East End Light, Solar-powered lighthouse in East End, Grand Cayman.
East End Light is the lighthouse at the east end of Grand Cayman, the centrepiece of East End Lighthouse Park run by the National Trust for the Cayman Islands. The present tower replaced earlier navigational aids on the site, the first lighthouse in the Cayman Islands. Remnants of the previous structure still stand beside the current tower, and a stairway of thirty-seven steps leads up the bluff to the park.
The original facility was built in the early 1900s as a simple ship mast with a kerosene lamp tended by William James Watler. Over the decades it was modernized and today contributes to the maritime history of the island.
The light is also called Gorling Bluff Light, after the bluff leased for the 1918 tower planned by a French engineer named Terrier. The park around it is managed by the National Trust for the Cayman Islands, and its flower beds show plants used as medicines by the islands' earliest settlers.
A stairway of thirty-seven steps leads up Gorling Bluff to the light, and infill and soil have been taken up to create pathways for visitors. The tower is not open to the public and is seen from outside. Flower beds in the park show plants used as medicines by the islands' earliest settlers, and a thousand-gallon water tank provides irrigation.
During World War II, the lighthouse served as a lookout post where Home Guard members watched over the coast. This role shows how important its position at the island's eastern tip was for defense.
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