The Lilac Preservation Project is hosting “LILAC: Flower of the Delaware, A Coast Guard Day Presentation” on Thursday, August 4th, at 6:00 PM on the historic lighthouse tender Lilac at Pier 25, the foot of West Street and N. Moore Street, on the Hudson River in Manhattan.

Lilac is a retired 1933 Coast Guard cutter that once carried supplies to lighthouses and maintained buoys. Decommissioned in 1972, USCGC Lilac is America’s only surviving steam-powered lighthouse tender and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is eligible to become a National Historic Landmark.

From their press release:
Have you wondered what a lighthouse tender did? What’s involved in tending buoys? Why do some Coast Guard cutters have black hulls? Join us on August 4th, the 226th anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Coast Guard, to get some answers.

Beginning at 6:00 PM in the Petty Officers’ Quarters, Museum Director Mary Habstritt will present LILAC: Flower of the Delaware, a discussion of the contributions of our ship and her crews as well as our non-profit’s efforts to restore her, illustrated with vintage photos and video.

Can’t make it? You’ve got another chance. This program will be repeated at 6:00 PM on Tuesday, August 9 at the lightship Nantucket, Pier 6, Brooklyn Bridge Park.