Tag: catwalk

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End-of-season push

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Our volunteer team takes a break at the new Oil House Fire Pit as they wind up the 2019 season by adding almost half of the new footbridge railings.

A spate of good weather and a pile of friends helped push our unfinished summer project closer to the finish line.

Nine of us hauled out prefabbed railings and assembled almost half of them in a heroic end-of-season push. 

Now, as the Coast Guard keepers did before us, we can take a footbridge from Graves Light to the Oil House and back, instead of being at the mercy of the rocks and tides.

The summer-long restoration of the historic footbridge is close to complete thanks to Mark, Anna, Mike, Arron, Rich, Matt, Keeghan and Winston.

Looking good, guys! Tip o’ the cap you!

  • Installing the first half of the handrails for the new footbridge to the Oil House.
  • The day’s work is finished. Miss Cuddy I, who served as a cargo barge, faithfully waits at the pier.
  • The footbridge, facing the lighthouse and shed. Just a little more to go.
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Footbridge under reconstruction

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A wet and cold spring may appear to have slowed us down in these pictures, but in fact Graves Light Station has been gearing up for its biggest summer since 1905.

We are rebuilding the footbridge that joined the Oil House to the Lighthouse. The last footbridge, designed by the Army Corps of Engineers, was brought down in the massive “No Name” storm of 1991.

The new 130′ bridge is being built, top to bottom, of stainless steel. Like Graves Light and the “unsinkable” Miss Cuddy I, we reclaimed the stainless steel pilings from Uncle Sam. The bridge got permitted in April.

The lads at Nelson Metal Fabrication are shown here cutting and welding the parts of the bridge. Each piece is being hauled out on Miss Cuddy I, the 25-foot Defender-class former Coast Guard fast boat that took a severe beating (but didn’t sink) last year. We’re converting her into a construction barge to finish the Graves Light restoration and reconstruction.

Check out Nelson Metal’s website for examples of its previous work at Graves – including the bronze interior railings in the lamp room, and the re-purposing of bronze porthole cutouts as outdoor benches on the watch deck.

  • Nelson Metal Fabricators welds the new stainless steel footbridge to re-link Graves Light to the Oil House.
  • Re-purposed from the US government on the West Coast.
  • This stainless steel pipe will be a support of the Graves Light footbridge
  • An image of the original Army engineers’ plan for building the lighthouse and oil house on Graves Ledge, joined by a 90-foot elevated catwalk. (Photo courtesy of the Massachusetts Historical Society)
  • Progress in 1903: Workers’ quarters are linked by catwalk to the first section of Graves Light. (Photo courtesy of the Massachusetts Historical Society)
  • This postcard shows the original footbridge.
  • Caption: “Flash 2-2-2, Radius 16 miles. . . .”
  • Nice view of bridge. Anybody know what’s going on here?
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