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| Chatham Light |
Chatham Lighthouse and Coast Guard Station |
| Location: |
West side Chatham Harbor, Southeast Cape Cod |
Coordinates
WGS-84 (GPS) |
41°40′17″N, 69°57′01″W |
| Year first constructed: |
1808 |
| Year first lit: |
1877 (current tower) |
| Automated: |
1982 |
| Foundation: |
Concrete |
| Construction: |
Cast iron plate with brick lining |
| Tower shape: |
conical |
| Markings/Pattern: |
white |
| Height: |
48 feet, 80 feet above sea level |
| Original lens: |
Fourth order Fresnel lens |
| Range: |
24 nm |
| Characteristic: |
Flashing(2) White 10s with the following pattern: 0.1s flashing 2s eclipse, 0.1s flashing 7.8s eclipse. Lighted throughout 24 hours. Storm warning signals displayed by day. |
Chatham Lighthouse is a lighthouse in Chatham, Massachusetts, near the "elbow" of Cape Cod. In 1808 the first set of twin lights were constructed on the bluff named James' Head to act as a set of range lights for the shifting shoals of the Chatham Harbor entrance. Samuel Nye was appointed as the first Keeper of the Chatham Lights by then-President Thomas Jefferson on October 7, 1808. The "twins" were replaced twice, first in 1841, and again in 1879. In 1923, the northernmost twin light was moved roughly 12 miles north to Nauset Beach in Eastham, Massachusetts. Sixteen years later, in 1939, the Chatham lighthouse's light source, fueled by kerosene since 1882, became electric. The last major structural change to the light occurred in 1969 when its lens was replaced with a rotating lightsource generating over 2.8 million candlepower and said to be visible out to 25 miles at sea. Chatham light became automated in 1982 and operates during the daytime as well as at night. Today, the former keeper's house is an active U.S. Coast Guard station,and on-duty personnel living quarters. Search and Rescue, maritime law enforcement, and Homeland Security missions are carried out here. Flotilla 11-01 of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary operates from this station.
The Chatham Lighthouse was the inspiration for a small independent film production company called Chatham Light Productions. The lighthouse appears on the company's title card at the opening of their films and the lighthouse is also featured in multiple shots of their upcoming film shot in Chatham called Whiffleball (movie).
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