.gif)
Three Sisters of Nauset (Twin Lights)
Encyclopedia
The Three Sisters of Nauset are a trio of historic lighthouse
s off Cable Road in Eastham, Massachusetts
.
The first set of lighthouses were commissioned by Congress in 1837 and built for $10,000, to provide for a light halfway along the eastern coast of Cape Cod. Because there was one light (the Highland Light) in Truro
, and two lights (the Twin Lights
) in Chatham
, it was decided that there should be three lights to distinguish between the other lights. Built 150 feet apart in a straight line along the crest of the cliffs, they were brick, fifteen feet tall and wide at the base, and nine feet wide at the lantern deck. Each was painted white with black lantern decks, which lent to their looking like three ladies with white dresses and black bonnets - the birth of the name "Three Sisters."
By 1890, however, the three lights were dangerously close to the cliff's edge. Since it was impossible at the time to move the three lights intact, three 22-foot wooden lighthouses with otherwise identical markings were built in 1892 to replace the former lights, each built 30 feet west of their original sites and using the lenses from the originals. However, erosion continued, and by 1911, with the northernmost light only eight feet from the cliff, it was decided to move the lights back again, but this time, only the center light was lit, with a triple flash in homage of her two decommissioned sisters. In 1918, with both their lanterns removed, the decommissioned north and south lights were purchased and incorporated into a summer cottage along Cable Road. The remaining sister, which was now attached to the oil house, was in disrepair, and following its decommission, the northern "Twin Light" of Chatham was moved north to Eastham, to a site near the original lights, becoming the Nauset Light.
The last light was incorporated into a summer cottage, where it stayed until 1975, when it was purchased by the National Park Service. It was moved to a field to join its sisters, who had been bought ten years earlier, and, following their listing on the National Register of Historic Places, the three were renovated to their current state, less than 400 yards west of their replacement and in their original configuration.
Lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....
s off Cable Road in Eastham, Massachusetts
Eastham, Massachusetts
Eastham is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, Barnstable County being coextensive with Cape Cod. The population was 5,453 at the 2000 census....
.
The first set of lighthouses were commissioned by Congress in 1837 and built for $10,000, to provide for a light halfway along the eastern coast of Cape Cod. Because there was one light (the Highland Light) in Truro
Truro, Massachusetts
Truro is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, comprising two villages: Truro and North Truro. Located two hours outside Boston, it is a summer vacation community just south of the northern tip of Cape Cod, in an area known as the "Outer Cape"...
, and two lights (the Twin Lights
Chatham Light
Chatham Lighthouse, known as Twin Lights prior to 1923, is a lighthouse in Chatham, Massachusetts, near the "elbow" of Cape Cod.The station was established in 1808, the second light on Cape Cod. To distinguish it from Highland Light, the first Cape Cod light, and to act as a range, twin octagonal...
) in Chatham
Chatham, Massachusetts
Chatham is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, Barnstable County being coextensive with Cape Cod. The population was 6,625 at the 2000 census...
, it was decided that there should be three lights to distinguish between the other lights. Built 150 feet apart in a straight line along the crest of the cliffs, they were brick, fifteen feet tall and wide at the base, and nine feet wide at the lantern deck. Each was painted white with black lantern decks, which lent to their looking like three ladies with white dresses and black bonnets - the birth of the name "Three Sisters."
The last light was incorporated into a summer cottage, where it stayed until 1975, when it was purchased by the National Park Service. It was moved to a field to join its sisters, who had been bought ten years earlier, and, following their listing on the National Register of Historic Places, the three were renovated to their current state, less than 400 yards west of their replacement and in their original configuration.