The tower on which the light stands, which seemed at a distance to be white, is in reality red, being made of pressed brick, and capped with freestone; it is forty feet high, and surmounted by an iron frame in which is set the glass of the outer lantern; through the centre passes a large circular iron shaft, on the top of which stands the cylinder containing the oil, and around which revolves the lantern itself.
The Martha’s Vineyard Museum has received a $109,040 grant to move the historic 1854 Gay Head Lighthouse Fresnel lens from Edgartown to Vineyard Haven.
The company that moved the Gay Head Light last year has outlined a major two-phase restoration project for the historic lighthouse, at a cost of about $1.3 million — more than triple the amount budgeted.
Notice to Mariners. - The new light at Gay Head will be exhibited at sunset on December 1st, 1856, and will be kept burning during every night thereafter from sunset to sunrise. The focal plane of the light is 43 feet above the ground and 170 feet above the level of the sea. The tower is of brick, colored brown, and stands about 12 feet from the centre of the rear of the dwelling houses, with which it is connected. The lantern is painted black. The dwelling houses are brick color.
Almost a year to the day after the Gay Head Light resumed its watch over Vineyard Sound and the waters south of Aquinnah, memories of its historic move are still fresh on the Island.
The Buffalo, N.Y., company that engineered the relocation of the Gay Head Light last spring will play a central role in restoring the brick tower in the coming years.
Mariners, the U.S. Coast Guard and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are updating their charts to account for the light’s relocation away from the eroding cliffs.
