Despite the forecast which suggested it would get colder and a bit damp we woke up to wonderful sunshine this morning which made a really nice change from the fog we have eaten breakfast to for the last couple of days! We have a drive around the coast road planned for today in the hope that we will get to see some of the lighthouses, but our first stop was at Chatham which is another really nice small town near the ‘elbow’ of Cape Cod, it is also home to the Chatham Lighthouse, originally known as the Twin lights, and the coastguard station. The original station was built in 1808 with two wooden towers to distinguish it from the Highland Light – the first Cape Cod light. The original houses were built of wood on skids so they could be moved to keep them in line with the entrance channel as it shifted. The wooden towers were replaced in 1841 and again in 1877 this time they were made of cast iron rings. They have one of the lifeboats outside the coastguard station which we decided probably wasn’t where they were originally kept as it is actually on the top of a cliff! We walked back to Chatham and on the way saw seals doing what they do best which was lying on the beech in the sun relaxing! We went for a walk round Chatham and decided to have some lunch. Then set off for our next port of call which was Nauset Beach which is not actually that close to the Nauset lighthouse. The beach was our first view of the Atlantic Ocean which to be honest although we fly over it a lot we don’t actually see that often. We walked along a bit of the beach then got back into the car and drove into to the national park, our first stop inside the park was the Nauset lighthouse which is not actually by the beach! This is a restored lighthouse which was erected in 1923 using the 1877 tower that was moved from the Chatham Light. It is a cast iron plate and is 48 foot high, the adjacent house was where the oil was stored. Near to it is a wooden hut which is called the French Hut and although it is not in the original location but represents where in 1879 the final thread of the 3,000 mile transatlantic telegraph cable was delivered to America from France, making it possible to communicate with Europe in minutes not weeks. These are both inside the national park and our next stop was Coast Guard Beach lighthouse which is no longer used but is where the US Life Saving Service used to operate from which was turned into the US Coast Card in 1915. Next we drove to ‘the three sisters’ which at one time were at the very tip of Cape Cod, to assist shipping they actually had one light at the start of the cape, two in the middle (Chatham) and three at the end. The three sisters are actually in what seems like a field and considering their importance in history seems a little strange, there is not much parking near by and I am not sure that many people would actually find them, but maybe in the summer it is all a bit more obvious! Our final stop was at the Marconi station where in 1903 Marconi sent a message to the King of England without the aid of wires and cables! This definitely shows how coastal erosion is affecting the area as most of the land where the antennas stood is now underwater, but they must have been massive. The station was closed in 1917 as they were already noticing erosion but from here they did actually hear the mayday from the Titanic! There should be a model of the antennas but unfortunately more erosion is taking place and where there exhibit was is no longer safe! We decided to start heading back to the apartment by this time and finally got back about 6pm.
