Historic beacon returning to Gay Head Light - The Martha's Vineyard Times

Going dark for 6 months, the historic light will return with its one-red-three-white pattern.

The Gay Head Light’s historic three-whites-and-a-red pattern, familiar to longtime Islanders, will be coming back brighter than before after an upcoming renovation project.

Over the next six months, however, no beacon will shine from the Aquinnah Cliffs, as the lighthouse will be closed, turned off, and its top temporarily removed during a renovation project.

The work starts Nov. 1, and will be conducted by International Chimney Corporation and Commonwealth Dynamics Incorporated, the same company that moved the lighthouse inland in summer 2015. The company will work on the lighthouse’s lantern deck and the curtain wall that contains the light apparatus.

The renovation project will cost roughly $1.4 million, with about $1 million of that covered by offshore wind company Ørsted. Aquinnah has also secured a $200,000 grant from the state Office of Travel and Tourism, and will be sourcing around $130,000 from Community Preservation Act funds. Around $50,000 will come from donations.

When news broke in March that the U.S. Coast Guard needed to upgrade the lighthouse’s beacon, Aquinnah town administrator Jeffrey Madison voiced support for including the original, historic beams of three whites and a red. The lighthouse currently alternates red and white.

Speaking to The Times on Tuesday, Madison credited the efforts of Senator Ed Markey’s office as instrumental in the return of the original pattern.

When the work is done, the Gay Head Light will have a new LED beacon. The renovation will also replace rusted iron and eroded concrete, though Madison said the lighthouse itself will look essentially the same after the project.