Lighthouses have played a critical role in the daily life of maritime towns whose role is to serve as nautical landmark to provide directional signal to ships. They are traditionally located in the sea or close to it to fulfill its objective.
The Three Sister Lighthouse’s location was not far from tradition. They were originally located in Nauset Beach on top of a cliff just a quarter mile away from the Atlantic Ocean shore in the Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
All along the Cape Cod, there were several lighthouses; however, many shipwrecks were found close to the Eastham shore which is the town located halfway of the eastern coast of the Cape Cod. As a result, locals from Eastham built the Nauset Lighthouses providing an additional and key landmark for sailors to be alerted they are about to reach the mid-point of the outer Cape.
To further enhance visibility, it was cleverly decided to build three lighthouses instead of just one aiming at differentiating them from the single lighthouse in Truro located north of Eastham and the twin lights of Chatham in the south of Eastham.
The Nauset Lighthouses were dubbed the “The Three Sisters” because when viewed from the ocean they resembled three ladies dressed in white dress wearing black hats.
The Three Sisters were in full swing from 1838 until erosion in the cliff threaten their existence. Unfortunately, in 1890 The Three Sisters succumbed and fell into the sea. Two years later, they were replaced and made by wood on brick foundations located just 30 feet west away from the original three lighthouse site.
The erosion in the Nauset Cliff continued and maintenance of the Three Sister became increasingly expensive prompting officials to decommission two of the Sister Lighthouse but leaving just one. Thanks to new technology advances, the lighthouse in the middle of the two along with the oil house were moved eight feet away from the cliff and remained operating and quickly earned the title of the Beacon. By 1911, the Beacon was the only lighthouse in Nauset Beach fully operating doing a tripe flash every ten seconds to honor the other two sisters.
Regrettably, by 1923 the Beacon fell into disrepair and eventually was also replaced by an iron and stronger tower known as the Nauset Light located away from the cliff and painted half in red.
In 1965, the two previously decommissioned lighthouse were sold to the National Park Service who placed them on Cable road a few miles away from Nauset Beach. In 1975, again the National Park Service bough the Beacon and reunited it with the other two sister lighthouses.
The Three Sister were renovated and positioned according to their original orientation in the cliff. They are now listed in the National Register of Historic Places
Today, The Three Sister Lighthouse is a key attraction in Eastham, located a few miles away from Nauset Beach and just 0.3 miles away from the Nauset Light.
