Pushed Back by the Sea

The lighthouse here and the cliff before it have both yielded to the Atlantic Ocean over time. The first lighthouses built here in 1838 stood more than 600 feet east of this location, but waves eroded the base of the cliffs at an average rate of three feet per year, forcing the original beacons to be replaced by three wooden towers set farther back from the edge. In less than two decades, the cliffs neared the wooden lighthouses, so one tower was moved farther inland and attached to the lighthouse keeper's house. In 1923, a cast-iron lighthouse, the current Nauset Light, was brought from Chatham and placed well back from the advancing shoreline. By 1996, less than 40 feet remained between the light and the eroding cliff edge, and that year it was moved again, across the road to its current site. Today Nauset Light is preserved and interpreted by the Nauset Light Preservation Society, a dedicated local group that keeps this history alive for visitors.

Eastham, Massachusetts · United States