Massachusetts - Three Sisters Lighthouse

The Three Sisters Lighthouse (of Nauset) is located at Eastham, MA. They were relocated above Nauset Beach Light. The "triple lights" were unique in lighthouse configuration when erected on the sand hills of Nauset Beach in 1839. Three 15-foot brick towers were built at intervals of 150-foot to warn approaching vessels of the offshore bar paralleling the sandy shore. Because of their appearance from the sea, they quickly became known to mariners as the "three sisters." By 1892 the tiny towers perched dangerously near the edge of the eroding cliff they overlooked. They were replaced with a trio of shingled lights, each 22-feet tall and placed 30-feet further inland for their greater safety. Wood was used for the newer structures so they could be moved more easily, in case the nearby bank continued to fall away. The abandoned brick towers eventually fell over the cliff.

The north and south beacons of the three replacement towers were discontinued in 1911 after the government decided a single light would be more effective. The two surplus wooden towers were sold to private parties and used as summer cottages. The remaining "sister" was replaced in 1923 by one of the two, 48-foot cast-iron, lighthouses which had stood at Chatham since 1875. One account says that third sister was turned on its side and rolled to its new location, guided by a mule team.

In 1989, the National Park Service, which had purchased the dispersed wooden lighthouses, 25 years before, returned them to their original site and oversaw their restoration. At the time of my visit here in 2001, they were part of the Cape Cod National Seashore.

Massachusetts - Cleveland East Ledge Light

This lighthouse is located two miles off shore from Bourne, MA. It is the youngest Massachusetts beacon, and the light is a guide for vessels near the west end of the Cape Cod Canal.
The underwater shelf on which the lighthouse stands was named for President Grover Cleveland. He enjoyed fishing nearby.

The lower portion of the light consists of a two-story dwelling atop a red caisson deck. The 50 foot white cylindrical tower rises from the center of the second level and shows a flashing white light 74 feet above the water. A little more than a year after this lighthouse was established, the unusual structure nearly succumbed to a savage lashing. Giant waves stirred up by the Great Atlantic Hurricane of September 1944, battered a gaping hole in one of the exterior walls. The lighthouse crew managed to put up a temporary barricade and stop the seas' further inroads, thereby saving themselves and enabling the light to continue operating.

Due to the distance of this lighthouse offshore, I used a 500mm lens with 2X coupler and tripod to take this picture. At the time of my visit in 2001, this was an active lighthouse. I made reference to this lighthouse in my blog posting for Wings Neck Lighthouse, Oct 2012.

Massachusetts - Nobska Lighthouse

The Nobska Lighthouse is located at Falmouth, MA.  Originally spelled "Nobsque," the first lighthouse built here in 1829 was a three-room rubble-stone dwelling with an eight-sided lantern mounted on the roof. It perched on the rocky headland at the entrance to Wood's Hole Harbor. The crude structure was rebuilt in 1849 then entirely replaced in 1876 with the current cylindrical, cast-iron tower and lantern room, which stands 87 feet above the water. Initially the light was painted brown, but it has been white for much of the twentieth century. When the Bureau of Lighthouses came under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Coast Guard in 1939, the active civilian light keepers were allowed to finish their current service, until 1975, before being replaced by Coast Guard personnel.

Nobska Light was automated in 1985. Its light flashes every six seconds and is visible 17 miles out at sea. At the time of my visit here in 2001 this was an active light, and the two-story, wood-framed keeper's dwelling was the family residence of the Commander of Coast Guard Group Wood Hole. It oversees the agency's operations between Plymouth, MA and the Rhode Island, CT border. In 1988 this lighthouse was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Massachusetts - Wings Neck Lighthouse

The Wings Neck Lighthouse is located at Pocasset Harbor, Bourne, MA. - This light started in 1849. A light keeper's house built of stone with a red shingled roof, had an octagonal frame tower and iron lantern mounted on the housetop. The lantern showed a fixed white light 44 feet above the high tide mark. In 1856, a Fresnel lens was installed to replace the original light and give the lantern's beacon greater intensity.

