Nauset Light

Nauset Light Review

Moved 350 feet back from its perch at cliff's edge in 1996, the much-photographed red-and-white Nauset Light still tops the bluff where the Three Sisters Lighthouses once stood; the Sisters themselves can be seen in a little landlocked park surrounded by trees, reached by paved walkways off Nauset Light Beach's parking lot. How the lighthouses got there is a long story. In 1838 three brick lighthouses were built 150 feet apart on the bluffs in Eastham overlooking a particularly dangerous area of shoals (shifting underwater sandbars). In 1892, after the eroding cliff dropped the towers into the ocean, they were replaced with three wooden towers. In 1918 two were moved away, as was the third in 1923. Eventually the National Park Service acquired the Three Sisters and brought them together in the inland park, where they would be safe, rather than returning them to the eroding coast. The Fresnel lens from the last working lighthouse is on display at the Salt Pond Visitor Center. Lectures on and guided walks to the lighthouses are conducted throughout the season.