Coast Guard Brings New Life to Lighthouse

The US Coast Guard has agreed to restore the original lens in a historic Florida lighthouse. The diamondlike lens is one of only eight clamshell-design Fresnel lenses still operating in the US.
The Coast Guard had planned to replace the 1907 lens with modern optics because of the relatively high cost of making the repairs, but the cost of removing the lens would have been significantly higher.
After the lens-turning mechanism broke in 1992, the Coast Guard erected a temporary beacon on a nearby railing while it decided whether the original lighthouse lens was worth repairing.