The town is the new owner of the old lighthouse, which has been perched a quarter mile out on the outer Edgartown harbor since 1939. The U.S. General Services Administration announced the transfer in ownership last week.
Congratulations, Edgartown! It’s a lighthouse.
The town is the new owner of the old lighthouse, which has been perched a quarter mile out on the outer Edgartown harbor since 1939.
The U.S. General Services Administration announced the transfer in ownership last Thursday, about a year and a half after the lighthouse was declared no longer mission critical to the Coast Guard.
As part of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act, decommissioned lighthouses are offered at no cost to state or local governments, nonprofit organizations, and historic preservation groups.
“Lighthouses are an important part of our national and regional heritage,” Robert Zarnetske, GSA regional administrator for New England, said in a press release. “Capable and passionate stewards like the Town of Edgartown help us ensure that these maritime treasures are preserved by assuming local control for their maintenance.”
Town administrator Pamela Dolby told the Edgartown selectmen Monday that the town now has the deed to the lighthouse.
The Martha’s Vineyard Museum will continue as stewards of the lighthouse, Mrs. Dolby said. “They’ve taken great care of the lighthouse and we don’t want to interrupt that.”
Martha’s Vineyard Museum director David Nathans said it will be business as usual at the lighthouse “with a local landlord.”
“We’re looking forward to it,” he said.
The town already owns the land surrounding the lighthouse. Mr. Nathans said the town now owns “the hole that was in the doughnut.”
The process of acquiring the lighthouse was a long one. After announcement that the lighthouse was surplus property in May 2012, the town signed off in January 2013 on an application to take stewardship of the beacon. The official transfer came this week.
The cost of the lighthouse was about $1, town administrator Mrs. Dolby said last year.
Last January, Mrs. Dolby said there were other parties interested in the lighthouse; another town expressed interest in taking the lighthouse and relocating it, and a group in Arkansas had wanted to take the lighthouse apart and bring it down to that state. Mrs. Dolby said that she believed the other parties backed out when Edgartown expressed their own desire to keep the lighthouse.
At town meeting last April, voters supported acquiring the lighthouse.
The original Edgartown lighthouse was built in 1828 and badly damaged in a 1938 hurricane. and was replaced with the Essex Light from Ipswich. The cast-iron lighthouse, built in 1875, was dismantled and shipped by barge to Edgartown. It has a granite foundation and stands approximately 45 feet tall.
The stones around the lighthouse are engraved with names as part of the Children’s Memorial.
While the fate of the Edgartown Lighthouse is secured, Aquinnah is in the process of acquiring the Gay Head Light, which was declared surplus property over the summer. That issue is more fraught; the cliff below the lighthouse is eroding and the lighthouse must soon be relocated.
Comments
Congrats to the Town of
Jeremy D'Entremont Portsmouth, NHCongrats to the Town of Edgartown and the hard working people at the Martha's Vineyard Museum! I need to point out an error in this story. It says, "The existing Edgartown lighthouse was built in 1828 and badly damaged in a 1938 hurricane. It was then replaced with the Essex Light from Ipswich. The cast iron lighthouse, built in 1875, was dismantled and shipped by barge to Edgartown."
What it should say is this: "The original Edgartown lighthouse was built in 1828 and badly damaged in a 1938 hurricane. It was then replaced with a lighthouse that had stood on Crane Beach in Ipswich. The cast-iron lighthouse, built in 1875, was dismantled and shipped by barge to Edgartown."
Yes. And for a history of
Bruce Stone EdgartownYes. And for a history of that prior incarnation and photos, I suggest going to http://www.newenglandlighthouses.net/ipswich-range-lights-history.html
Thanks for the correction,
EditorThanks for the correction, story has been updated.
Very glad to see that the
Kevin Omar Johnston, RIVery glad to see that the Town stepped up and the lighthouse will remain where it has been for many years.
Congratulations!
An interesting aside to this
Lightkeeper VHAn interesting aside to this story is that when moved to this location the lighthouse was fully in the harbor, surrounded by water. We often hear stories about the erosion of our beaches but here the process of accretion has produced new beachfront.
Thanks for this comment,
Mary Prada Dombrowski Allentown, PAThanks for this comment, Lightkeeper. I didn't know this, but it fits with a painting my family owns showing the Chappy Ferry slip and looking out to the harbor, and the harbor has a visible sand bar in it! You are so right about the process of accretion. While it is true that the islands are doomed to become sedimentary layers on the ocean floor out on the continental shelf, it is also true that a large part of eroded sediment becomes new beach elsewhere in the shorter term. I really appreciate this info about the Edgartown Lighthouse being in the water when the current structure was placed.
Congratulations! As a former
Thom Simmons Shelburne Falls, MACongratulations! As a former Vineyarder and current Historical Guide at Boston Light, you can't imagine how happy I am to know that this piece of Vineyard Maritime history will be preserved and cared for! Kudos to you!
To my surprise while
Tom Dunlop EdgartownTo my surprise while researching our special report on erosion, published in August, I learned that the Hurricane of 1938 didn't really do that much damage to the original 1828 lighthouse -- if any. It was in very poor condition and, according to contemporary reports in the Gazette, had already been condemned that summer, and I believe the last keeper and his family had moved out when the storm hit. The controversy about how to replace it -- either with a cast-iron tower or a proper lighthouse, if one could be found and moved to Edgartown -- was well underway when the Hurricane of 1938 struck on September 21. The only additional damage, apparently, occurred when a lighter (or barge) struck the concrete foundation of the lighthouse as the storm surge carried it to the outer harbor. The building and light were either little affected by the storm itself, or affected not at all. If we go by newspaper stories of the time, the fate of the original lighthouse was sealed before the hurricane struck.
It is reassuring to know the
Marion Morris Wash, DCIt is reassuring to know the lighthouse and its surrounding pavers memorializing children who died too soon will remain under the stewardship of the town and the Martha's Vineyard Museum. Our family has 4 memorial pavers there and for us, it is hallowed ground.
great news on the edgartown
robert nortongreat news on the edgartown liighthouse
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