EASTHAM – In a little patch of woods off of Cable Road is a most unusual sight. Three lighthouses, the “Three Sisters,” as they are known, are stationed in their original orientation with no view of the sea visible.
The lighthouses now function strictly as a tourist attraction.
No longer working lighthouses, these structures spent decades on the Nauset cliffs before being decommissioned, not all at the same time, and moved to Cable Road.
The Three Sisters have a long history. They were first commissioned in 1836 as stone towers but as erosion threatened them, three new wooden towers were built 30 feet inland.
By 1911, continued erosion of the Nauset cliff and the cost of maintaining three lights brought the decommissioning and sale of two of the lighthouses.
Those two were sold to a private owner, who eventually moved them, in 1918, to Cable Road. There, the two were joined with a room and became known as Twin Lights Cottage. The National Park Service purchased them in 1965.
The third lighthouse out on the cliff was eventually replaced by the current Nauset Light, and then sold to a private owner. The National Park Service acquired the third light in 1975 and then reunited the three sisters.
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