Well, we're headed out to sea today off the coast of Maine-- not too far.

We're going to be in kayaks.

And we're visiting Wood Island, a little place with a fascinating history that I think you may find interesting.

So stick around.

[CHEERFUL MID TEMPO GUITAR MUSIC] [OPTIMISTIC MID TEMPO SYNTHESIZER MUSIC] About a mile off the coast of Kittery, Maine is a small island with a big story to tell.

Until recently, the only thing you'd find out on Wood Island were some folks who stopped for a swim and a building slated for demolition.

But as it turns out, that island has a lot of history-- important history on its shores.

Before it could be forgotten, folks from around here got together.

And they rallied to save it from destruction.

We're heading out to Wood Island.

And I can't think of a better guide than The Maniacal Traveler-- Dianne Fallon.

Dianne.

Hey, Willem.

[inaudible] [?

is ?]

[?

here.

?]

It's been a long time since I've seen you, eh?

Yeah, so good to see you.

[chuckles] Welcome to Kittery Point.

Why, thank you, ma'am.

Usually, you take us on hikes.

Yeah.

But this time, we're going out to sea.

Yes.

You don't have anything surreptitious up your sleeve or anything?

I don't think so.

But your feet will probably get wet.

[laughs] Well, I hope we don't.

It's straining a little bit.

But we should otherwise stay dry.

You think?

Yes, I think the seas are calm today.

And I think the sun is going to come out.

So I think it's going to be a great day for a kayak.

OK. Yeah.

And we'll go out.

And we'll walk around.

You'll show us what's been done out there and what they're up to.

Yes.

I think our-- once we get out there, we're going to meet up with Sam Reid, the president of the Wood Island Lifesaving Association.

And he's going to be our really authoritative guide to all things Wood Island.

I got it.

Yeah.

OK. Good.

Well, I can't think of a better way to get there than, as usual, to start going.

Yes, sounds good.

Every journey begins with?

A couple of paddles.

That's it?

Yeah.

Thank you.

[water splashing] There we go.

[cheerful mid-tempo piano music] [water splashing] [seagulls calling] [?

ok.

?]

[?

we're too ?]

[?

good.

?]

[inaudible] Well, there's your island right there.

[water splashing] A little island-- that's Fishing Island.

We're going to the left of that island, right?

Yes, yeah.

[seagulls calling] [inaudible] Dianne is a traveler.

She seeks out interesting places to visit, uncovers history, and then writes about the experience.

"The Maniacal Traveler" is her forum.

It's an online collection of stories about the fascinating places she's been and what she's discovered there.

I've hiked with Dianne several times.

This is my first adventure with her at sea.

So this is Pepperrell Cove in Kittery Point.

And this has been a working harbor since the mid-17th century-- a lot of pleasure boats here, but a lot of lobstering.

Our trip to Wood Island begins at Kittery, Maine.

We paddle on the Piscataqua River, which flows into the Gulf of Maine.

This waterway is known for its dangerous tidal currents.

Today, with the right timing and some luck on our side, the water is tame.

So there's Wood Island.

[inaudible] Yep.

And that is Whaleback Lighthouse.

Yep.

It looks like it's part of the island.

[chuckles] [water splashing] It isn't.

[water splashing] Tell me, how'd you find out about this place?

Well, I live in Kittery Point.

And I've been kayaking since the mid-'90s.

I think I got my kayak around '97.

And it's just a place that calls to you.

Because it was out here in the river and had this exotic kind of old building that just pulls you in.

[cheerful mid-tempo piano music] Two military facilities sit beside the river.

[water splashing] Over there is Fort Constitution and the lighthouse.

That's in New Castle.

The naval shipyard is in Kittery, and the US Coast Guard at New Castle, New Hampshire.

Ahead in the distance is Wood Island.

Crews are busy giving it a facelift.

[cheerful mid-tempo piano music] Kayaking out here-- especially on a nice, calm day like this-- it's just a very calming, soothing experience.

[water splashing] Calm day, cool, no sun-- very pleasant, very pleasant.

But we're here.

That's even more pleasant.

[laughs] Sam Reid made it to the island by boat.

He brought my dog, Kiki, with him.

I'm talking to Sam Reid, who's kind of the ramrod of this project, right?

[chuckles] The leader.

Yes, sir.

Yes.

The CO-- I'm the president of the charity.

You're the suit.

There you go.

And this has kind of been a passion of yours, right?

Yes, sir.

Well, how did you first discover this place?

I've been here as a boy and a man.

I've grown up in this area.

And so family has property nearby.

And any self-respecting teenager in Kittery has figured out how to get a boat and get out here and explore.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

So you went through the old derelict building?

It was in terrible shape.

And we've come a long way with this restoration.

This is the sixth year.

But when it was falling apart, let me tell you, it was nearly gone.

Yeah.

Well, what made you get interested in restoring it?

I have a background in historic preservation.

I've enjoyed working on big, complex projects.

So the challenge of this-- the logistical challenge, et cetera, the fundraising-- is attractive to me and others.

And so you got to find people that enjoy that sort of thing.

Yeah.

Yeah, there are some around.

[laughs] Most of them are locked up.

[laughs] True-- true.

Very, very nice.

Wow.

[footsteps] Nice job.

When they were first talking about restoring this, I just thought, how could they?

[inaudible] Yeah, this building is falling apart.

This is not a restoration.

This is a train wreck.

[THOUGHTFUL MID TEMPO PIANO MUSIC] The town of Kittery took ownership of Wood Island in 1973.

It maintained it for public recreation.

But little was done to preserve the legacy of the surfmen.

Those are the guys who lived and worked out here.

Over time, decay took a toll on the building.

In 2009, the town made plans to demolish it.

That's when Sam stepped in.

You ever doubt that you were going-- that you wouldn't succeed?

Oh, for sure.

So this property is owned by the town of Kittery.

So our charity is restoring this building on behalf of Kittery.

Every nail we put in becomes Kittery's.

So it was a very big challenge to convince the leadership of the town that this was a good idea.

I think it's fair to say they made a good decision by giving us the thumbs-up.

[chuckles] [cheerful mid-tempo piano music] Dianne brought us here because there's a story to tell.

In 1889, a year after the US Life-Saving Service was established, an Army hospital sat here.

It was used during the Spanish-American War to quarantine prisoners infected with yellow fever.

The hospital disappeared in 1908.

And that's when the Life-Saving Service moved onto the island.

This is a pre-Coast Guard facility-- brave men waiting to help mariners in distress.

Pre-Coast Guard?

Pre-Coast Guard.

Well, who set it up?

The government?

Well, yes, sir.

And there was the US Life-Saving Service.

And it was founded 1888.

And in 1915, it merged with the Revenue Cutter Service to become the US Coast Guard.

Right.

But what I'm saying is, restoring something like this, we think about the building.

But really, in the case of Wood Island, we're restoring the building.

We're restoring the sea walls.

Some good chunk of the island had washed away.

We were restoring the island, built the pier.

So it was much more than just the building.

Sam and his partners raised nearly $4 million for the restoration.

Engineers were hired.

Solar power was brought to the island along with truckloads of materials.

I think logistics on an island coast of Maine has a nine- or 10-foot tide-- really challenging.

I know.

It's been a few years.

Wow.

Wow.

But we came through that, and working with a lot of great partners.

The Maine Army National Guard has been here helping us.

Oh, my goodness.

Pan Am railways from Waterville, Maine has been helping us.

Really?

Oh, my goodness.

EPA, Maine Environmental-- the list is long of really great partners that have been helping us.

Who was there to help out?

The US Coast Guard, of course.

[inaudible] over.

[water splashing] [inaudible] over.

The constant changes to this place and what it's becoming is just amazing.

You know, what a treat.

What a gift for me to have, to look at this every day.

[birdsong] Daniel Benoit is the commanding officer at Coast Guard Station, Portsmouth Harbor.

So my window, if you guys want to come over here, I'll show you.

[footsteps] So the building with the flight tower-- that's our current station right now.

And my window is the double sliding doors on the bottom.

When he visits Wood Island, he doesn't come empty-handed.

So we're just keeping all these little stickers, too.

Being on the coast, being so engaged with the Coast Guard story and where we came from-- it means everything to be a part of this and to have the ability to be able to donate my time and our time to try to get this back up.

It's a gift.

It's a gift to me.

This is great.

It's a gift to all of us.

This is fantastic.

That appreciation quickly ran through the ranks.

The Coast Guard brought Eagle in to honor our project-- donated Eagle to us for a reception.

August 3, 2019, we had 130 of our buddies aboard.

Anyway, we brought a sea shanty singer who wrote a special lyrics just for that night.

We had the admiral from the Eastern Seaboard.

And oh, it was fantastic.

Wow So we've got a great partnership with the Coast Guard.

[buckets clattering] But the Coast Guard can't do it alone.

Wood, steel, and tons of equipment make its way from the mainland to the island, including 45 full-size cement trucks.

The US Army, in the figure of the Maine Army National Guard, have been, really, the ones doing a lot of this labor as part of their annual training.

So they have, give or take, 3,000 reservists in Maine.

And this is called innovative readiness training.

And it's their annual training.

IRT.

IRT.

Sounds like a subway.

You've got to have an acronym.

You've got to have an acronym.

Yeah.

And they came in 2018 and built the north wall.

They came in '19 and built the south wall.

They built that, ah.

And they've just come this-- just last week.

And they were doing all kinds of woodwork.

So that's a wonderful, wonderful helping hand.

The US Navy has the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

Right.

And one of the crucial logistical tasks was, how do we get all the equipment and the concrete trucks out to this island?

And the Navy were nice enough to let us use a big boat ramp they have.

So imagine the paperwork to get the permission to get the US Army to access the US Navy base.

I can just hear them.

"What's this?"

[laughs] Anyway, it all worked out.

It all worked out.

[birdsong] Sam is a stickler for details.

He insists on keeping the restoration as close as possible to the original design, right down to the building's wood trim.

You've still got more to do on the interior.

The interior's not done yet.

So our next big step will be to prepare all the specialty trim work.

So it's not just to go down to the corner and see what they've got.

This is-- we're copying exactly what is there.

A good amount of it is still in the building.

So we have everything to copy from.

Oh.

Oh, gosh, yes.

And the State of Maine Historic Preservation Office has been a fantastic partner.

They have given us the eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places.

So it's a very, very rare and special building.

This is a mighty work you've done.

[chuckles] It's a lot of fun, I'll tell you.

Well, yeah.

And lucky for you, it's fun.

Because some people go crazy.

A little bit-- a little bit.

Come on in.

Welcome.

It was all put in by the Maine Army National Guard in 2018.

We have a full fire suppression system, which was also a moon launch.

Well, I'll tell you.

I wanted to mention we've just acquired a 1930s original Coast Guard rescue boat.

And it is special as can be.

The building's incredibly rare.

There are only, say, eight or 10 lifesaving stations open to the public in the country-- none in Maine, none in New Hampshire, I think two or three in Massachusetts.

But they're very rare.

To have a fully operational marine railway, which we're just about to have, with a historic Coast Guard rescue boat-- the boat sat on a cradle.

That's right.

We got the boat.

And it'll be out of the way.

It'll be right here.

And it will launch just like they used to do.

That's great.

It's incredible.

It'll be a winch with a cable?

A winch with a cable.

They had a Model T truck engine in the basement-- [laughs] --chug, chug, chug, chug, chug, chug.

You've got to find one.

And I looked, actually.

I looked online.

You're a bad influence.

[cheerful mid-tempo piano music] Interest in Wood Island washed ashore in Kittery.

[cheerful mid-tempo piano music] Students at Traip Academy learn about its history with a very hands-on approach.

[tools clattering] [hammering] [inaudible] [power drills] To fully appreciate what the surfmen at Wood Island did so many years ago, students leave their classroom and head out to sea.

[cheerful mid-tempo piano music] [powerboat splashing] Welcome to Wood Island, boys and girls.

I'm Susan Johnson.

I work at Traip Academy in Kittery, Maine.

I'm the experiential learning coordinator.

And I also work to build community relationships and write grants to help fund the experiential learning opportunities for kids at the school.

And so what this is, this opportunity that we have with Wood Island, it's a partnership with Wood Island, Lowell's Boat Shop, and Traip Academy.

And it's really two- or even threefold in that the kids are learning local history.

[hammering] And so Wood Island and the surfmen-- this is such an incredible place for the kids to be able to come and learn about a part of history that is really coming back to life in our community.

Not only do they have a daily log, they have service records.

And then the opportunity to work with Lowell's Boat Shop gives the kids another hands-on opportunity to be building a US replica of a 19-foot dory that the surfmen used-- not as their pulling boat that they actually went out to rescue.

But it was definitely a boat that was used out here on the island.

And so between the two, being able to come out here, learn about the surfmen, be in this space, and then to be able to go back to school, and to be able to build a boat that the surfmen did use is just such a cool experience for our kids-- and all the while, building their appreciation of place and of our community.

I think mostly what I would want students to take away is an appreciation for history.

Because I think that's not emphasized enough in the schools.

And it doesn't really matter what the specific facts or dates were, but just this appreciation of history and how it's, like-- these types of projects are a tangible connection to the past.

So it's almost like you can reach out and touch the past with your hand.

[cheerful mid-tempo piano music] So many people had to get saved out here on the river.

And the people that-- they had to go out at night, like, in storms, and you have to save people-- it was crazy.

Records retrieved by Sam tell an important story.

They document the events that occurred at the lifesaving station between 1908 and 1940.

During that time, the surfmen launched 62 rescues at sea.

They saved 255 lives.

We now have a complete searchable database of all the wrecks of every man that ever served here by rank, by year.

So it's an exceptional amount of information.

I mean, it feels like a PhD waiting to happen.

[ocean waves] There were many wrecks and many rescues.

But the one that really, really strikes me-- May 3, 1920.

A boat was coming from the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard out to the Isles of Shoals, which are six miles out to sea here.

So the men who were on duty here in the watchtower saw the boat go out.

And as it passed, a big spring squall came along.

So thunder and lightning-- you know just how it is, quick-moving storm.

And as the storm cleared the area, the boat was gone.

So they rallied out their rowing boat, went out to help, and there were four men aboard.

Two were lost, gone forever.

As they brought back the two men that they found, the one that was struggling died.

The other one was OK.

The man that died was named Sherman Parker.

And he was the son-in-law of the headman here, the keeper.

So the son-in-law dies.

You have to tell your daughter, I tried my best, but he is gone.

So that's the story.

And it's a very sad story.

Well, I told that to a reporter here at the "Portsmouth Herald" and explained this interesting history that we had uncovered through some research.

And he was overwhelmed by that story and wrote a very excellent article about it and published it in August of 2019.

The day it was published, I got an email from a man I had never met saying, the man that died was my grandfather.

The man that did the rescue was my great-grandfather.

The widow was pregnant with my mother, whereupon he says-- and we're getting to know each other-- my great-grandparents were married at St. John's Episcopal Church in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in 1896-- September 19.

I said, well, that's quite something.

Because my grandmother's grandfather was the minister at St. John's Episcopal, Portsmouth, New Hampshire in 1896.

And he said, hold that thought.

And he flipped through some more of his papers and found the wedding certificate-- the original.

Now who has the wedding certificate of their great-grandparents?

It was right there.

He pulled it out.

The minister who performed the wedding for the boatswain-- the keeper, I should say, of Wood Island Station in 1896 was my great-great-grandfather.

[cheerful mid-tempo piano music] Wood island and the stories of the people who served here won't remain isolated offshore much longer.

The men who were here were extremely brave and part of the-- an important part of the story to communicate.

We're restoring this building to create a maritime museum.

So it will be open to the public as a little museum.

And what we'd hope to convey-- the bravery of getting into a rowing boat to go save people-- well, for goodness' sake.

It's professional mariners 100 years ago.

They're not going to have a problem unless there is a storm, probably at night and probably in the winter.

Yeah.

So we're going to get in a rowboat and try to save people in those conditions off the coast of Maine.

I mean, that's really brave, really special.

You know what the Coast Guard says.

"We've always got to go out.

We don't always have to come back."

That's correct.

[laughs] That's correct.

That's correct.

[laughs] I think the character traits are still there in these folks right here, who would launch into anything for the sake of saving somebody.

Yeah.

But we have motorized assets, which are virtually-- I'm not going to say unsinkable.

But they can handle the conditions much more than the boats of then.

So the bravery of those people who used to launch-- it's just-- With the oars-- eight oars and-- Can you imagine?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Unbelievable, isn't it?

[cheerful mid-tempo piano music] It's open to the public.

Yes.

What do you hope they'll take away from here?

Well, I think when it's all said and done, people who come out here will appreciate the maritime heritage of this area and kind of the historic heritage.

It's so easy to lose history.

Yeah.

And this is going to be a living, tangible piece of history.

And I think it's just going to add a lot to the area.

It's going to be something that schools will visit, visitors to the area, and it'll just be a great connection to the maritime history that's all around us.

When I asked Sam if he had any doubts about the efforts to save Wood Island, he was absolutely certain with his answer.

If we had lost this building, the history of the brave men who went out in storms to help others in rowboats would have been lost.

And that's a very special story-- really well worth the effort to keep it alive so that future generations can learn about that.

[cheerful mid-tempo piano music] [water splashing] Well, now we've had a lovely paddle with Dianne and a lovely tour of Wood Island with Sam.

And it's just been a great day-- no rain, no fog, no mist-- wonderful-- and no rough seas.

It's just been terrific-- couldn't be better.

But we have come, once again, to that time I like least, which is that time to say goodbye.

And so we shall.

Thank you so much-- Thank you for coming.

--for all you did here and all you're doing here.

It's just wonderful.

And I hope to see you all again on "Windows to the Wild."

[THOUGHTFUL MID TEMPO PIANO MUSIC] Support for the production of "Windows to the Wild" is provided by the Alice J. Reen Charitable Trust; The Fuller Foundation, the Gilbert Verney Foundation; Bailey Charitable Foundation; The McIninch Foundation; and viewers like you.

Thank you.

[THOUGHTFUL MID TEMPO PIANO MUSIC] [network theme music]