Edgartown Harbor Light - Rescued From Destruction

Rescued From Destruction

From 1939 through to the early 1980s, the automated Edgartown Harbor Light was maintained by the United States Coast Guard. Due to U. S. Coast Guard Congressional funding shortages through the 1970s and early 1980s, various lighthouses around the United States were destroyed or designated for destruction. Such designation was due to the high expense of maintaining the structures, and because the lights no longer served as vital aids to navigation. This obsolete status of the lighthouses was facilitated by enhanced satellite GPS and other electrical maritime navigation aids. Documentation of lighthouses destroyed in recent history is available from Lighthouse Digest, which maintains a record of destroyed lighthouses as well as a "Doomsday List" of threatened lights. According to the 2012 "Doomsday List" published by Lighthouse Digest, there are currently 43 lighthouses in the U.S. listed for destruction in the near future. Due to such funding shortages, the Edgartown Harbor Light and two other Martha's Vineyard lighthouses (Gay Head Light and East Chop Light) were designated for destruction by the federal government in the early 1980s. As in other similar lighthouse removal projects, the United States Coast Guard would dismantle or raze the existing lighthouse and oftentimes replace the light with a low-maintenance iron spindle structure top-mounted with a strobe light.

The three threatened lights on Martha's Vineyard were saved through federal petition and Congressional testimony by Vineyard Environmental Research, Institute's (VERI) founding board member and President, William Waterway Marks, and, Chair, John F. Bitzer, Jr. VERI was a nonprofit organization co-founded in 1984 by William Waterway Marks and Fairleigh S. Dickinson, Jr., to undertake cutting-edge environmental research of acid rain; sea-level rise; shellfish resources; coastal erosion; Great Pond, wetland, and barrier beach ecosystem dynamics, and aquifer (groundwater) protection. During and after the Congressional hearings, VERI's effort to save the island's three iconic lighthouses received support from Congressman Gerry Studds, and Senator Ted Kennedy. Shortly after the Congressional hearings, the United States Coast Guard issued a 35-year license for the three lights to VERI in 1985.

This was the first time in U.S. History that control of "active" lighthouses was transferred to a civilian organization. On similar note, this was the first time in the history of Martha's Vineyard that control of any of its five lighthouses was in the hands of an island organization. After receiving the lighthouse license, the Institute undertook a series of fundraising activities that engaged the community of Martha's Vineyard, including local supporters and celebrities such as co-founding board member, Fairleigh S. Dickinson, Jr., and board members, Jonathan Mayhew, whose whaling family ancestor's were the Vineyard's first European settlers; Vineyard Gazette co-owner, Jody Reston; philanthropist, Flipper Harris; Margaret K. Littlefield; the actress, Linda Kelsey; WHOI Director, Derek W. Spencer, and John F. Bitzer, Jr.. Speakers and performers appearing at these lighthouse events were renowned historian, David McCullough; Senator Ted Kennedy; Caroline Kennedy; Edward M. Kennedy, Jr.; Congressman Gerry Studds; singer/songwriter, Carly Simon; Kate Taylor; Livingston Taylor; Hugh Taylor; Dennis Miller from Saturday Night Live; Bill Styron's wife, Rose Styron - who read one of her original lighthouse poems; United States Navy Rear Admiral, Richard A. Bauman; renowned photographer, Alfred Eisenstaedt and comedian, Steve Sweeney. The proceeds from the lighthouse benefits were applied to a major restoration of the Edgartown Harbor Light. In 1988, the light's exterior was restored to its previous white-dressed elegance, and the dysfunctional double-barreled fog horn was removed. In 1990, the fourth-order Fresnel was replaced with a smaller red plastic lens, and the light was converted from grid electric power to solar power.