Then in 1878, tragedy struck when fire swept through the tower. The Lighthouse Board reported: "The lantern is on top of the dwelling; the roof has been crushed by the weight. A new tower is required, and the dwelling should be extensively repaired."  Despite the damage, the lantern continued to be used until 1890 when the house was demolished. In its place, workers constructed a white shingled hexagonal tower and wooden house. The two were connected with a covered walkway as shown above.

After the construction of the offshore Cleveland Ledge Light in 1941, the importance of the Wings Neck station was all but gone. It closed in 1945 and was sold two years later to the Flanagan family as a private residence. At the time of my visit here in 2001, the lighthouse and grounds were private property and not open to the public.

Massachusetts - Hyannis Lighthouse

The Hyannis Lighthouse is located at Hyannis, MA. It began and ended as a privately owned lighthouse. Early in the 19th century, Daniel Snow Hallett built and operated a primitive light as an aid to the many commercial craft using the well-protected Hyannis Harbor. The arrangement was little more than a lamp reflector shone from the loft of a small waterfront shanty. Hallett was later named the first light keeper of the government's own harbor light, which it authorized in 1848 and placed in service the following spring. The Locals quickly dubbed the structure "Bug Light," because the conical stone tower stood less than 20 feet high.

In 1885, the beacon became part of the Hyannis Range Light system. A second signal was installed atop a small frame shed. Both of these lights showed fixed red lights and formed a navigational range for vessels inside a breakwater. As the former business of Hyannis Harbor subsided into the 20th century, the need for Hyannis Light diminished, and the station was discontinued in 1929. The lantern was removed, and the tower capped. It was later declared surplus property, and the buildings and land were sold at auction for the unique price of $7,777.77. Prior to my visit here in 2001, the present owners had created an enlarged version of the old lantern room, which they use as a sitting room, atop the well-kept tower, 

Massachusetts - West Dennis (Bass River) Light

The Bass River Lighthouse is located at West Dennis, MA. The original-one-and-a-half story wooden building was built in 1855. The light station showed a fixed white light from 30 feet above the water.

In 1880, the Stage Harbor Light in Chatham, MA went into service. Then the government closed the Bass River Station, concluding it was no longer needed. The move caused a stream of complaints, and six months later Bass River Lighthouse was back in business.

After Cape Cod Canal opened in 1914, the station was permanently shut down and sold at auction. It changed hands three times before purchase by Mr. & Mrs Everett Stone. In 1938 they converted the property into a guest house that was soon known, appropriately enough, as the Lighthouse Inn. As of the time of my visit here in 2001, the third generation of Stones still operated the light as a private aid to navigation. The light shines from its lantern room atop the red roof building, and operates when the inn is open.

Massachusetts - Stage Harbor Lighthouse

The Stage Harbor Lighthouse is located at Harding Beach, Chatham, MA. The elbow of Cape Cod and the north side of Nantucket Sound is one of the foggier places on the East Coast. In the 19th century, its fishing fleet and scores of coasting vessels seeking shelter from contrary winds and bad weather routinely sought refuge in Stage Harbor. In 1880, the Lighthouse Board built a forty-eight foot cast-iron lighthouse and attached clapboard keeper's house at the east end of Harding Beach, alongside the narrow channel leading into the harbor.

In June 1933, the Stage Harbor Lighthouse was taken out of service after a new beacon was placed atop a white skeletal tower. It was located 308 feet south of the old lighthouse. The government eventually declared the station surplus property and sold it to the Hoyt family, who have maintained it in the years since. As of the time of my visit to this lighthouse in 2001 it continued as privately owned.

Massachusetts - Nauset Beach Lighthouse

The Nauset Beach Lighthouse is located at Eastham, MA. This light was the North Chatham Light built in 1873 until it was relocated to the beach at Nauset in 1926. The working Nauset Beach Light, with its upper half painted bright red, was automated in 1955. In the intervening years, the station was increasingly threatened by ever-eroding sand cliffs. Without the funds to relocate the station, the Coast Guard sought to decommission the light and leave the tower to its fate. However, concerned citizens quickly formed the Nauset Light Perservation Society, then raised the necessary capital to save the structure. They supervised its move out of harms way in November 1996. As of the time of my visit to this lighthouse in 2001, the National Park Service was caring for the lighthouse as a private aid to navigation. (My timing was perfect, enabling me to capture the white side of this light that shows both a red and white signal.)