Forest Beach Overlook became public land in 1999 through the efforts of Friends of Forest Beach, the cooperation of the Town of Chatham Selectmen and voters, and the generosity of the company then known as MCI WorldCom. At the 1999 Chatham Town Meeting, voters unanimously approved the purchase of more than 91 acres, including 17 acres in Chathamport, for $950,000, in a broad community effort recognized in the annual town report. On April 19, 2000, in Boston, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency presented an Environmental Merit Award to Friends of Forest Beach, the Town of Chatham, and MCI WorldCom for their cooperative and outstanding efforts in preserving New England’s environment. The site was formerly the South Chatham Marine Radio Transmitting Station WCC, built by RCA in 1946 as an auxiliary to the North Chatham WCC Receiving Station built by Guglielmo Marconi in 1914. During its peak years of operation, it relayed more than one thousand messages a day and could reach ships around the world. The transmitting station antenna field covered many acres of marsh. As a condition of the sale, MCI WorldCom agreed to remove the 300 foot tower, more than 90 poles from the marsh, and the residence and operations building on the upland portion of the property, while leaving poles in the marsh to serve as nesting sites for osprey.