#southeast light

[shanebonzak]

[blockislandlove]

Block Island Love

[blockislandlove]

Block Island Love

[blockislandlove]

Block Island Love

[enginehouse]

[onceuponawildflower]

1991-negatives-red_folder_53-11 by Paul-W on Flickr.

[sailinggurl]

Southeast Light - A Lighthouse on the move!

Construction on the lighthouse began in 1874, after Congress and President Ulysses S. Grant approved $75,000 in funding for the project 2 years prior. Construction was completed in 1875 by T.H. Tynan of Staten Island.[4] The original station was built in the Victorian Gothicstyle with a 67 feet (20 m) tall octagonal light tower. Connected to the tower is a 2- 1/2 story keepers residence.

The station includes a first-order Fresnel lens that has a focal plane[4] 52.5 feet (16 m) above ground (258 feet (79 m) above sea level). The tower originally contained a white light until 1929, when it was replaced with a green light with a range of 22 miles (35 km). This light was 12 feet (4 m) high by 6 feet (2 m) wide and stayed in service until 1990, when it was replaced by the United States Coast Guard over environmental concerns stemming from its use of mercury. In 1994 the Coast Guard agreed to relight the lighthouse and relocated the lens in the Cape Lookout Lighthouse in North Carolina to the Southeast Lighthouse. The lens is flashed every five seconds.

The Mohegan Bluffs have suffered continuous erosion, and the edge of the cliff gradually approached the established site of Block Island Southeast Light. The lighthouse was originally placed 300 feet (91 m) from the edge of the Mohegan Bluffs, but in 1993 was moved back 360 feet (110 m) because the bluffs had eroded roughly 250 feet (76 m)[4].