Chatham Light

Chatham Light
Chatham Lighthouse and Coast Guard Station
Location Chatham, Massachusetts
Year first constructed 1808
Year first lit 1877 (current structure)
Automated 1982
Foundation Concrete
Construction Cast iron plate with brick lining
Tower shape Conical
Markings / pattern White with gray lantern
Focal height 80ft (24m)
Original lens 4th order Fresnel lens
Current lens Carlisle & Finch DCB-224
Range 24nm
Characteristic Fl (2) W 10s, lighted continuously
Fog signal none
Admiralty number J0394
ARLHS number USA-158
USCG number 1-525

[1] [2] [3]

Chatham Light Station
Location: Main St., Chatham, Massachusetts
Area: 2 acres (0.81 ha)
Built: 1877
Governing body: US Coast Guard
MPS: Lighthouses of Massachusetts TR
NRHP Reference#:

87001501

[4]
Added to NRHP: June 15, 1987

Chatham Lighthouse, known as Twin Lights prior to 1923, is a lighthouse in Chatham, Massachusetts, near the "elbow" of Cape Cod.

The station was established in 1808, the second light on Cape Cod. To distinguish it from Highland Light, the first Cape Cod light, and to act as a range, twin octagonal 40 ft (12m) wooden towers were built. They were on skids so that they could be moved to keep them in line with the entrance channel as it shifted. Samuel Nye was appointed as the first Keeper of the Chatham Lights by President Jefferson on October 7, 1808.

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.[5]

Chatham Light was added to the National Register of Historic Places as Chatham Light Station on June 15, 1987, reference number 87001501.[4]

The 1841 brick towers 
The remaining 1877 tower with its original lantern. Note the LARC-V to the right. 
The 1877 tower with the replacement (1969) lantern. 

References