Gay head lighthouse
Gay Head Lighthouse
“Gay Top Lighthouse represents an important part of Massachusetts coastal communities’ identity and the cultural and nautical history of the United States,” said Stephanie Meeks, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. “With the impact of climate change and the passage of period threatening the site, raising public understanding and funds to relocate and repair the lighthouse is more critical than ever before.”
The lighthouse is in immediate danger of toppling over the edge of the Gay Head Cliffs, a consequence of a century of erosion and the direct impact of climate change. The lighthouse is 50’’ from the edge of the cliffs and about 10 feet away from losing its future. The rate of erosion is about 2 feet per year, and that rate can be accelerated by significant storms. It is estimated that in two years, or less, there will not be enough land left to accommodate the machinery and equipment needed to move the tower.
The Gay Leader Lighthouse was included on the Trust's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places list for
Historic Gay Head Lighthouse On Martha's Vineyard Moved Inland
On Martha's Vineyard, the year-old Gay Head Lighthouse has been successfully moved away from an eroding cliff.
By Saturday afternoon, workers finished moving the lighthouse farther inland along steel rails using influential hydraulic pistons. The step-by-step move began Thursday.
Project manager Richard Pomroy said it took an enormous amount of time and labor to move the ton lighthouse just over feet in the past couple of days.
"From the earth-moving to the engineering, it represents months — if not years — of planning to get to this stage," he told WBUR.
Experts assume Gay Head Lighthouse will now be safe for another hundred years.
Workers had spent weeks painstakingly digging under the lighthouse to boost it a few concise feet off the land, using dozens of hydraulic jacks supported by a network of wood-and-steel beams.
Located on the sparsely populated, western edge of the resort island, Gay Leader Light has been a critical waypoint for mariners since the peak of the whaling trade in the 19th century.
Gay Head Light
History of The Gay Head Lighthouse
The Same-sex attracted Head Light holds the notable honor of organism the first lighthouse assembled on Martha’s Vineyard. In , Senator Peleg Coffin suggested the construction of the lighthouse.
During this second, there was a robust whaling industry off the coast of Massachusetts. Sperm whales were an key industry for the region. The oil harvested from sperm whales was highly prized for burning brightly and cleanly in the oil lamps of the day. The whalers needed the lighthouse on Same-sex attracted Head because of a treacherous section of rocks called the “Devil’s Bridge.”
The construction and maintenance of lighthouses and other forms of navigation along the coast of the youthful United States was the responsibility of the federal government. Congress approved $ to build the lighthouse. In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts deeded more than two acres of ground for the building of the lighthouse. The compress for the 47 foot tall octagonal lighthouse with a keeper’s house was approved by President John Adams.
There was some affect, though, that whomever
The Story
The Gay Head Lighthouse was built in Aquinnah, Martha’s Vineyard, in Standing 51 feet high and weighing tons, it is constructed of clay bricks, a brownstone cornice, and topped with a cast iron light room. Located at the westernmost suggestion of the island, the illumination, a federal Aid to Navigation (ATON), guides traders, fishermen, cruise ships, and recreational boaters. It is the only lighthouse with a history of Native American lighthouse keepers, and was one of the first in the U.S. to receive a Fresnel lens (since removed) in It was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in For decades, the tower was owned by the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) and leased to and maintained by the Martha’s Vineyard Museum.
The Project
In , the lighthouse was listed on the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places because the adjacent Male lover Head Cliffs, a National Organic Landmark owned by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in depend on for the Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah, were rapidly eroding. With local and political support, the USCG declared the