“It’s always falling apart,” he said. “If you fix something, you know you’re going to fix it again.”

Image Also at auction, the Fourteen Foot Shoal Light in Lake Huron, near Cheboygan, Mich. Credit... GSA Auctions

The new government auctions, which started in July, are listed on the General Services Administration’s website. They include the Detroit River Light, built in 1885, in Lake Erie; the Craighill Channel Lower Range Front Light Station on the Chesapeake Bay, which was first lit in 1873; and the Lansing Shoal Light, constructed in 1928, one of the last offshore lights built on the Great Lakes. Four of the six lighthouses are currently $15,000, one is $27,000 and the cheapest is $10,000.

The National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act, passed in 2000, helps the government preserve lighthouses that are no longer needed by the Coast Guard.

When the time comes to find a new owner, officials search for stewards like nonprofits and educational agencies. But if there aren’t any acceptable organizations stepping up to the plate, the property is then offered to the public for sale by auction.

Since 2000, the government has parted with 133 lighthouses: Preservationists have received 78 of them at no cost, and 55 have been auctioned to the public, the General Services Administration said in a news release.

Public sales of lighthouses have generated millions of dollars over the years — the Graves Island Light Station near Boston was sold at auction for more than $930,000 in 2013 — and they’re used for multiple purposes, including vacation homes, bed-and-breakfasts, and concert venues.