Nantucket Historical Commission Votes to Challenge Coast Guard's Brant Point Tower Replacement Plan

NANTUCKET — May 15, 2026 — Nantucket Historical Commission votes to oppose Coast Guard plan to replace 1908 Brant Point range lights with metal towers. The commission voted unanimously at its May 15 meeting to write a letter to the Massachusetts Historical Commission objecting to the U.S. Coast Guard's proposal to demolish the wooden range light towers at Brant Point Station — built in 1908 and listed as part of a National Historic Landmark — and replace them with standard 5-by-5 metal towers. Lieutenant Alan Beato told commissioners that engineering inspection found at least 50 percent of the timber elements have experienced major fungal decay, placing the plant replacement value of the rear tower at $3.5 million and the front at $1.2 million. Staff planner Holly Bacchus argued on the record that the towers are contributing resources under the local period of significance, which runs through 1975, and asked whether the Coast Guard had explored its own federal preservation funding channels. "Something that's more in keeping with the historic 1908 towers would be more appropriate," Chair Rita Carr said. The commission separately voted unanimously to find no adverse impact for a generator replacement at the rear of the Unitarian Universalist Church at 11 Orange Street, and agreed to develop historically grounded name suggestions for four buildings at the 64-unit Tacoma Green affordable housing project on Fairgrounds Road, where the site once hosted a sulky harness-racing track.