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.
No comments:
Post a Comment