MATTAPOISETT — Two pirates stood on guard behind a treasure chest Saturday, Oct. 19 inside Ned’s Point Lighthouse.

Candy filled the chest at the base of the staircase that leads to the top of the historic lighthouse, which hosted a Halloween event sponsored by the United States Coast Guard Flotilla 6-3. 

The event served as an opportunity for costumed kids to meet members of the Coast Guard Auxiliary, who operate the historic lighthouse, staff officer Sal Giglia said.

Giglia appeared as if he had just surfaced from the nearby Atlantic Ocean, draped with fake seaweed and snorkel gear in a Coast Guard wetsuit for the Halloween event.

Efforts to repair and restore the lighthouse, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, continue.

Built in the early 19th century, the structure is visited by people from across the world, according to Giglia.

“They think this is the best thing since Campbell’s soup,” he said.

Part of the appeal in particular for Ned’s Point Lighthouse is that it’s accessible, according to Giglia.

“A lot of lighthouses are not,” he said.

Tours of the lighthouse have only in recent years become available, after the building’s lantern room was deleaded. 

Giglia said in August that $40,000 in repairs had already been completed while $300,000 worth of repairs was still needed. 

In 1837, $5000 was appropriated for the construction of a lighthouse in Mattapoisett on the recommendation of then congressman and former president John Quincy Adams. However, the lighthouse was built crooked, according to Giglia.

Short of funds, construction of the lighthouse was forced to continue using stones from Mattapoisett beaches and granite from a local quarry. 

Today, the structure is sound; the ironwork of the lighthouse “is in great shape,” Giglia said.

By next spring or early summer, about 75% of the repairs on the lighthouse should be completed, Giglia said while standing in the lantern room of the Mattapoisett landmark.

“We’re just taking things in stride,” he said. 

Friends of Ned’s Point Lighthouse, a non-profit, has raised money for the restoration project. So too have a pair of boys who were at the Ned’s Point Halloween event.

Erik Stone-Kowalski, 13, and Hobie Stone-Kowalski, 9, have been selling painted oyster shells at a table by the lighthouse throughout the year.

All of the proceeds are donated to the lighthouse. 

“Those kids down there are unbelievable,” Giglia said.

The idea was born out of their grandmother teaching them how to paint oyster shells.  At one point, they decided to try painting an image of Ned’s Point Lighthouse. It came out really good, according to their mother Bonnie Stone.  

For about six weeks, the Stone-Kowalskis have stationed their spread of oyster art next to the lighthouse on days when the site has been open for tours.

“They just showed up one day,” Giglia said.

The two boys had raised and donated about $600, they estimated.

And with people just about starting to think about Christmas, business — or philanthropy — was solid at “Erik & Hobie’s Lighthouse Fundraiser” during the Halloween event at the nearly 200-year old lighthouse.

“Today’s been pretty good,” Erik Stone-Kowalski said. “It’s really busy.”