Past + Present

In 1801 the Second United States Congress authorized the construction of the New Point Comfort Lighthouse located in Mathews County in the Chesapeake Bay. There were multiple structures constructed beside the lighthouse on a 250-acre island. The lighthouse began operating January 17, 1805 and was damaged during the Civil War in 1812. The lighthouse was repaired and continued operations until 1962. Unfortunately, the other structures and the island do not exist due to hurricanes and storms, but the lighthouse is still standing. In 2001 the New Point Comfort Lighthouse Preservation Task Force was formed to develop a plan to preserve and restore the national treasure.

Importance of Restoration + Preservation

The lighthouse has survived many environmental disasters and abandonment, but it stands as a reminder of the nation’s first efforts to establish commerce during Thomas Jefferson’s presidency. The two-phased effort was developed and planned by the Preservation Task Force. Phase 1 was the construction of a new rock revetment to safeguard the lighthouse. Phase 2 was the design and construction to restore and preserve the lighthouse. The task force, engineers, and design team took immediate action to rescue this national treasure.

VIA’s Contribution to the National Treasure

The design and construction team brought forward a complete restoration of the existing Lighthouse including the installation of scaffolding, sandstone repairs, masonry repairs, replacements of windows and doors, repairs to gallery catwalk, repairs to lantern room, foundation repairs, waterproofing, installation of solar panels and other electrical work, remediation of asbestos and lead, and installation of site signage. 

Implementation of the work posed three difficulty milestones for the builder. The first was getting equipment, supplies and people to the Island.  The second was the erection of a scaffolding system needed to be able to perform the work required by the project documents. The Third and greatest obstacle was the ability to bring the 16K Pound Top down to the ground to restore it. Through much collaboration, ideas rendered solutions such as large barges and elaborate cranes, helicopter crane, and even use of snorkel lifts. The final vision became, “We need to reconstruct this structure the same fashion that it was built by.” At the time of Thomas Jefferson, there were no Helicopters, Large Barges with Cranes or Snorkel Lifts. They simply used scaffolding with pullies and erected the structure as it stands today.

Utilizing today’s technology, the First Milestone was decided to be conquered using a series of Metal Spuds aligned in a way to support a landing which in turn supported a bridge to load Equipment, Supplies and Workers onto the island.

Milestone Challenge Two was a challenging task as Hurricane Season did not allow for many working days 85 feet above sea level. The scaffolding innovations and design techniques made it possible to build on such a small site footprint.

Milestone Three, dismantling, removal, and ever so gently lowering the Lighthouse top to the ground 68 feet was a success. This third and most complex milestone could not have been accomplished without a total team approach.

In addition to the completion of the Third Milestone, the project progressed with the paint and lead removal from the interior of the structure as well as 30% of the exterior surfaces. Grinding out of all the interior joints as well as demolition and dismantling of the brick walls.