Gay head cliffs

The Gay Head Cliffs are a national landmark. The beautiful, colorful layers of clay make up the cliffs. It has been said that fossil bones of whales, camels and wild horses have been found in the cliff layers. The Gay Head Lighthouse is perched atop the cliffs. It is the only working lighthouse on Martha’s Vineyard. In , Gay Head Cliffs were designated as a National Natural Landmark by the National Park Service.

[3] Aquinnah is celebrated as a center of Wampanoag culture and a center of pride and tradition among members of the federally recognized Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head. The Aquinnah Cliffs (formerly Gay Head) are stunning foot clay cliffs found on the western end of Martha’s Vineyard. They are a major tourist attraction as is the Gay Head Lighthouse located next door.

We found the Gay Head Cliffs to be one of the more beautiful natural areas of Martha's Vineyard. Not only are the cliffs themselves beautiful but the lighthouse is also quite interesting. The Gay Head Cliffs are a national landmark. The beautiful, colorful layers of clay make up the cliffs. Martha’s Vineyard’s westernmost tip features multicolored clay cliffs and the two-century-old Gay Head Light.

Park at the overlook and take in the commanding views of the clay bluffs and the surroundings, then visit the historic lighthouse nearby. Resources Calendar About. Gay Head, MA. Photo Gallery. Visitor Info.

Gay Head Lighthouse. The cliffs exhibit vivid hues of green, yellow, black, brown, red, and white and attract visitors from all over the world. The first European to name this natural feature was explorer Bartholomew Gosnold, who, when he sailed past in , called them Dover Cliffs after the famous chalky landmark along the English Channel. Woodcut depicting original Gay Head Lighthouse Photograph courtesy William Waterway The area around Gay Head has been home to Wampanoag Indians for thousands of years, and to this day many local residents are members of the tribe.

After a few years at Gay Head, Keeper Skiff felt he merited a pay increase and penned the following letter to Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury. The Spring of water in the edge of the Clift is not sufficient. I have carted almost the whole of the water used in my family during the last Summer and until this Month commenced, from nearly one mile distant. These impediments were neither known nor under Consideration at the time of fixing my Salary.

I humbly pray you to think of me, and if it shall be consistent with your wisdom increase my Salary. To supplement his income, Skiff farmed and taught school for the native Indians. Early in the nineteenth century, the tower at Gay Head was lowered fourteen feet to reduce the probability of its light being obscured in fog.

To be distinguishable from fixed lights in the area, the lighting apparatus at Gay Head was a revolving system of ten oil lamps each set in a fourteen-inch reflector. Keeper Ellis Skiff made the following statement as part of a report Lewis submitted to authorities: The chambers of my house are not lathed, plastered, or ceiled; and the house is not only cold and uncomfortable, but, from its elevated situation, likely to be blown down, as it shakes fearfully with every gale of wind.

There are no shutters to the windows, and the sand blows in at all the crevices. There is no well of water on the premises. The barn has become so rotten in the framing, that I hardly think it can stand through another winter. There is not cellar to my house, and the oil is therefore kept in the wooden tower. In winter, I am often obliged to cut the oil out of the butts solid, bring it to the house, and warm it, before it can be used in the lamps.

The distance from the house to the tower is sixty-four feet. During the heavy northwest snow storms that are common here in winter, it is difficult for me to get from one building to the other.

aquinnah wampanoag

My oil has been good. I am allowed a boat. There is no white population within four miles of this point, the neighbors being all colored or Indians, descendants of the Gay Head tribe. In , the tower was moved back from the edge of the eroding bluff about seventy-five feet, but the much-needed new lighthouse and dwelling for Gay Head were not provided until after the formation of the Lighthouse Board in Caleb King was contracted to build the new fifty-one-foot brick tower and brick dwelling , while the lens, winner of a gold medal at the Exposition Universelle of and containing 1, prisms, was purchased from the Parisian firm of Henry-Lepaute.

The new lens was placed in operation on December 1, , and panels of ruby-colored glass were installed in May to make every fourth flash red. Here we were surprised by a unique and splendid spectacle. The whole dome of heaven, from the centre to the horizon, was flecked with bars of misty light, revolving majestically on the axis of the tower.