Gay Head Lighthoe story airs Wednday on ‘Nova’ - The Martha's Veyard Tim

Contents:

• HISTORIC GAY HEAD LIGHTHOE ON THE MOVE
• GAY HEAD LIGHTHOE MOVE IS PLETE
• GAY HEAD LIGHTHOE MOVE IS PLETE — MV TIM
• HISTORIC GAY HEAD LIGHTHOE ON MARTHA'S VEYARD MOVED INLAND
• MEET THE BUILR WHO IS MOVG THE HISTORIC GAY HEAD LIGHTHOE
• GAY HEAD LIGHTHOE IS ON THE MOVE – WEBM
• GAY HEAD LIGHTHOE ON MARTHA'S VEYARD IS BEG MOVED
• MOVG THE GAY HEAD LIGHTHOE
• GAY HEAD LIGHTHOE STORY AIRS WEDNDAY ON ‘NOVA’

HISTORIC GAY HEAD LIGHTHOE ON THE MOVE

The Gay Head Lighthoe on Martha's Veyard was threatened by years of erosn. Prerly perched Gay Head Lighthoe is on the move Martha’s Veyard. “The lighthoe is immediate danger of topplg over the edge of the Gay Head Cliffs, a nsequence of a century of erosn and the direct impact of climate change, ” the Natnal Tst for Historic Prervatn’s webse said s listg of the 1854 lighthoe on s 2013 list of the Most Endangered Historic Plac.

GAY HEAD LIGHTHOE MOVE IS PLETE

Before started movg, the lighthoe was jt 46 feet om the edge of Gay Head Cliffs. “The Gay Head Lighthoe is really one of the inic landmarks that intifi this island. Coast Guard and will still functn as a bean to marers after s move, acrdg to a Gay Head Lighthoe webse operated by a mtee anized to save the historic stcture.

In 1856, Gay Head was one of the first lightho the Uned Stat to receive a Frnel lens, acrdg to the Natnal Tst for Historic Prervatn.

On Saturday, the Gay Head Light reached s fal stop on a 129-foot journey back om the se had occupied sce 1844, and which after more than a century of erosn was prerly close to the edge of the cliff. Another challengg nsiratn was the social, enomic, and staable velopment of the Gay Head Lighthoe project. The Gay Head Cliffs and surroundg lands have a sacred anctral and signifint cultural importance to the Wampanoag Tribe.

GAY HEAD LIGHTHOE MOVE IS PLETE — MV TIM

After 2-1/2 days, the Gay Head Lighthoe was succsfully moved a distance of 129 feet away om the erodg cliff and onto s new foundatn, 12 days ahead of schle.

The Gay Head Cliffs and surroundg lands, which are owned by the native Wampanoag Tribe, did not experience any adverse damage durg the relotn. Workers movg the Gay Head Lighthoe, which settled to s new lotn Saturday, May 30, 2015. (Charl Kpa/AP)On Martha's Veyard, the 160-year-old Gay Head Lighthoe has been succsfully moved away om an erodg Saturday afternoon, workers fished movg the lighthoe farther land along steel rails g powerful hydrlic pistons.

Experts believe Gay Head Lighthoe will now be safe for another hundred years.

HISTORIC GAY HEAD LIGHTHOE ON MARTHA'S VEYARD MOVED INLAND

Loted on the sparsely populated, wtern edge of the rort island, Gay Head Light has been a cril waypot for marers sce the peak of the whalg tra the 19th Head Light flash a whe signal on Oct. "View om unrneath the Gay Head Lighthoe on Martha's Veyard, which pleted s move land Saturday, May 30, 2015. Chewg a cheap cigar atop an old bulldozer, Jerry Matyiko is at work his office — the stunng, lorful and rapidly erodg cliffs of Gay Head on Martha’s Veyard.

Matyiko is town to rcue a lol 68-year-old Navy veteran mov stuff — like airport termals and multistory office buildgs — and he has e to the Veyard to save the red brick Gay Head Light built 1856, a scenic attractn and still a functnal bean for sailors.

He builds a work of giant steel beams unrneath and sends the stctur down tw rails — travelg on rollers only feet an the Gay Head lighthoe starts movg, will take two or three days to go 134 feet — a statn termed to safeguard s stabily for a mimum of another 150 Matyiko (center), who learned the craft of movg massive objects om his father, took measurements at the 460-ton brick lighthoe. Stt Eisen/Bloomberg via Getty Imag/Bloomberg via Getty ImagThe current Gay Head Light replaced the first one built 1799 and is the only lighthoe the natn wh a history of Native Amerin lighthoe keepers. A lol group lled Save the Gay Head Lighthoe has so far raised $3 ln and needs another $400, 000 to plete the project.

