Montauk Lighthouse Holiday Illumination Canceled for 2016

MONTAUK, NY — A beloved annual tradition will be missed in Montauk this year, as the the Lighthouse will remain dark this holiday season.

Last month, the Montauk Point Lighthouse Museum Committee announced that due to financial constraints, the Lighthouse Tower and Keepers dwelling would not be lit this year during 2016 holiday season.

Dick White, chair of the committee, said in a release that when the Montauk Point Lighthouse Museum Committee took over the Lighthouse in 1986, "We committed ourselves to the care and maintenance of the now 220 year old Long Island icon. We have significant ongoing and future costs ahead of us in repair and maintenance of not only the Lighthouse Tower and Museum, but the revetment holding up the bluff on which our beautiful beacon stands. The Montauk Lighthouse is a self-funding not for profit entity, relying solely on our wonderful patrons to support our site, tours and operations."

The annual cost to illuminate the Lighthouse for the holiday season is about $50,000, he said. "Our first responsibility is to the care and upkeep of 'The Light.'"

And although a last-ditch effort was made to save the lighting, so far, no one has stepped up with the necessary funding.

The committee said they would "wholeheartedly welcome a kind benefactor to step forward before November 1 with the amount necessary to pay for the lighting. If that should happen then the seven year tradition will continue."

The mariners beacon atop the Lighthouse tower, which has warned sailors since 1797, will remain lit.

Photo by Richard Lewin Professional Photography, soniboy@aol.com.