Nauset Beach Massachusetts
Harbour Lights #449

Summer at Cape Cod is a grand escape from the world, but Autumn at Cape Cod is paradise. The red and gold foliage… the crisp salt air… pumpkins and corn stalks replacing beach balls and water skis… colorful sweaters instead of swim suits – this is an autumn day at Nauset Beach, Massachusetts – on the back shore of Cape Cod.

The red and white sentinel that rests atop a 95-foot cliff has a history as colorful as Fall itself. The light station was established in 1836, one of three identical towers known as the Three Sisters of Nauset.

By 1911, the cliff had eroded to within eight feet of the northernmost structure, so the Bureau of Lighthouses decided to make Nauset a single sentinel, moving the center tower back from the cliff. It was given a white light that flashed three times each ten seconds, a tribute to the Three Sisters.

In 1923, with the Chatham Twins becoming a single light and further disrepair of Nauset Light, a solution was found. The discontinued Chatham light was dismantled and moved to Nauset, where it was installed on a concrete foundation and the Fourth Order Fresnel Lens from the old tower was placed in service.

Nauset Light continued to be in danger from erosion, and in the three years from 1991 to 1994, 30 feet of the cliff disappeared east of the lighthouse. The Nauset Light Preservation Society was formed when the Coast Guard proposed decommissioning the beacon in 1993. Funds were raised and in November of 1996 Nauset was successfully moved across the street to a new and safe home, 336 feet from its former site.

The Preservation Society has made many improvements with the help of a Coast Guard lease, including relighting Nauset Beach Light as a private navigational tool on May 10, 1997. A marker on the cliff shows its original location.

The historic site is open to the public through October, as visitors brave the autumn chill to enjoy the seasonal beauty of Nauset Beach. Even from afar, you can enjoy Fall in Cape Cod, as Harbour Lights recreates the romance and legacy of this fabled lighthouse in a setting as colorful as its past.