A historic lighthouse off Staten Island is being restored by an all-volunteer crew that uses a tugboat to haul its materials and works without electricity or running water.
The renovation of the interior of the Robbins Reef Lighthouse is now nearly complete, the head of the project told The Post on Sunday.
“The outside is still rusty, but we’re getting there,” said Erin Urban, the director of the Noble Maritime Museum of Staten Island, which purchased the site for $1 in 2011 on the condition it be renovated and made part of the organization’s collection.
Once finished, the museum will organize boat tours to the historic site — and visitors will even be able to sleep there as part of a bed-and-breakfast.
The lighthouse was built in 1883 as a beacon for ships sailing along the bay. It was first manned by Capt. John Walker and then his wife, Katherine, who rowed their children to school in Staten Island, until she retired in 1919.
The Coast Guard eventually took it over.
Urban said four of the structure’s lower six interior levels — including the rooms where the Walker family lived amidst charming wooden furniture and a collection of rugs, photographs and toys — are finished.
The fifth level, the watch gallery where lighthouse keepers observed water conditions during storms, is set to be completed by the end of the year.
“The crew has just about finished renovating all the windows,” Urban said.
The sixth level, the lantern gallery, is still being used by the Coast Guard to emit flashes of light to ships every six seconds.
Volunteers are using hand tools and sandpaper to restore arched windows and doors to their former glory.
However, volunteers can only get out there one or two days per week because they rely on a local shipping company to take them from Staten Island to the lighthouse’s reef, which sits on the entrance to the Kill van Kull strait.
“We are spending no money on this project. We are relying on volunteers on every level. We’re getting free transportation,” Urban said.
“And when we get there, we have no electricity or water. It’s not an easy project.”
The renovation was expected to take 10 years. But Urban said Hurricane Sandy wiped out the first year of work in 2012 and it put them a year behind schedule.
Next year, volunteers will scrub the exterior . Urban is also looking to add solar panels and indoor plumbing.