Marconi Wireless Station

Marconi’s South Wellfleet wireless station, known as “Old CC,” was one of the world’s great pioneer radio stations. Marconi selected the site in 1901 and began construction, but a severe storm in November wrecked the station. It was rebuilt in 1902 with an antenna supported by four heavy wooden towers, and in 1903 it sent its first transatlantic wireless message between the United States and England. The station later provided fifteen years of commercial service, and in 1912 an operator heard a distant call from the sinking luxury liner Titanic. Marconi’s engineers warned in 1906 that cliff erosion endangered the station, and after the U.S. Government closed it in 1917 for wartime security reasons, its equipment was salvaged, its towers dismantled, and its buildings abandoned in 1920. The ocean has since eroded away over half the land the station occupied. Some remains are still visible, including concrete foundations for the transmitter house and northwest tower and sand anchors that held guy wires.

Wellfleet, Massachusetts · United States