|
Thanks to U.S. Congressman Lee Zeldin, who secured $1.5 million worth of federal funds from the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, repairs will soon take place at the 1870 Plum Island Lighthouse on Gardner’s Bay, in Long Island Sound near Orient, New York.
The Congressman was also able to include language for the funding to prevent the lighthouse from ever being sold to the highest bidder at a government auction.
Because Congressman Zeldin’s office has not answered our inquiry, we have been unable to determine the scope of the repairs being done to the lighthouse.
The lighthouse was automated in 1978, and in 1981, its ownership was transferred to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which operates an animal disease research center on the island. Ever since then, the lighthouse has been off-limits to the public.
In late 1997, the lighthouse was threatened by erosion and, in 2000, a group named East End Lighthouses raised money to have 15,000 tons of rocks brought out to the island to build up the shoreline and stop further erosion.
This story appeared in the
Nov/Dec 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.
All contents copyright © 1995-2024 by Lighthouse Digest®, Inc. No story, photograph, or any other item on this website may be reprinted or reproduced without the express permission of Lighthouse Digest. For contact information, click here.
| 