With the summer season picking up, managers for the Gay Head Light relocation project hope to have the site mostly restored by the Fourth of July. About half the excavated soil has been returned to the site and a new concrete-block foundation is nearly complete.
On May 30, the lighthouse came to rest about six feet above a large concrete pad, well east of the eroding Gay Head cliffs. A network of steel beams beneath the lighthouse was removed this week, leaving the 400-ton structure resting entirely on its new foundation.
Joe Scarfone, a project manager for International Chimney of Buffalo, N.Y., expected the remaining blockwork to be completed Monday, with workers filling in the spaces left by the beams. Eventually, he said, the space within the foundation will be filled with sand and gravel which will support a new concrete floor.
A large column now connects the central column of the lighthouse to the concrete pad below.
Once the new foundation is complete, two cables wrapped tightly around the granite base of the lighthouse will be removed. A wooden corset supporting the top of the lighthouse has already been removed. Mr. Scarfone said there was no indication that the original granite blocks had shifted during the project. “Normally, if they did you’d see a little hairline crack,” he said. “There is absolutely nothing. So it has worked out really well.”
Also on Monday workers are expected to begin pouring the remainder of a curved retaining wall that will surround most of the lighthouse. General manager Richard Pomroy said the wall had been left unfinished to allow for public viewing during the move. Most of the wall, along with the new foundation, will be covered when the excavated soil is returned to the site.
Mr. Pomroy hopes to see all the soil returned by July 2, and the site largely restored by July 4. “It’s going to be a very concentrated effort the week of [June] 29,” he said. John Keene Excavation of West Tisbury, which has already restored all of the clay west of the lighthouse, is the primary contractor for that portion of the project.
The removal of about 2,000 tons of clay from the town parking lot at the bottom of Aquinnah Circle, where it was being stored, has freed up about 20 parking spots. A large portion of the field within the Circle has been fenced off for additional parking. Beginning last weekend, all the spots will require a $10 fee with no time limit.
Aquinnah police chief Randhi Belain said Friday that the town would likely begin enforcing the one-hour time limit for the spots at the top of the Circle over the weekend. Ten residential spots at the bottom of the Circle are currently open to the public.
The path leading from the town lot to Moshup Beach has been closed, and foot traffic is being redirected to a path that begins at the Aquinnah Cultural Center. Both paths are usually open to the public. Once the remaining soil is removed from the town lot, parking and beach access will return to normal, Mr. Belain said.
As a nod to future generations, the Gay Head lighthouse committee is working to collect items for a time capsule that will be sealed within the lighthouse when it reopens. Suggested items, as posted on the committee’s Facebook page, include a brass ring, photos from weddings performed at the lighthouse, seeds, recipes and this year’s Aquinnah Shop T-shirt.
Mr. Pomroy hopes the lighthouse will reopen by the end of July. “But it will depend on landscaping and getting the area stabilized,” he said. On Friday, workers from Landscope Inc. of Edgartown were laying grass mats and installing a split-rail fence near the edge of the cliff. Landscaping will likely resume in July, after the excavators have left the site, Mr. Pomroy said.
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