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Protect Gay Head Light as It Protects Us

Gay Head Cliffs and Lighthouse (photography: Timothy Johnson)

Gay Head Cliffs and Lighthouse (photography: Timothy Johnson)

At annual town meetings across the Island, Community Preservation Committees will be asking voters to follow their recommendations and support Aquinnah’s application for Community Preservation Act historic preservation funds to save the Gay Head Lighthouse.

The current Gay Head Lighthouse has been standing sentinel on the clay cliffs of Aquinnah since 1856. It is now in danger and it desperately needs the entire Island community to help save it. If we don’t, the stately brick structure, which remains an active aid to navigation, an icon of Martha’s Vineyard and an important living piece of our nautical heritage and history, will soon be replaced by the United States Coast Guard with a metal tower and LED light. To imagine Martha’s Vineyard without this icon is unthinkable on so many levels and we simply cannot let that happen.

When last measured, the lighthouse sat a mere 46 feet from the edge of the cliffs and engineers require at least 30 feet, preferably 40 feet, in order to get equipment in to move it. The erosion has been monitored for the last 23 years but lately the pace has picked up, perhaps due to more frequent heavy rains. Last year 4.5 feet were lost in one section, luckily not a section closest to the lighthouse but the indications are clear — move it or the Coast Guard will disassemble it before it tumbles into the sea.  Continue reading….