Gay Head Light Renovations Underway

Gay Head Light, photo by Tom Richardson.

The town of Chilmark, MA, on Martha’s Vineyard has launched a six-month project to renovate the Gay Head Lighthouse’s lantern room, install a new LED lantern bulb, and restore the flash pattern formerly issued by the original Fresnel lens when the lighthouse was built in 1856. That pattern—three white flashes followed by a red flash—was used until 1989, when the lantern was replaced with a halogen lamp that projected alternating white and red flashes.

In addition, the renovation work will include replacement or the windows surrounding the light (aka, the “curtain wall”) and repairing the lantern deck.