Select Board discusses future of Ned’s Point Lighthouse
MATTAPOISETT — The fate of the Ned’s Point Lighthouse was once again on the table at a Feb. 28 meeting of the Mattapoisett Select Board.
According to Mattapoisett Town Administrator Mike Lorenco, the possibility of the town obtaining Ned’s Point Lighthouse could appear as a warrant article at Town Meeting.
“I don’t know how [this] would work in terms of a warrant article or how we could obtain it,” said Lorenco. “I put this on here as something we may have to look at.”
Flotilla 67 of the United States Coast Guard currently owns the lighthouse after acquiring it in 1993. In 2019, the lighthouse reopened for public tours.
Mattapoisett Select Board member Jordan Collyer said that it could be as simple as having “a vote to accept the structure on the property we already own.”
Giglia says that anyone who wanted to buy or lease the lighthouse would have to go through a “complicated process” with the Flotilla and “through Washington.”
According to Collyer, the only way to preserve the lighthouse is to “take it into our own control and just deal with it.”
This means that the town would take over maintenance of the lighthouse and the costs that would bring.
“The Coast Guard isn’t going to spend any money on it,” said Collyer. “So we either let it fall into disrepair or the town takes it and we leverage community preservation or seed grants which are available.”
Collyer noted that the lighthouse — which is still operational and in use — is a historic structure and could qualify for historic preservation grants.
Last year, The Friends of Ned’s Point Lighthouse started fundraising for the building’s restoration.
According to Giglia, who is also a member of the Friends of Ned’s Point Lighthouse, he wants to restore it once and restore it right – which he said will cost about $290,000.
“We can’t let it just crumble to the Earth and be nothing,” said Mattapoisett Select Board member Jodi Bauer.
