Cape Cod National Seashore Superintendent Brian Carlstrom has announced that historic Highland Lighthouse in North Truro, Massachusetts, will undergo an extensive rehabilitation beginning in late fall 2018.
After the lighthouse closes at the end of this season on October 21, it will remain closed through 2019. This will be the first major rehabilitation project at the lighthouse since the Coast Guard conveyed it to the National Park Service in 1998.
Recent deterioration of the lighthouse tower has been caused by excessive moisture caused by changes to the tower’s ventilation system. When the tower was moved back from the edge of an eroding bluff in 1996, air spaces between the masonry walls were filled with a rigid cement-like material to provide stability during the move. Non-breathable coatings added to the exterior also contributed to the deterioration of the masonry and corrosion of metal components.
Visit www.highlandlighthouse.org for tour hours and more information on visitation.
This information is from a story in Cape Cod Today.
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Candace was the US Lighthouse Society historian from 2016 until she passed away in August 2018. For 30 years, her work involved lighthouse history. She worked with the National Park Service and the Council of American Maritime Museums. She was a noted author and was considered the most knowledgable person on lighthouse information at the National Archives. Books by Candace Clifford include: Women who Kept the Lights: a History of Thirty-eight Female Lighthouse Keepers , Mind the Light Katie, and Maine Lighthouses, Documentation of their Past.