Notes:
(1) Stage Harbor Light was built on Harding’s Beach at the west side of the harbor’s entrance to mark the channel into old Stage Harbor.

      In 1606, Chatham was first explored by Samuel de Champlain who anchored in Stage Harbor (formerly called Port Fortune by Champlain) to repair his rudder.  For years, old Stage Harbor provided safe anchorage for local fishermen who were able to sail across the bar at the mouth of the harbor at high tide.

      Stage harbor became a important harbor of refuge after a safe 8-feet deep shipping channel was dredged through the barrier bar called Harding’s Beach and the Lighthouse Board recommended building a Lighthouse on the northeast side of the channel to “serve as a guide into old Stage Harbor, and would be of great value to vessels seeking refuge there and during bad weather” in 1876.  Chatham Harbor and old Stage Harbor are renown for the Chatham Fog that rolls in nightly during the summer as one of the foggiest locations on the east coast.  A Lighthouse was needed to aid the enterprising deep-sea fishing fleet entering the channel in foul weather.

      In 1880, a 36-feet high white conical Cast-iron Tower was built exhibiting a Fixed White light illuminated by a Fourth-order Fresnel Lens.  A two story wood frame Keeper’s house was also constructed and attached to the Lighthouse by a covered walkway.  Enoch Eldredge was appointed as the first Lightkeeper.


      In 1933, Stage Harbor Lighthouse was replaced by an automated light on a skeleton tower as a cost savings measure (see Note 2).  The lighthouse property was sold as surplus to a private owner, Henry Sears Hoyt whose ancestor, William Nickerson, first purchased the Chatham area from the Monomoyick Indians in 1656.

(2) The government removed the Lantern Room and capped the Tower in 1933.

 
(3) Directions from Boston:
      Take MA-3 South (Southeast Expressway) to U.S. Route 6 over the Sagamore Bridge to Exit 9; MA-134 towards Dennis/W. Harwich.  Turn Right onto MA-134 (2.0-mi) and turn Left onto Main Street (MA-28 for 8.7-mi).  Turn Right onto Barn Hill Road (0.4 mi) and turn Right on Hardings Beach Road (0.8 mi).

      Drive to the beach parking lot at the end of the road.  For a closer view, the private Lighthouse is a one mile hike east of the beach parking across the sand dunes.

      In season, the headless Lighthouse can also be seen from aboard cruises departing from Stage Harbor: