The one-table restaurant: A new use for an old lighthouse (2/13/11)

Forget the typical French-fancy-swanky dining scene this Valentine’s Day. Lose the noise of other couples chattering their in-the-minute love confessions. Escape the cling and clapping of a clichéd proposal. Create a new cliché in the clouds dining in the Newburyport Rear Range Lighthouse. “This is the only place in the world that you can dine at the top of a lighthouse tower” said Jay Highland, President and founder of the Lighthouse Preservation Society.

Couples or creative fiancé-to-be-masterminds can choose from any of the local Newburyport restaurants to cater their dinner at this single-table restaurant. A dinner reservation for the Newburyport Rear Range Lighthouse may be the most competitive reservation to make for Valentine’s Day; it might just even be the most difficult reservation to make in the world. Fortunately, this lighthouse is now open for dinner or lunch all year round. Anyone is welcome to dine, from lovers, to friends, mothers and daughters or even politicians. 

Looking up through the stairwell at the Newburyport Rear Range Lighthouse

            While it may seem like a physically difficult process to serve the food, Highland confidently explained that they have a system down-pact. The quality of food is not sacrificed. It is exclusively delicious. “By the time we get [the food] up here it’s maybe five or ten minutes from the time it comes off the grill, so it works. People are happy. We do have a microwave downstairs just in case people aren’t happy, but we’ve never had to use it.”

After guests place their order, it only takes a half an hour to receive the meal. The dinner or lunch is generally broken up into three courses. “You have all evening to slowly dine, and we typically break it up into at least three courses so people will have the opportunity to take their time,” says Highland, “and there’s really only so much we can carry up here at once anyhow.” With a laugh Highland explained that they are forced to only bring up a little bit of food at a time, due to the tight space.

“[The wait staff] enjoys doing this because everybody is always happy” said Highland. The wait-staffer and guests always leave with a “Cheshire-cat grin” said Highland by way of explanation.

Another common emotion that Highland has witnessed is fear. The sixty foot climb to the top has worried a lot of guests in the past. “It’s pretty much straight up, especially at the part where you have to climb up the steel ladder and through the hatch. The staircase is not the typical spiral staircase that you often find in lighthouses. The stairs are squared, so they are still kind of spiral but they are squared off at each end. And there is a fairly narrow latch at the end. You’d really have to work at falling at a distance because the walls are close enough that you’d always catch yourself.”

Highland assures that the tower is actually very safe. “You have to get used to the climb, I will say that. It’s good exercise. I threw away my Stairmaster when I got this job,” Highland laughed.

It is probably even one of the safest places to be during a lightning storm. One of the first installments in the lighthouse renovation process was a lightning rod. “So you’re actually in one of the safer places despite the fact that we are in the tallest building around here and you are close to the water as well. But the fact is, is that you are basically in a metal cage here, so if you’ve ever been to the museum of science, you know what I’m talking about” Highland explained.

Fear aside, Highland has encountered, firsthand, more romance and emotion than any Las Vegas drive-through wedding chapel. In at least one circumstance, he was a little too close for comfort.

“Well I remember this one time.” Highland paused to laugh, “It’s interesting with the proposals because there’s so many of them up here. Usually people fall into a couple different categories,” Highland laughed a little more now. “First of all, some of the guys are really nervous. I remember one time I was walking up behind this couple, and they were coming right up the ladder. As soon as he got up here, as I was trying to get up here myself, he was down on his knee immediately,” Highland chuckled even more now. “All because he just wanted to get it over with. And here I was, awkwardly standing behind them like, ‘why am I here? This is supposed to be a private moment you know?’ He was just so nervous that he spurted out the question as soon as he touched the floor up here. He was really happy—really relieved to get it over with.”

Highland explained that there have been a number of not-so-awkward proposals in the light as well. He introduced me to the Keeper’s Log, where guests have documented their experiences eating dinner in the light. I held the hard-cover journal in my hands, as Highland described how he enjoyed reading it from time to time himself. “There are a number of stories in there that are simply fascinating,” he said as my fingers skimmed the pen tip dented pages. He continued to say that tears are easily generated from reading the log—an understandable statement at that.

“It’s great reading material for people that are up here, you know, to kill time or whatever. Some people wonder how you can spend six hours up here, but there is a way. It’s really kind of timeless up here. You really do lose track of time” said Highland.

Highland passionately explained how you can see the outside light change as the sun goes down and as the moon comes up. “It is really wonderful. Nobody is rushing you, nobody is waiting for your seat, you know. Waiting for you to get out of the restaurant or whatever, it is your space. You feel like you are on top of the world up here.”

Guests of the lighthouse can see all over downtown Newburyport, up and down the Merrimack River, and approximately 20 miles out to where the ocean meets the sky. Only one, single table stands in the loft of the lighthouse. A panoramic glass window unveils the white coasts of Plum Island and Salisbury beach. The glass dinner table has an interchangeable pattern, depending on the weather outside the adjacent glass window. Some days it reflects the bright blue sky, other times the pattern moves reflecting the passing clouds, and some nights the table reflects the stars. Anchoring the bare, glass, table rests a pair of shell-shaped salt and pepper shakers and a simple, white candle. A heater, that looks more like an air-conditioner hums softly while warming the loft during the colder months.  

This innovative dining experience comes from the original thoughts of Highland himself. After the lighthouse was decommissioned in 1961, the only thing it was used for was the office space of a man named David Hall. In talking with Highland, Hall once told him about how great it was to eat his lunch up there. And occasionally, Hall would allow some of his friends who were dating at the time to come up and use the light at night. He would leave a small basket of cheese and wine downstairs, and they would really enjoy their time up there. That’s when the light went on for Highland. “I said, you know something? That sounds like a great idea” exclaimed Highland.  “So if you let me run with it, we’ll try doing dinners up here, and raise some money for these two towers. That was in 1999 and the rest is history.”

In front of the Newburyport Rear Range Light is the Front Range Light, which today remains unused. The Rear Range Light, which is just as old but has been revived, has been named by Phantom Gourmet the most romantic and exclusive dining destination in all of New England. “It’s become very popular for special events,” explained Highland. “We’ve had a lot of engagements up here… there’s been a lot of birthdays and anniversaries and such. It’s a very romantic location with a stunning view.”

This inimitable dining opportunity is also a way in which the Lighthouse Preservation Society raises money for the up keeping of this and other regional lighthouses. “This has been a very successful project in terms of bringing in a very good revenue source, and in an unusual sort of place for doing so,” explains Highland, “and it’s just totally unique. That’s one of the reasons why it has really taken off. We found our niche.”

With a grin burning my cheeks, Highland could tell from my gaze that I was eager to see more. He pointed to a little square door down to the left of where he sat. “You can go out on the catwalk if you’d like,” Highland proposed. As if I were the main character of Alice in Wonderland, I crouched down beside the booth and ungracefully slid through the tiny door. The door was so small that I wondered how Highland could even get out their himself. It was a typical New England Sunday, where the weather changes every five minutes. I looked up at the clouds coasting over above, and the reflection of the sun rays retracting on the water. I gripped the metal bar at my waist, and slowly made my way, full-circle, around the catwalk.

I thought of one of the stories Highland had just told me about a couple who came here for dinner during a rainstorm. The fiancé-to-be had expressed his weather concerns to Highland just days before their reservation date. Highland insisted that the couple did not need to reschedule their reservation, despite the lousy weather forecast. Convinced, they still came even with the rain. But when the rain stopped and the sun came out, a handsome, fully-arched rainbow connected the shores of Salisbury Beach and Plum Island. “Neither one of them had seen a full rainbow before—it was like a sign from God,” Highland smiled.

Highland’s twinkly eyes filled me with a sense of optimism that one day I’d be back here. Not for an interview, but in an intimate time, in warmer climes. I’d have sun-kissed shoulders.  The small, white candles on the walls would be lit, and I’d be proposed to by Mr. Right.

So how does one go about making a reservation at the top of a lighthouse? Often times, reservations must be booked well in advance; sometimes half a year to a year out from the date you intend to dine. Originally, the light was only open in the warmer months. Within the last two years, a heating system was installed at the top and reservations are now available for any season.  

            The cost is 350 dollars to rent the building and a private wait-staffer for the evening. For the most part, the entire evening is yours. Reservations will reserve guests a six hour time block. Generally it is a five o’clock to eleven o’clock slot, but in special circumstances the times can be altered a few hours later or earlier. “You can also do a day time lunch up here and you can have [the lighthouse] all day,” explained Highland.  “And that’s from ten o’clock to four o’clock generally.”

The $350 fee does not include the food itself. “You just pay the restaurant directly. It’s the same as being at the restaurant pretty much, same prices, same menu. And it’s really not that bad in terms of expense. Typically most couples can get a nice dinner for under a hundred dollars.” The only exception is that alcohol is not included for insurance reasons, but the policy is B.Y.O.B. “That works out for people because you actually save money that way,” explained Highland.

“Valentine’s day is already booked” Highland chuckled. Highland, dressed like a ship captain, remained vague as to who the lucky couple would be this year to dine at the top of the light on Valentine’s Day. He did admit however that politician Mitt Romney had recently attended the lighthouse for lunch.

            There is a strategy for those who missed out on the romantic holiday reservation this year, and have maybe already missed out on making a reservation for next Valentine’s Day. “We still have plenty of openings not only for that week, but also for the rest of the month and the rest of the year,” explained Highland. “A lot of people will get gift certificates, at Valentine’s Day and that will basically buy a dinner up here for a date during the nicer months.”