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Three Sisters Lighthouses – Shore History In The Woods

Three Sisters Lighthouses
Written by Brian Tarcy

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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About the author

Brian Tarcy

Brian Tarcy is co-founder of Cape Cod Wave. He is a longtime journalist who has written for the Boston Globe, Boston magazine, the Cape Cod Times and several other publications. He is the author of "YOU CAN'T SELL RIGHT FIELD; A Cape Cod Novel." He is also the author or co-author of more than a dozen mostly non-fiction books, including books with celebrity athletes Cam Neely, Tom Glavine and Joe Theisman. His previous book was, "ALMOST: 12 Electric Months Chasing A Silicon Valley Dream" with Hap Klopp,who created the iconic brand, The North Face.
For more information, see Briantarcy.com
Brian is a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan with a long-running NFL predictions/political satire column connecting weekly world events to the fate of his favorite team, now at Whatsgonnahappen.com.

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