Nobska Light in Falmouth, a familiar landmark on the ferry route between Woods Hole and the Vineyard, is being transferred to the town of Falmouth and the care of a new nonprofit group, Friends of Nobska Light.

A Monday afternoon ceremony was scheduled to transfer the key to the lighthouse from the U.S. Coast Guard to the town and the Friends of Nobska Light. U.S. Cong. William Keating and Coast Guard Capt. John Kondratowicz, commander of sector southeastern New England, were among those scheduled to give remarks, according to a press release from Friends of Nobska Light.

The white brick and iron lighthouse was built in 1876 and stands on rocky Nobska Point about 87 feet above the junction of Vineyard and Nantucket Sounds with Buzzards Bay. It is just to the east of the Steamship Authority terminal, and the tower’s light and fog horn can be seen and heard by Vineyarders from across the Sound.

The tower itself is 40 feet tall and has a fourth-order Fresnel lens that was manufactured in 1888. The U.S. Coast Guard long operated the lighthouse as an aid to navigation and used the two light keeper’s quarters as Coast Guard housing.

The first Nobska Point Light was built in 1828 as a wooden tower. The lighthouse is on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 2014 the Coast Guard decommissioned use of the lighthouse keepers’ quarters as Coast Guard housing, and started the process of turning over the landmark to another entity.

Four nonprofits — Falmouth Historical Society, Highfield Hall and Gardens, Woods Hole Historical Museum and Woods Hole Community Association — working with the town of Falmouth, joined together to form Friends of Nobska Light. The new nonprofit’s goal was keeping the lighthouse as part of the fabric of the community, according to a press release.

Friends of Nobska Light said it estimates a $600,000 to $800,000 price tag on deferred maintenance for the buildings and grounds, and is also raising a $4 million endowment for the property.

The nonprofit group will maintain the tower, the light keepers’ houses, and the grounds as an education resource. The Coast Guard will continue to maintain the light and the fog horn as aids to navigation.

The Nobska Light is the latest local lighthouse to find a new steward after being officially decommissioned by the U.S. Coast Guard. As part of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act, decommissioned lighthouses are offered at no cost to state or local governments or nonprofit organizations. In January 2014 the town of Edgartown took ownership of the Edgartown Light, and last winter Gay Head Light was handed over to the town of Aquinnah. The Martha’s Vineyard Museum has taken stewardship of both lighthouses.

For more information visit friendsofnobska.org.