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The National Trust for Historic Preservation has declared all of Massachusetts Boston Harbor Islands as one of the 11 Most Endangered Places in 2021. This includes the historic Boston Harbor Light Station on Little Brewster Island, which the Coast Guard relinquished ownership of in 2020.
The National Trust’s press release stated, “Storm surges, which are intensifying due to climate change and sea level rise, are causing accelerated coastal erosion resulting in the escalated loss of archeological sites and other historic resources. Protecting these sites before their stories are lost requires greater public attention, funding for mitigation efforts and archeological studies, and strategies to document and protect historic and natural resources from climate-related storm surges.”
While this statement may apply to other sites within the Boston Harbor Islands, and, other than storm damage and surges that have occurred at Boston Light since it was built in 1783, it fails to mention the abandonment of the light station buildings by the Coast Guard. This neglect of constant care has placed the historic structures in danger, which, in our opinion, is an indirect as well as direct result of the government’s incompetent bureaucracy, not only the United States Coast Guard, but also of the Department of the Interior’s National Park Service.
This story appeared in the
Mar/Apr 2022 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. The print edition contains more stories than our internet edition, and each story generally contains more photographs - often many more - in the print edition. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.
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