Notes:
(1) The first Lighthouse built on Cape Cod and the ninth* Light constructed in Massachusetts. Cape Cod Light was the sixth Light erected by the Federal Government and the Twenty-first Light established in America.

      Cape Cod Light was built to mark the hazardous Peaked Hill Bars located offshore 3-miles northeast of the Lighthouse.  The shoals near the shores of Truro caused many shipwrecks.  The Boston Marine Society recommended constructing a Lighthouse on the Highlands to safely guide transaltantic and coastal shipping to and from Boston.  Cape Cod Light was often the first American lighthouse sighted by transatlantic shipping approaching landfall en route to Boston.

      In 1796 , President George Washington authorized the construction of Cape Cod Highland Light.  A 45-feet high wood Tower was built on the 125-feet high cliff and First Lit in 1797 exhibiting a slow intermittent White Light 160-feet above sea level illuminated by 15 Argand Lamps burning sperm whale oil and Reflectors surrounded by a revolving eclipser that rotated around the Light every 80-seconds blocking the Light beam every 30-seconds in the same revolution (50-second Flash, 30-second eclipse).  The Lighthouse was located 500-feet from the edge of the sandy Truro bluffs.  Cliff erosion at the average rate of 2-feet per year would eventually threatened the stability of the Lighthouse.

      A brick Tower was built (circa 1831) to replace the weakening original wood Lighthouse according to the inspection report of 1828.

      During the late 1850s, the land beneath the Lighthouse became unstable due to erosion.  The Lighthouse was determined to be unsafe after the Barnstable Patriot reported in 1855 that a part of the ceiling in the Keeper’s house had fallen.  In 1856, the Keeper’s house was rebuilt and a new 66-feet high brick Lighthouse Tower was constructed in 1857.  As a primary seacoast Light, the new Tower was fitted with a First-order Fresnel Lens.  Two assistant Light Keepers were needed to help maintain and tend the new technology.  In 1860, the illuminant was changed from sperm oil to lard oil.

      In 1901, the Light was refitted with a more powerful First-order Fresnel lens floating on a bed of mercury in order to exhibit a flashing light.  The Light’s Characteristic was changed from FW [Fixed White] to Fl W 5s [Flashing White every 5 seconds], see Note (2).

      In 1904, a Naval wireless-telegraph station for communication with vessels at sea was established at Highland Light.  During World War I, a detachment of Marines guarded the station and the Coast Guard used the site for a radio traffic facility from 1939 to 1943.  Marine reporting agents, stationed at Highland Light, reported incoming shipping to Boston by telegraph.  The Light Station was a strategic location for viewing inbound shipping from The Crossroads (a location where coastal and transatlantic shipping lanes intersect about 50 miles south of the island of Nantucket).

      Cape Cod Light Station was another site for Radiobeacon testing. Radiobeacons were used for transmitting a Morse Code signal to help determine a ship’s position in poor visibility.  A shipboard radio direction finder, or RDF, receives the signal to determine the direction to its source.  The radiobeacon was still active when Highland Light was automated in 1986.

      In 1932, the Light was converted to electric power and refitted with a 4 million candlepower, 1,000-watt electric lamp visible at a Luminous Range of 39 nautical miles.  The Luminous Range only depends on the intensity of the light and does not account for the curvature of the earth, the observer’s height, and the height of the Light.

      In the 1950s, the Fresnel lens was replaced by a pair of rotating aerobeacons.  Each aerobeacon is illuminated by a 1,000-watt bulb with a backup bulb that automatically rotates into position when he active bulb burns out.  At the time, the preservation of maritime history was not important and the Fresnel lens was destroyed.

      By 1990, cliff erosion reduced the distance of the Lighthouse to the edge of the cliff from 500-feet to 128-feet.  Severe erosion from winter storms, 18-feet was lost in the blizzard of 1978 and 40-feet was lost in a winter storm in January of 1990, endangered the stability of the Lighthouse.  A Committee to Save the Cape Cod Light was formed in 1990 to raise funds to move the Lighthouse and the donations were added to $1.5 million in federal and state funds in 1996.

      In 1996, Cape Cod Light was relocated 450-feet inland away from the eroding cliff.  A temporary Light was erected 80-feet east of the existing light tower.  Supporting Beams were inserted under the Tower and hydraulic jacks raised the entire structure onto steel tracks lubricated with Ivory soap.  The 450-ton Lighthouse was moved by the International Chimney Corporation from June to November.  Highland Light was relighted on November 3, 1996.

*Portland Head Light and Seguin Island Light were the 7th and 8th Lighthouses, respectively built in Massachusetts. On March 15, 1820, both Lighthouses were ceded to Maine .

(2) In 1797, the original Tower’s Lantern was illuminated by 15 Argand Lamps burning sperm whale oil and Reflectors.  In order to distinguish the Lighthouse from Boston Light, a revolving Eclipser (moving screen) was used to block the Light beam every 30-seconds.  The Light was perceived as a slow “flashing” effect when sighted from the ocean (50-second Flash, 30-second eclipse).

      Cape Cod Light was the first Lighthouse to use a Intermittent Light Characteristic. The difference between a flashing light and a intermittent light is the periods of light and darkness.  A flashing light has longer dark intervals (the eclipse) with short light intervals (the flash) whereas a intermittent light has longer light intervals than dark intervals.  Based on the definitions, Cape Cod Light was not a flashing Light until 1901.

      In 1811, the eclipser was removed and the Lighthouse was refitted Lewis Lamps and reflectors designed by Winslow Lewis.  During same year, Boston Light was refitted with a revolving illuminating apparatus using Argand Lamps and reflectors which were superior oil-burning lamps.  The inferior Winslow Lewis and reflector system was used at the Highland Lighthouse until 1857.

(3) Fog signal: First-class Daboll trumpet, 8 sec Blast every 30 secs -1903.

(4) Directions from Boston:
      Take MA-3 S (Southeast Expressway) to U.S. Route 6 over the Sagamore Bridge.  Continue on U.S. Route 6 to North Truro.  From U.S. Route 6, there are four roads in North Truro that lead to the Lighthouse:

a) Turn Right onto South Highland Road and turn Right onto Lighthouse Road.
b) Turn Right onto Aldrich Road which becomes South Highland Road and turn Right onto Lighthouse Road.
c) Turn Right onto South Hollow Road, turn Left onto South Highland Road and turn Right onto Lighthouse Road.
d) Turn Right onto Highland Road, Turn Right onto South Highland Road, and turn Left onto Lighthouse Road.


      There is a parking area with a path to the Lighthouse surrounded by the Highland Golf Links.  The grounds of the Lighthouse are open daily throughout the year.  From May 1 to October, the tower of the Lighthouse is open for guided tours.  A small fee is required to climb the tower.  The Highland Museum and souvenir shop is located in the Keeper’s House.

(5) Due to the lower elevation, the height of the focal plane was reduced from 183-feet to 170-feet after the Lighthouse was moved 450-feet inland in 1996.

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