The Mathews Rotary Club is seeing a project it’s been working on for four years finally come to fruition—reconstruction of the over 200-foot-long walkway and observation deck at the New Point Comfort Natural Area Preserve on Old Lighthouse Road in Mathews.
Originally completed in late 1997 with funding from NOAA and the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program, the overlook, which is the closest land-based site to view New Point Comfort Lighthouse, has been deteriorating over a number of years, and Rotary members Stan Allen and Karl Braun, who live nearby, began talking about repairing it in 2020.
Allen said he and Braun thought the Rotary Club might be able to redo the decking as a project and talked with The Nature Conservancy, owners of the property, about it. But they soon realized that just replacing the deck boards wouldn’t be enough. An inspection revealed that the cross braces and pilings were deteriorating, as well, and the cost of the project would likely be “well into six fi...