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Historic Gay Head Lighthouse completes 135-foot move

Workers move the Gay Head Lighthouse about 50 feet from its original footing (at center between the rails) in Aquinnah, Mass., on the island of Martha's Vineyard, Thursday, May 28, 2015. The 160-year-old lighthouse started its gradual 135-foot march to a new home slightly further inland. The $3.4 million effort to move and save the structure was due to fear that it could tumble down a rapidly-eroding cliffside. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) Workers move the Gay Head Lighthouse about 50 feet from its original footing (at center between the rails) in Aquinnah, Mass., on the island of Martha's Vineyard, Thursday, May 28, 2015. The 160-year-old lighthouse started its gradual 135-foot march to a new home slightly further inland. The $3.4 million effort to move and save the structure was due to fear that it could tumble down a rapidly-eroding cliffside. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

By Associated Press May 30, 2015 1 min read

AQUINNAH, Mass. (AP) – A historic Martha’s Vineyard lighthouse has arrived at its new location after a painstaking 135-foot move from the edge of an eroding cliff.

Richard Pomroy, manager of the relocation project, says the 160-year-old Gay Head Light landed on its new location at 11:10 a.m. Saturday and lined up “beautifully dead center” on a concrete pad.

The journey on steel rails began Thursday. Pomroy says a Dixieland band played at the champagne christening for hundreds of spectators at the finish line.

The next phase begins Wednesday when a new foundation will be started.

Pomroy says it’s hoped the beacon on the 400-ton, 52-foot-tall brick lighthouse will be relit in July.

The lighthouse sits near brightly colored cliffs at the western edge of the resort island that was once a whaling center.