Cape Cod Lighthouses

Monomoy Point Lighthouse

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Chatham, Massachusetts

Established in  1823, the Monomoy Point Lighthouse helped sailors
navigate around the neck that hangs from the elbow of Cape Cod.

After 100 years (in 1923), it was determined that the powerful
lighthouse in Chatham was sufficient.  Sea traffic around
outer Cape Cod had lessened since the opening of the
Cape Cod Canal in 1914 so the Monomoy Point Light
was deactivated.

In the past overnight visits to the lighthouse were arranged via the friends
of  the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge group. Unfortunately the last
few winters and vandalism have required many costly repairs and
currently, in the interest of public safety, visitors are not allowed
to stay in the lighthouse or keepers house.

The lighthouse itself was built in an area that is difficult to get to.
During the summer season, there are ferry services that will
take you to Monomoy and back.  One such service is:
http://www.monomoyislandferry.com/
another Monomoy ferry service is:
http://www.outermostharbor.com/

These ferry services will take you to North Monomoy and
you should plan on doing a fair amount of hiking if you
plan on getting to the lighthouse.

Photos of Hardings Beach and Stage Harbor Lighthouse can be found at:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/182336341usgVVG?start=0

Long Point Light

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Marking the entrance to Provincetown Harbor, Long Point
Lighthouse is an unmanned light.  It is 38 feet tall and
shines a green light.  A fog sensor activates the fog horn.
The lighthouse was built in 1875 and the adjacent oil house
was built in 1904.  This remote light can only be accessed by
foot or boat.  It is now illuminated via solar panels.


Telephoto lens makes Long Point Lighthouse look
closer to Provincetown center than it really is.

For more information and photos of the Long Point Lighthouse,
visit the webpage at the American Lighthouse Foundation.

Lewis Bay Lighthouse (a.k.a. Hyannis Harbor Light)

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The lighthouse is listed as Lewis Bay Lighthouse, but it is now called Hyannis Harbor Light.

In the early 1800s Hyannis was a busy fishing and commercial port, and in 1840 more than 200 Hyannis men and their ships had arrived to Hyannis and called it home. To mark the port entrance, the Gammon Point Lighthouse was built in 1816 on the southern tip of the Big Island. As Hyannis kept growing and fishing activity kept increasing, there was demand for a lighthouse to sailors around treacherous waters is light Hyannis Harbor. This marks the right port, but it did little to guide ships in the inner harbor.

The conical brick tower was only 19 feet at the base of the lantern and was crowned with a room of the aviary style lantern. Inside the lantern were five oil lamps and reflectors that the guardian put into service on May 7, 1849th. It was a fixed white light with a red area, which guided the ships from the dangerous southwest sound. It will take several years before Congress did authorized a lighthouse at Hyannis Port. A law of August 15, 1848 announced $ 2,000 for the construction of the tower.

What you need to know about Hyannis Port

The first light was displayed as a hanging lamp in a window of a cottage for a number of years by Daniel Hallett in front of the house a lighthouse was built, where he was appointed guardian in the 1849th

The first guard, Daniel Snow Hallett worked for a salary of fifteen dollars a month and lived in a separate house in the neighborhood, as no living room was made available. But luckily he was not living far either this enabled him do his daily work and be able to return home in time as he lived in the nearby neighborhood.

So as to ensure he does not spend much for maintenance of the light, Daniel Snow Hallett often used sell printed instructions to safely navigate to Hyannis Port. Most Hallett was often assisted by his son, Daniel Bunker Hallett, who would go with his dog pilot to the lighthouse. The boy would stay until morning, light, then go home before breakfast, then go to school

It was a law dated September 28, 1850 $ 800 that then set for appropriated a wooden guard apartment. This ensured that Hallett had a house as guardian. Before then Hallett hard to do lots of moving around to keep the harbor functioning. For example he had to ensure the early in the evening he goes to turn on the light and switch it off in the morning or when it was foggy he had also to keep the light lit.

In the 1850s, the lighthouse at Hyannis Harbor was converted into a more efficient Fresnel Fresnel. 1856 Due to the small size of the lantern, it was removed aviary in 1863 and replaced with a larger cast iron lantern. Lewis Bay was so busy and it kept receiving many ships so it was necessary that the light house be upgraded to meet the purpose.

