
For now, she revels in the fruits of her labor and the extraordinary experience of lighthouse living.
Sheila Consaul’s story exemplifies what happens when perseverance and passion converge.
She didn’t just acquire a property; she rescued a historical gem, ensuring it endures for generations to come.
Take a virtual tour of the lighthouse in the accompanying video below!
Feel free to share this remarkable tale with your loved ones.
Desiree Anzalone, great-granddaughter of Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball, and her tragic fate
Despite having been gone for thirty years, Lucille Ball is still adored and remembered by a large number of people.
She became well-known as the most popular comedy actress of the 1950s when she co-starred with her husband, Desi Arnaz, in the television series I Love Lucy.
She began her career as a model and film actor before becoming well-known for her roles in television shows. By the time her career ended, she had acted in more than 70 films.
In many respects, Lucille Ball’s legacy persisted, and her great-granddaughter exhibited a remarkable likeness to her well-known great-grandmother.
Desiree Anzalone, 31, tragically passed away in a terrible way in 2020.
I Love Lucy changed history in a lot of ways and propelled Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz to stardom. It was among the first sitcoms to be recorded live and set the precedent for numerous other well-known sitcoms.
Having been married twice, Lucille Ball had two kids. She married Desi Arnaz, her co-star in the film I Love Lucy, in 1940. Desi Arnaz Jr. and Lucie Arnaz are the names of the couple’s two children.
Though Desi Arnaz Jr.’s birth was among the most widely reported in television history, it wasn’t an easy life for the son of two famous people. He has acknowledged in the past that he had wild parties in Hollywood during his formative years in the 1950s and 1960s.
He was surrounded by pressure and temptation because he was the child of two extremely well-known television actors.In reality, at the tender age of fifteen, he became a parent.
Even though Arnaz Jr. did not get close to his daughter Julia until almost two decades later, he tried to make up for his earlier lack of presence by being present for his granddaughter, Desiree Anzalone.
When Lucille Ball, the actress behind I Love Lucy, gave birth to Arnaz Jr. on the same night as her main character did in a prerecorded episode, the child shot to prominence.
It was a historic event because CBS had previously maintained that a pregnant woman could not be shown on air.
The infant developed into a teenager in the company of Hollywood aristocracy, eventually rising to fame as a teenage idol of his own on his parents’ other project, Here’s Lucy.
He eventually met the mother of his daughter, Susan Callahan-Howe, about this period. She was a model.Susan and Desi Jr. first connected when they were just 15 years old. However, it took years for Desi Jr. and his daughter Julia to get back together in the 1990s.
Sadly, Julia never got to meet her famous grandma because it was after Lucille passed away.
Callahan spent years informing her daughter that her father was well-known before she tragically passed away from COVID-19 in 2020. Years later, in 1991, Julia made the decision to confirm it through a paternity test.
“When I was twenty, we took a DNA test, and the results showed that I was, in fact, his daughter. Shortly after that, my father and I began a wonderful relationship,” Julia told Page Six.
By now, I’m at least eighteen. He might have said, “Well, she’s my child, whatever.” However, he didn’t. He was a huge assistance to me throughout my life and to my daughter as she went to college.
Desiree Anzalone was that daughter, and Julia clarified that her father also grew close to her. She continued by saying that they were very close and that Desiree even briefly resided with Arnaz Jr.
In addition, Julia gave her daughter the second name Desiree in remembrance of her grandmother Lucille, who had won an Emmy.
Desiree, who studied creative writing at the University of North Texas, was employed as a photographer.
People reports that the young woman was given a stage 2 breast cancer diagnosis at the age of 25.
Anzalone had a double mastectomy and experienced a brief period of remission before the cancer reappeared and spread to her bones, liver, and lungs.
Desiree’s life unfortunately came to an end in 2020.
During the 2020 pandemic, Julia Arnaz had to deal with her mother passing away from COVID-19 and her daughter being diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer.
“I wasn’t able to see her as much as I usually do because she was compromised and I didn’t want her getting sick in any way,” Julia told People. “The COVID-19 kept us apart.” Due to the COVID since March, I was unable to spend as much time with her as I usually do. Even though we would hang out almost every day, I didn’t see her as much as I would have liked. She also spent some time living with me.
Julia Arnaz stated to Page Six in May 2021 that she was committed to working as an activist to support other young women in stopping the sickness that killed her daughter from progressing so quickly.
She has pledged to increase the number of mammograms performed in Connecticut, her home state. Arnaz wants to encourage younger women to start these checks sooner rather than later, even if older women are usually advised to do so on a regular basis.
“There’s a big difference in those four or five months,” she said. And my daughter, this lovely angel…A lot of young ladies may say, “Oh, it’s just a cyst, no big deal.” However, she truly stood up for herself, and I urge other young ladies to follow suit.
Julia Arnaz has persisted in raising awareness of this problem and making her voice heard in the public after her daughter’s untimely death.
It’s simply not discussed very often. According to Julia Arnaz in someone, “it’s usually people in their late 30s, 40s, or 50s — not somebody at this age.” She thus genuinely wanted to assist other ladies who were in a similar situation to herself. a prophylactic.
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