The $3 million effort to move the Gay Head Lighthouse prevents it from tumbling down the rapidly eroding cliffside. Experts estimate that the lighthouse will now be safe for another hundred years.
On Martha's Vineyard, the 160-year-old Gay Head Lighthouse has been successfully moved away from an eroding cliff.
"From the earth-moving to the engineering, it represents months — if not years — of planning to get to this stage," he told WBUR.Workers had spent weeks painstakingly digging under the lighthouse to lift it a few short feet off the ground, using dozens of hydraulic jacks supported by a network of wood-and-steel beams.
Buddy Vanderhoop, a longtime charter fishing captain whose great uncle was the lighthouse's first keeper, was among a handful of locals on hand who observed the start of the move on Thursday. Paula Eisenberg, who has lived down the road from the lighthouse since 2002, said the beacon has been a comforting and treasured part of her time on the island.
"It's pretty cool. I thought it would take a lot of time, maybe a couple of weeks," 9-year-old Yossi Monahan said.
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