Aquinnah works with other island towns to move threatened lighthouse

In late February, Aquinnah, with help from the five other Martha’s Vineyard towns, acquired a lighthouse that is threatened by erosion.

The project involves moving the 160-year-old Gay Head Light, the base of which is within 16 feet of the bluff, to a site about 200 feet inland. The lighthouse is scheduled to be moved in May.

The arrangement is unusual in that the federal government stipulated that the lighthouse must continue to be functional, according to Aquinnah Town Administrator Adam Wilson.

Wilson said that the acquisition became more practical as a result of recent changes to the Community Preservation Act. One amendment made it easier to use CPA funds for open-space projects. Another allowed communities to apply as a regional entity.

Each of the other five towns on the island – Chilmark, Edgartown, Oak Bluffs, Tisbury and West Tisbury – also allocated money toward saving the lighthouse, in amounts ranging from about $70,000 to $120,000, according to Wilson.

“It did take a lot of cooperation,” he said. “We had to simultaneously start raising money while we were going through the acquisition process.”

Overall fund raising, including approximately $500,000 in CPA money, totaled roughly $3 million. Fund-raising efforts included a benefit concert by country singer Roseanne Cash as well as grants from the Massachusetts Arts Council and the Permanent Endowment for Martha’s Vineyard.

If nothing were done to save the lighthouse, it would be lost within 20 to 25 years, Wilson estimated.

Meeting the protocols created by the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000 was a challenge, he said. The application for taking responsibility for the lighthouse was 278 pages.

Among the many entities involved in facilitating the transaction were the U.S. Interior Department, General Services Administration, Coast Guard, and Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, as well as the Massachusetts Historical Commission and the Wampanoag tribe.