For more than 150 years, Gay Head Light has stood high atop the cliffs of Martha’s Vineyard, its guiding light sweeping out to sea. But time has steadily chipped away the clay bluffs, threatening to send the iconic landmark to a watery demise.
Now, residents are racing against the clock to save the historic lighthouse, seeking to move the 400-ton structure to safer ground.
On Tuesday, selectmen in the town of Aquinnah approved a new location 150 feet away, a meadow that would allow the lighthouse to retain its current height. A group working to preserve the 1856 lighthouse has raised more than half of the $3 million needed, bolstered by contributions from the island’s six towns.
“It’s a shared heritage for all of us,” said Len Butler of the Save the Gay Head Lighthouse committee.
The money will also finance an extensive renovation of the lighthouse.