Lighthouse on Door County island going high-tech

PLUM ISLAND, Wis. - A lighthouse on an uninhabited Door County island is going high-tech.

Plum Island sits off the end of the peninsula that forms Wisconsin's "thumb." Federal officials are planning to replace its historic lighthouse lens with an LED lantern.

The current lens is called a Fresnel lens. The U.S. Coast Guard says lenses of that type were originally installed in lighthouses in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

At that time, lighthouses were staffed by lighthouse keepers who cleaned the lenses daily and covered them with a light cloth during the day to protect them from ultraviolet rays.

But the Coast Guard says lighthouses are now automated, and with no staffers to protect the lens, officials are removing the lenses for preservation. They'll be loaned to local museums for public display.