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
Crowds gathered Thursday to watch the Gay Head Light move slowly away from eroding cliffs.
As the Gay Head Light slowly moves to its new location, the public will be invited to witness the progress on Saturday.
Just before noon on Thursday, the Gay Head Light departed the spot where it has stood for 159 years. The Island’s oldest lighthouse is now slowly headed for its new home about 175 feet from the eroding clay cliffs.
The Gay Head Light move is now expected to begin around mid-day Thursday, project managers for the relocation project said today. Favorable soil and weather conditions and the fine-tuned coordination of contractors working at the site has put the project well ahead of schedule.
About 3,500 tons of soil, boulders and clay have been removed from around the Gay Head Light and its new location 129 feet to the east. Contractors are now working to install steel beams underneath the lighthouse. The move is expected to begin in early June.
With the Gay Head Light relocation project under way and temporary parking rules in place at Aquinnah Circle, shop owners at the cliffs are hoping to weather the changes and eventually to benefit from the publicity surrounding the move.
