Every time I visit the Montauk Lighthouse I am impressed: not by the architecture or vistas but by the history of its rescue from severe erosion on the bluff on which it stands. It was not the Army Corp of Engineers, the Coast Guard or even the Town of East Hampton that saved the bluff, and so the lighthouse, from eroding into the Atlantic. It was one woman: Giorgina Reid (ok maybe also her husband Donald).

Much is written on the history of the lighthouse. And rightly so. It is one of the oldest in the country – commissioned by our first President George Washington. But its advantageous position proved to be disasterous as the bluff lost about a foot a year of sand. After almost 200 years, in the mid 1960s the lighthouse was very near the edge. Originally, the lighthouse was under the watch of the U.S. Coast Guard. With the erosion and imminent fall of the lighthouse, the Army Corps of Engineers was called in to make repairs. However, neither they nor the Coast Guard were able or willing to provide any suitable fix for the crumbling bluff. At first, they placed the gigantic boulders which you now see all around the base of the cliff (technically a stone revetment) to lessen the impact of the waves. But the sand continued to slide down into the sea through the rocks. Both the Coast Guard and Army Corps of Engineers prepared to let the light house go… maybe even secretly.  In fact it was one of Dan’s Paper’s first issues in 1967  – uncovering and protesting the plan to replace the lighthouse with a giant steel structure farther from the bluff.

By 1970 Giorgina Reid had already been perfecting her natural anti-erosion terracing system. In fact, she had it patented and wrote a book on the successes she had implementing her system using marsh reeds, beach grass and terraces at her home on top of famous Reeves Bluff over the Long Island Sound in Riverhead. When she heard about the predicament in Montauk, she approached the Coast Guard with her anti-erosion method.

They dismissed her at first. But she was far too dedicated to give up. She forwarded her proposal, her book, and her patent to the Coast Guard. This finally got their attention and after signing waivers and agreeing to do the work themselves, in 1970 and for the next twenty years Giorgina and her husband drove out and built the terraces and planted the beach grass that has held the bluff in place ever since.

For good or bad, the future of the beaches, dunes and bluffs still very much lie in the hands of individuals. Homeowners pay to have the beaches replenished, drive snow-fencing into the dunes to hold back erosion and at times become political and sue when the towns, Army Corps of Engineers or other individuals negligently mistreat the beaches. And when all else fails they make movies (hey it’s still the east end).

You can read Giorgina’s own account of the story here. And Dan Rattiner’s (of Dan’s Paper) account of the political side of saving the lighthouse and its transfer from the Coast Guard to the Montauk Historical Society here. For more information on the causes of erosion at the Montauk Lighthouse I recommend going here or for a more comprehensive (and not too technical) overview of the big-picture erosion problem on eastern long island go here.