MEET THE BUILR WHO IS MOVG THE HISTORIC GAY HEAD LIGHTHOE

No other twosome has more experience wh brick lightho like Gay agile than those ma of st iron or grane blocks, brick lightho need specialized re, acrdg to Richard Pomroy, project manager who ns his own Massachetts engeerg of Matyiko’s strengths is the abily to change his game plan as ndns change, Pomroy said. “He has the great abily to go by the seat of his pants if he has to, ” he Matyiko of Expert Hoe Movers of Maryland (right) nducted prep work at Gay Head Light.

GAY HEAD LIGHTHOE IS ON THE MOVE – WEBM

The procs n take days or even step at Gay Head: get unr the lighthoe wh a first set of steel H beams. He moved Cape Hatteras Light North Carola 1999, and Sankaty Head Lighthoe on Nantucket on the job se at Gay Head, Matyiko moved the first giant girr last Friday.

Began to move the Gay Head Lighthoe back om the lotn has occupied for more than a century. Click here for the Save the Gay Head Light mtee webm. Thursday morng, wh the inic Gay Head Lighthoe the background, a crowd that clud Island rints, visors, and reporters gathered on the platform that will be s fal statn after s three day journey.

Project lears plan to open the Gay Head Lighthoe to the public by July, when they said there would be a ceremony to celebrate the project.

GAY HEAD LIGHTHOE ON MARTHA'S VEYARD IS BEG MOVED

Gay Head Light is supported by a grid of I-beams unr two 24-ch layers of grane that unrp the lighthoe. Unlike many other lightho, Gay Head Light is not obsolete.

For more than 200 years, the Gay Head Lighthoe has provid a wele bean to marers the waters off the wt end of Martha’s Veyard. Gay Head Light was tablished 1799, and nsisted of a keeper’s dwellg and an octagonal tower, which guid marers past Devil’s Bridge, a dangero rock ledge that extends out to the northwt om the cliffs, and prents a hazard at the wt entrance to Veyard Sound.

In 1796, Peleg Coff of Nantucket wrote to his ngrsman Washgton, requtg a lighthoe at Gay Head for “the nvenience and tert of Nantucket. In 1852, a Lighthoe Board report listed Gay Head Light as one of the most important lightho on the Atlantic Coast due to the amount of mare traffic that passed beneath s gaze. Bee of s strategic lotn, Gay Head Light received one of the first Frnel lens the Uned Stat 1854.

MOVG THE GAY HEAD LIGHTHOE

On May 15, 1874, the light was changed om jt “flashg whe” to “three wh and one red” to distguish Gay Head and elimate nfn wh any other flash. 5, 2013, Aqunah voters agreed to purchase the Gay Head Lighthoe and iate the procs to prerve, rtore, and relote . The Save the Gay Head Light Commtee set about raisg the timated st of $3 ln need to move the stcture to a more stable lotn.

Secretary of the Interr Secretary Sally Jewell agreed to transfer ownership of the Gay Head Light om the feral ernment to the town of Aqunah. — An inic lighthoe on Martha's Veyard is set to beg a multi-day trek to a new home farther $3 ln effort to move the Gay Head Lighthoe, among the most endangered historic landmarks the U. S., would prevent the 160-year-old stcture om tumblg down the rapidly-erodg bean was a cril waypot for marers navigatg the sometim foggy astle durg the heyday of the whalg tra, which was centered around southeastern Massachetts muni like Martha's Veyard durg the 19th, 's a popular tourist statn on the sparsely populated wtern edge of the famo rort island, which also is home to the ferally-regnized Aqunah Wampanoag Gay Head Lighthoe stands on Martha's Veyard Aqunah, Eisen / Bloomberg via Getty ImagThe lighthoe move had been slated to start June 10 but was phed up to Thursday bee of favorable weather and faster-than-expected se preparatn already have hoisted the 400-ton brick-and-mortar lighthoe about six feet off the ground and placed on a wood-and-steel ame ready for the move.

Perched atop strikg, multi-lored cliffs at the wtern end of Martha�s Veyard, Gay Head Lighthoe occupi a picture-perfect lotn. This name, however, failed to stick, and by the 1660s, the area beme monly known as Gay Head, due to the headland�s gaily-lored cliffs. The area around Gay Head has been home to Wampanoag Indians for thoands of years, and to this day many lol rints are members of the tribe.

GAY HEAD LIGHTHOE STORY AIRS WEDNDAY ON ‘NOVA’

In 1998, the town neart the lighthoe changed s name om Gay Head to Aqunah, which is Wampanoag for �end of the island.