ROCKLAND – The twinkle in Ken Black’s eye on Saturday shone brighter than the beam from a nearby second order Fresnel lens.

Surrounded by dozens of lighthouse lenses of all shapes and sizes, Black was in his glory as he reflected on the 35 years he spent piecing together an unmatched collection that is the Maine Lighthouse Museum.

His hard work paid off.

The 5,000-square-foot room in which Black was standing will be unveiled officially at 10 a.m. Saturday as the CWO Kenneth Black Exhibition Hall.

The museum at One Park Drive is within the Maine Discovery Center – a new name for what initially was dubbed the Gateway Center.

The Maine Discovery Center houses the Rockland-Thomaston Area Chamber of Commerce, Maine Lighthouse Museum, Lighthouse Depot store and exhibits from several partners: The Farnsworth Art Museum, Island Institute, Rockland Historical Society, Owls Head Transportation Museum, Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport, Maine Lobster Festival and Montpelier-Gen. Henry Knox Museum in Thomaston.

A private cocktail party Friday evening that celebrates the exhibition hall will include a surprise unveiling of its own. The ribbon-cutting ceremony Saturday shows off the hall to the public and kicks off Maine Lighthouse Week, which includes many special events.

Chief Warrant Officer Kenneth Black, who in 1973 retired from the U.S. Coast Guard after 32 years of service, is credited for rescuing many historic lighthouse artifacts from winding up in private hands or worse, a landfill.

It all started when Black was commanding officer of the U.S. Coast Guard station here in the early 1970s.

During a visit to Port Clyde, Black spotted some postcards of lighthouses. He bought several, brought them back to the station and had one of the Coast Guardsmen frame them for display. They were a hit among visitors to the station, then located on the Eastern Steamship Pier at the foot of Tillson Avenue.

And they also were a hit with the First District admiral, who said there ought to be a museum, Black said. Today, that piece hangs in the new museum.

On the admiral’s signal, Black began collecting from stations near and far.

When the exhibit got too big for the Coast Guard station, it was moved to the GAR building on Limerock Street, home to the Shore Village Museum and its featured collection of historic Rockland artifacts. In 2002, the city put the building up for sale.

Before it sold, Black put out an SOS, in search of an “angel.”

Black’s prayers were answered.

Who is his angel?

“Stephen Liberty,” Black said on Saturday of the driving force behind the new museum.

Stephen Liberty, 40, of Rockport is president of Liberty Hospitality of Maine, which owns the Trade Winds Motor Inn and Navigator Motor Inn, both in Rockland, Glen Cove Inn & Suites in Glen Cove, the Country Inn at Camden-Rockport line, and Cedar Crest Motel in Camden.

“He kept the thing going,” Black said.

“He’s the one who has dug in and worked,” Black’s wife, Dot Black, added. “[Liberty] brought [employees] from the Trade Winds to work at the museum. He’s just been there for Ken.

“He was the one there when they packed it up, and he’s been the one there rolling up his shirt sleeves and trying to run a business.”

There were many hands in the project, Black said, also naming Liberty’s father, Bob Liberty, and Bob Hastings, executive director of the chamber, and a whole lot more folks who made his dream come true.

“I’m flattered,” Stephen Liberty said on Saturday. “I am incredibly proud of the way the project came out. I am thrilled Ken Black’s legacy will live on for decades.”

Liberty called the museum a unique asset for the city that is unmatched countrywide.

At nearly 83, Black still visits the museum “at least every other day” to see the work in progress.

“The first thing people say is wow – wow,” Black said of the exhibit.

The 10-foot high, second order Fresnel lens from Petit Manan Light anchors the collection of lighthouse lenses, buoy lanterns, ship’s lights, fog horns and nautical artifacts.

The priceless Petit Manan lens, which had been dismantled and crated for the move was reassembled recently by Joseph Cocking and Nick Johnston, retired Coast Guardsmen, who separately own lighthouse lens restoration businesses.

A 15-foot wooden peapod from Whitehead Light gives visitors a sense of what it was like living at remote lighthouses and having to travel by boat to get supplies or bring children to school. The boat is outfitted with gear typical of the era.

A display of a Life Saving Service beach cart shows all the equipment used to conduct rescues from shore.

Large-scale models of Portland Head, Rockland Breakwater and Southern Island lighthouses show the layout of those light stations. The latter is now the home of famed artist Jamie Wyeth. Some light stations had light towers, boat houses, generator houses, and-or bell towers.

Like museum visitors, volunteers come from near and far, too.

Paul Andorn loves lighthouse lore so much, he travels from Hermon to work as a volunteer docent at the museum and Rockland Breakwater Light.

“Each day we say whew,” Black said of all the volunteers working to put together the new Maine Lighthouse Museum. “They’re just great.”