Historic Gay Head lighthouse on Massachusetts island is to be relocated to prevent the 160-year-old structure from tumbling down cliffside

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

A lighthouse on the Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard, among the most endangered historic landmarks in the US, is to begin a trek to a new home further inland.

The $3m project to move the Gay Head Lighthouse will prevent the 160-year-old structure from tumbling down the rapidly eroding cliffside.

The beacon was a critical waypoint for mariners navigating the sometimes foggy coastline during the heyday of the whaling trade, which was centred on Massachusetts communities such as Martha’s Vineyard during the 1800s.

Today it is a popular tourist destination on the sparsely populated western edge of the famous resort island, which also is home to the federally recognised Aquinnah Wampanoag tribe.

The lighthouse move was due to start on 10 June but was brought forward because of favourable weather and faster-than-expected site preparation work.

Crews already have hoisted the 400-tonne brick-and-mortar lighthouse about six feet off the ground and placed it on a wood and steel frame ready for the move. Over the next two days, the 52ft structure will be nudged along a network of steel beams and rollers by hydraulic jacks.

If all goes as planned, it will arrive at its destination, a concrete pad about 129ft (39 metres) south-east on Saturday.

Advocates say moving the lighthouse has become more urgent in recent years because constant landslides, pummelling ocean waves and flowing groundwater have eroded the brilliantly coloured Gay Head cliffs, often at a rate of several feet a year.

The lighthouse is now just 46ft from the clay and sandstone cliff edge. Within two years, advocates feared, it would have been too close to the edge to move safely.