Project Title: Rehabilitate Monomoy Lighthouse (FFS #R5BB)

State: Massachusetts

Project Description: Nearly $1.5 million in Recovery Act funding will be used to repair a lighthouse and its outbuildings on Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. The project will restore the historic integrity and structural soundness of the lighthouse, its living quarters and oil shed, all of which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The improvements will provide a base of operations for Refuge staff and volunteers when they are conducting wildlife surveys and management activities on the refuge. The repairs will also provide the refuge with an opportunity to offer public access to the lighthouse for educational and scientific programs, according to Libby Herland, manager of the Eastern Massachusetts National Wildlife Refuge Complex. The programs open to the public include fishing, photography and wildlife observation.

The lighthouse is located on South Monomoy Island, the largest in a chain of sandy barrier islands that stretch eight miles from the Cape’s elbow and make up most of Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge. Most of the refuge is also a nationally designated wilderness area. Although the lighthouse station is itself not in the wilderness area, the Service tries to manage it with wilderness principles in mind. This poses a challenge for project managers because motorized vehicles may not be used to bring materials and people to the project site unless further analysis indicates that vehicles are the “minimum tool” necessary to get the work done.

The federal government last made significant repairs to the buildings in 1989. Since that time, weather damage and age have deteriorated the structures. The plaster roof of the keeper’s house, in particular, is leaking and needs to be fixed. Depending on the actual cost of materials and the labor, the project may include rehabilitating the lighthouse’s exterior, installation of solar and wind energy capability, improvements to the plumbing and ventilation systems, and other repairs.

Oak Point Associates, based in New England, has been contracted to prepare the architectural and engineering design for the project. The firm’s analysis will help determine the specific parameters of the project. Before any renovations begin, the plans will be reviewed and approved by the Massachusetts State Historic Preservation Officer.

The history of Monomoy Light

The original wooden lighthouse tower on Monomoy was built in 1823. It was upgraded a quarter century later to the cast-iron, brick-lined structure that stands today. In 1914, the completion of the Cape Cod Canal and the proximity of the more powerful Chatham Light and Nantucket Light rendered the Monomoy lighthouse obsolete. It was decommissioned in 1923.

In 1944, Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge was established to protect migratory birds and other coastal resources. The lighthouse and outbuildings were purchased by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from the Massachusetts Audubon Society in 1977.

For many years, the Monomoy lighthouse was a well-known landmark that guided sailors through the volatile seas off the Massachusetts coast. Before the Cape Cod Canal was finished in 1914, Monomoy was on the most convenient route for ships to reach southern New England. The light prevented sailors from getting stuck in the island’s shallows and sandbanks. More importantly, it saved many seafarers navigating through the rough currents known as “Pollock Rip.”

Monomoy’s civilian population greatly declined in 1961 after the island’s port was blocked off by a storm. While no permanent inhabitation occurred, there were a number of old fishing camps on the island. Most of these buildings were razed in the 1970s after most of the refuge was designated a National Wilderness Area by Congress in 1970.

The blizzard of February 1978 eroded the island dramatically, resulting in what is now known as North and South Monomoy Islands. Recently, gradual weather conditions have reconnected South Monomoy Island back to the mainland.

Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge

The refuge includes about 7,600 acres of lands and waters along an eight mile expanse on North Monomoy, South Monomoy and Morris Islands. The 1970 designation of most of the refuge as a national wilderness area limits the presence of humans and the impact they can have on the island’s fragile environment.

The refuge protects a significant coastal ecosystem preferred by many species of birds, including the federally protected piping plover and roseate tern. South Monomoy Island is home to what at times is the largest nesting colony of common terns on the Atlantic seaboard, averaging over 10,000 nesting pairs of terns in any given season. Monomoy Refuge is also a very important staging location for red knots, semi-palmated sandpipers, and short-billed dowitchers during fall migration.

Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge is one of eight refuges within the Eastern Massachusetts National Wildlife Refuge Complex.

Photos:

The cast-iron, brick-lined lighthouse tower has been standing since 1849, and saved passing ships from the violent seas of “Pollock Rip” for three quarters of a century.

Originally posted 10/28/2009