Boston floating lighthouse will briefly power up its beacon

BOSTON — A floating lighthouse in Boston is briefly powering up its 500,000-candlepower beacon.

The Nantucket Lightship is marking the light's recent restoration as well as National Lighthouse Day during a celebration at its berth at the Boston Harbor Shipyard & Marina on Sunday.

The beacon underwent major repairs last year.

The main beacon will be lit for about 15 minutes and a powerful fog horn sounded at around dusk. Prior to that, organizers will host a party on the pier and offer tours of the 150-foot ship, which they say is America's largest floating lighthouse.

The lightship was built in 1936 to guide ships past the treacherous Nantucket Shoals about 100 miles off Massachusetts.

The U.S. Coast Guard decommissioned it in 1975 and it's now a privately operated museum.

Cox Media Group