Mathews increasing protection for lighthouse

Posted to: News Virginia
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The Associated Press
© July 13, 2010

MATHEWS

The nation's 10th-oldest lighthouse is being further protected from the Chesapeake Bay.

The state Department of Transportation awarded Mathews County $424,000 to help help stabilize the island around the historic New Point Comfort Lighthouse.

The signature lighthouse has stood as a sentinel at the mouth of Mobjack Bay since 1805 and sits on a quarter-acre wedge of land amid rising bay water. Builder Elzy Burroughs was appointed by President Thomas Jefferson to be the first keeper of the light.

A combination of age, storms and rising seas has left the historic structure vulnerable to ruin.

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