Both the lighthouse standing here and the cliff in front of you have had to give away to the power of the Atlantic Ocean.The first lighthouses built here in 1838 were placed over 600 feet east of where you are standing now. As ocean waves ate away at the base of the cliffs, causing erosion rates averaging three feet per year, the original beacons had to be replaced with three wooden towers set father back from the edge.
In less than two decades, the cliffs approached the wooden lighthouses, so one of the towers was pulled further back and attached to the lighthouse keeper's house. In 1923, a cast-iron lighthouse - the current Nauset Light - was brought to the site from Chatham and set well back from the advancing shoreline.
The main photo shows Nauset Light as it stood in 1996, when less than 40 feet remained between the light and the eroding cliff edge. That year, the lighthouse moved again, across the road to its current site. Today Nauset Light is preserved and interpreted by the Nauset Light Preservation Society, a group of committed local people who keep this important story alive for visitors.
(Landmarks • Waterways & Vessels) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
