The dips in the hills and the swirls in the clay may change with the passing of time, but the view from the top of the Gay Head Light always will be a staggering one. From the balcony, nature is laid out before you: The ocean winks as the waves roll in, hopeful fishermen scour the deep, and the cliffs proudly stand as witnesses to all that has taken place here.

This year for the first time the Gay Head Lighthouse is open to the public during the day, in addition to sunset tours. The lighthouse has a legacy 21 years long of being open to the public, but in an effort to raise additional funds for maintenance, the Martha’s Vineyard Museum, which owns and runs the tours of the lighthouse, opened it to a wider and more frequent audience.

Todd Follansbee, who is working as a guide at the lighthouse this summer, said, “We’re getting a large number of people coming — a lot of them are Islanders who said they always wanted to go but it was always closed when they got up here.”

While the lighthouse’s history is well known to those who love and care for it, the new schedule allows tourists and residents alike to find out more about this maritime beacon, one of the most important lighthouses on the eastern seaboard.

Before the Cape Cod Canal was built in 1914, ships travelling east from New York, to Boston or distant European shores, needed the fastest route, which followed the coast of Long Island, up through the Vineyard Sound. The first lighthouse they’d see here was the Gay Head Light, which welcomed them with flashes of red and white to our waters.

And the lighthouse is still welcoming sailors, letting them know just where they are. “When I sailed up here four years ago, I saw that red and white light, and the light told me it was the Vineyard,” said Mr. Follansbee, “and I haven’t left since.”

In the age of GPS and cellphone service even in Aquinnah, people often are surprised to learn that the Gay Head Light remains an important navigational fixture. Like the buoys that clang with the passing of each wave, the lighthouse still tells mariners where they are, remaining steadfast and reliable, independent of the satellites that may flicker in and out with the wind.

Richard Skidmore and his wife, Joan LeLacheur, serve as the lighthouse’s keepers. Mr. Skidmore has a deep appreciation for the lighthouse, and his role in preserving its legacy. “It’s a great honor to be in charge and to be keeping the building going, and I’m the line of first defense if something goes wrong,” he said.

But of course this lighthouse is more than a maritime tool. There is something forlorn about a light, always blinking in darkness, silently standing guard over the treacherous rocks and shoals that lie deceitfully beneath the crashing waves.

“I’m always impressed by the romantic power of the lighthouse, the way people are drawn to it, and fascinated by it,” said Mr. Skidmore. “But it has a split personality. For the mariner, seeing that light at night when you really need it, is a welcome home, but it’s also a warning. There are those two aspects, welcome and warning, and it’s an interesting little dichotomy: It’s warning you off and inviting you home.”

Much of that draw, that feeling of romance, surely comes from the stark natural wonder that surrounds this lighthouse. And in this wild landscape whose historical record seems less distant than elsewhere on the Island, the lighthouse’s story is a powerful part of its allure.

In 1884 the steamship City of Columbus ran aground at Devil’s Bridge, a stone’s throw from the lighthouse. The keeper at the time sent out an alert, and many Wampanoags rowed out to the wreck, but due to the winds and waves, couldn’t reach the ship. Those on board the ship couldn’t get to the rescue boats unless they jumped into the water and swam. It was January, and not many survived the frigid temperatures.

There was no electricity in Gay Head until 1952, when it was wired in to bring strong and steady light to this watchman. Before that, the lighthouse required two keepers to trim the wick, clear the lampblack and change the oil each day and night. The keepers lived in a house adjacent to the lighthouse so they could be ready at a moment’s notice.

“In January, the night is 14 hours long,” said Mr. Skidmore, recalling the travails of days gone by, “and you can’t have one person do that night after night after night.”

Martha Vanderhoop’s grandfather, Charles Vanderhoop, was the only Wampanoag who worked as the lighthouse’s primary keeper. Her father was born and raised in the keeper’s house, and those memories shaped her father’s experience, on-Island and off.

“My father would watch all of the ships going by the lighthouse, and it was his dream to be on one of those ships, and to leave the Vineyard. And he became a captain in the Merchant Marine and sailed all over the world, until he came back here later in his life,” she said.

Ms. Vanderhoop isn’t sure, but she thinks that her grandfather was probably the only native lighthouse keeper anywhere. “He was very proud to be the head lighthouse keeper in his own community,” she said. “And he was especially proud because it’s such an important light.”

And in more ways than one Ms. Vanderhoop keeps the tradition alive: She and her family run a store at Aquinnah circle, and she and her two sons volunteered as lighthouse keepers when Mr. Skidmore and Ms. LeLacheur presented that opportunity to the community.

Erosion is evident at the cliffs, as it is elsewhere on the Island. The executive director of the Martha’s Vineyard Museum, David Nathans, said plantings on the edging of the property earlier this spring were designed to put in stabilizing root systems. “We expect over the next couple years to bring together a group of people to think longterm what needs to be done,” he said, adding:

“It’s hard when you’re fighting Mother Nature. We’re watching it but we’re not immediately concerned. It’s a wonderful work of architecture that will probably need some attention but it’s not imminent.”

Perhaps the reason this lighthouse, 155 years old this year, has stood the test of time is because it truly is a sight to behold. Whether at sunup or sundown, the view from the lighthouse cannot be beat. Even for a guide, who watches from this perch daily, it doesn’t get old.

“When you look out and you’ve got the sun setting on one side, and the moon rising on the other,” said Mr. Follansbee, “it’s just glorious.”

The Gay Head Light is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. until Sept. 3. It will also open these times on Sept. 10 and 17. It is also open for sunset tours through August 13, from 7 to 9 p.m., and from August 19 through Sept. 17, from 6 to 8 p.m.