A beacon familiar to Island travelers is changing hands after about 200 years of government management. 

The Friends of Nobska Light will be taking ownership of the Nobska Lighthouse in Woods Hole and hopes to create a maritime museum there, the nonprofit said last week. 

The 40-foot white lighthouse near the Steamship terminal was owned by the U.S. Coast Guard, but the friends group had been stewards of the lighthouse and the keeper’s quarters on the property for the last decade. 

In 2023, the Coast Guard announced it planned to relinquish ownership of the four-acre property, and put a call out to interested parties. 

The friends group learned on Thursday that it had been selected by the Department of Interior to receive the deed, said Kathy Walrath, the president of the Friends of Nobska Light. The property, which also has two other small buildings on it, will be transferred to the group in the next three months.

The Nobska Lighthouse has served as a navigational aid since the 1800s. The first lighthouse on Nobska Point was built in 1829, but started crumbling under its own weight. The tower that stands there today was added in 1876, made of cast iron to support the weight of the light and its Fresnel lens. 

Though electronic navigation aids have become more prominent, eschewing the need for the Coast Guard to operate the lighthouse, the light continues to serve as a marker for people traveling through the area, according to Ms. Walrath.

“There’s images, photos and paintings of the Vineyard Sound filled with sails and ships. It was like a highway, it was like 95 out on the water,” she said. “We have GPS and all that now, but the sight of the lighthouse, the fog horn going off, are always reassuring to boaters in our area.”

The Coast Guard will continue to have access to the light and fog horn once Friends takes over ownership.

The Friends of Nobska Light will continue to maintain the site and provide education on lighthouse and maritime history. Ms. Walrath said that the group plans to open a maritime history museum in the light keeper’s house, but that there is a lot of planning and work ahead of them.

“It’s a very important part of history that supported commerce, provided safety to mariners,” Ms. Walrath said. “It’s a big  part of history to both of our shores.”