Marconi Station

Marconi Station Review

On the Atlantic side of the Cape is the site of the first transatlantic wireless station erected on the U.S. mainland. It was from here that Italian radio and wireless-telegraphy pioneer Guglielmo Marconi sent the first American wireless message to Europe—"most cordial greetings and good wishes" from President Theodore Roosevelt to King Edward VII of England—on January 18, 1903. An outdoor shelter contains a model of the original station, of which only fragments remain as a result of cliff erosion. Underneath a roofed structure at Marconi Station is a mock-up of the spark-gap transmitter Marconi used. There's a lookout deck that offers a vantage point of both the Atlantic and Cape Cod Bay. Off the parking lot, a 1½-mile trail and boardwalk lead through the Atlantic White Cedar Swamp, one of the most beautiful trails on the seashore; free maps and guides are available at the trailhead. Marconi Beach, south of the Marconi Station on Marconi Beach Road, is one of the National Seashore's lovely ocean beaches.