Nauset Light

Nauset Beach Light

Nauset Light and lightkeeper's house
Location	Eastham, Massachusetts
Year first constructed	1838
Year first lit	1877 (current tower in Chatham) 1923 (current tower here)
Automated	1955
Deactivated	1996-97 now a Private Aid
Foundation	Concrete
Construction	Cast iron with brick lining
Tower shape	Conical
Markings / pattern	Upper red, lower white with black lantern
Height	48 feet (15 m)
Focal height	120 feet (37 m)
Original lens	4th order Fresnel lens
Current lens	Carlisle & Finch DB-224
Range	White 24 nm, Red 20 nm
Characteristic	Alt white and red 10s
Fog signal	none
Admiralty number	J0396
ARLHS number	USA-529
USCG number	1-510.1 [1][2][3]
Nauset Beach Light
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location:	Nauset Beach, Eastham, Massachusetts
Coordinates:	41°51′36.5″N 69°57′10.6″W / 41.860139°N 69.952944°W / 41.860139; -69.952944Coordinates: 41°51′36.5″N 69°57′10.6″W / 41.860139°N 69.952944°W / 41.860139; -69.952944
Area:	1 acre (0.40 ha)
Built:	1875
Architectural style:	Gothic Revival
Governing body:	U.S. Coast Guard
MPS:	Lighthouses of Massachusetts TR
NRHP Reference#:	87001484 [4]
Added to NRHP:	June 15, 1987

Nauset Light, officially Nauset Beach Light,^[1] is a lighthouse in Eastham, Massachusetts. It is a cast iron plate shell lined with brick and stands 48 feet (15 m) high.

History

Nauset Light was constructed in 1877 and was originally one of two lights in Chatham. It was moved to Eastham in 1923 to replace the Three Sisters of Nauset, three small wood lighthouses that had been decommissioned. They have since been relocated to a small field about 1,000 feet (300 m) west of the Nauset Light.^[2]

The light was automated and the keeper's house was sold in 1955. Due to coastal erosion, by the early 1990s Nauset Light was less than 50 feet (15 m) from the edge of the 70-foot (21 m) cliff on which it stood. In 1993, the Coast Guard proposed decommissioning the light. There was a great public outcry. The non-profit Nauset Light Preservation Society was formed and funded and, in 1995, leased the lighthouse from the Coast Guard. It arranged the light's relocation in November 1996 to a location 336 feet (102 m) west of the original one. The move was accomplished successfully by International Chimney Corporation, which had previously moved the larger Highland Light a similar distance.^[5]

In 1998, Mary Daubenspeck, who had owned the keeper's house since 1955, agreed to donate it to the National Park Service with the right to live in it for 25 years. It was agreed that the house would be moved from its original location, then only 23 feet from the edge of the cliff, to a new location near the relocated tower. This was accomplished in October, 1998.^[5] At about the same time, the Coast Guard gave the tower to the National Park Service and the Nauset Light Preservation Society agreed to maintain it as a private aid to navigation.

The lighthouse is the logo for Cape Cod Potato Chips. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987 as Nauset Beach Light.^[4]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} (PDF) Light List, Volume I, Atlantic Coast, St. Croix River, Maine to Shrewsbury River, New Jersey. Light List. United States Coast Guard. 2009. p. 7. http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/pdf/lightLists/LightList%20V1.pdf. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "Historic Light Station Information and Photography: Massachusetts". United States Coast Guard Historian's Office. http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHMA.asp. 
3. ^ Rowlett, Russ (2010-02-11). "Lighthouses of the United States: Southeast Massachusetts". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/lighthouse/ma2.htm. 
4. ^ ^{a b} "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html. 
5. ^ ^{a b} "Nauset Light". The Nauset Light Preservation Society. http://www.nausetlight.org/index.htm. Retrieved 12 February 2010.