Lighthouse could be moved to park

Tag : Hexagon Screw
MOBILE -- A proposal to move the Middle Bay Lighthouse about 15 miles toBattleship Memorial Park, restore it and put it on permanentdisplay could cost about $1 million.
The Alabama Lighthouse Association has proposed to move the123-year-old, storm-lashed lighthouse, according to Hal Pierce, oneof the association's founding members.
Pierce said the idea has the backing of the Battleship Commissionand will be brought before the Alabama Historical Commission onAug. 6 in Montgomery.
If moved, the wooden lighthouse could be better maintained andcould be seen by hundreds of thousands of visitors to the park,Pierce said.
The lighthouse was built in 1885 and sits in the Mobile ShipChannel. Shaped like a hexagon and placed on steel screw pilings,it was patterned after several lighthouses on Chesapeake Bay,according to lighthouse association literature.
Frank White, executive director of the Historical Commission, saidhe doesn't yet know the specific details of the proposal, but itsounds like a good idea. The commission has jurisdiction over thelighthouse.
Pierce expects to turn to the public for donations.
He said the project is expected to involve lifting the lighthouseby crane and taking it by barge to the park on the Mobile BayCauseway.
The largest expense would involve restoration of the lighthouse andsite preparation. Pierce doesn't yet have a timeline for completingthe project but hopes to have the structure moved to BattleshipPark by the end of the year.