The current owners, Janice Hyland and Alan Granby, owners of Hyland Granby Antiques bought the site in 1985. The new owners made changes inside by renovating, peeling plaster, replacing rotting wood, pulling the carpet and Kitchen conversion included. This new owners have made a lot of changes for it to meet the modern lifestyle but still the light house looks so amazing even from a distance and you can always still stand at the beach and take nice photos of the lighthouse.

The first owners or keepers did not stay long as keepers of the Lewis lighthouse. This was not that they wanted so but it was due to political reasons since at the time politics in the U.S was not as advanced as is now.

Why visit Hyannis Port

There are lots of reasons to visit Hyannis port all you need is to select what to do first or where to visit first. Some of the activities you can do include:-

You can visit the Cape Cod Potato Chip factory and taste the final results or purchase tickets at the Cape Cod Melody Tent in Hyannis, which offers many acts of music and theater during the summer season.

For a unique land and adventure of water, take a ride on the Cape Cod mobile duck

Hyannis is the largest city of Cape Cod with many leisure activities, as well as surrounding cities to a wide range of cultural events and festivals, lots of nightlife and music, museums and miles of beaches Area.

You can observe the whales of Barnstable, north of Hyannis.

There are a variety of museums to explore such as the Maritime Museum, the John F. Kennedy Museum, the Classic Sports Toad Museum Auto Museum, various art museums such as the Cahoon Museum of American Art, or visit the museums Heritage and Gardens, near Sandwich, The Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra performs in Barnstable’s Cape Cod Performing Arts Center, Cape Cod’s premier concert hall in Hyannis

How to get to Hyannis Harbor

From Boston to the south, take Route 3 South to Route 6 on Sagamore Bridge to Exit 6, Route 132 to Hyannis

From the intersection of Highways 132 and 28 north of Hyannis, turn south on Hyannis-Barnstable Road.

Continue on Ocean Street Gosnold Street.

Turn right onto Gosnold Street and proceed to the Harbor Road

Turn left onto Harbor Road, where the lighthouse on the right is at the end of the road.

Note that this is a private property. Hence keep off as you may get to trouble or even get yourself arrested for trespassing and you will not want that for all the good reasons. Since the property is privately owned accessed to the tower and grounds is not possible unless you are a friend of the family. But do not worry as you can always be able to have a great view of the lighthouse from the beach or as you stand across the road.

Hyannis, Massachusetts

In service since 1849, this inner harbor lighthouse was in
operation until 1929 when it was decommissioned and sold.
It is now privately owned and visitors are not allowed.

This lighthouse is easily seen since the ferry boats,
departing to and returning from Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard,
travel right by it.


Hyannis Harbor Lighthouse as it looked in the 1800’s.

A great history of the Hyannis Harbor Lighthouse can be found at:
http://www.newenglandlighthouses.net/hyannis-harbor-light-history.html


For current  photos of the Hyannis Harbor Lighthouse go to:
http://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=484

More information about the Hyannis Harbor Lighthouse can be found at:
http://www.us-lighthouses.com/displaypage.php?LightID=77

Highland Light (A.K.A Cape Cod Light)

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The following was written by Henry David Thoreau in 1865:
“THIS LIGHT-HOUSE, known to mariners as the Cape Cod or Highland Light,
is one of our “primary sea-coast lights,” and is usually the first seen by
those approaching the entrance of Massachusetts Bay from Europe.”

“It was said in 1794 that more vessels were cast away on the east shore of
Truro than anywhere in Barnstable County. Notwithstanding that this light-house has
since been erected, after almost every storm we read of one or more vessels
wrecked here, and sometimes more than a dozen wrecks
are visible from this point at one time.

“Truro was settled in the year 1700 as Dangerfield. This was a very appropriate name, for I afterward read on a monument in the graveyard, near Pamet River, the following inscription:

Sacred
to the memory of
57 citizens of Truro,
who were lost in seven
vessels, which
foundered at sea in
the memorable gale
of Oct. 3d, 1841

During the summer of 1996, the lighthouse was moved back from the eroding cliffs in an effort to save it from falling into the sea.  The move itself was an elaborate production where the tower was lifted onto a wheeled platform that rested on a pre-constructed railway.  The tower was then pushed, ever so slowly, down the rails to the new site.  To keep the old brick tower from crumbling, it was encased in a “girdle”  of strong cable and heavy planks during the move.

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View from the top of Highland Light

For more photos and information about museum and lighthouse tours,
visit:   http://trurohistorical.org/

The National Park Service (Cape Cod National Seashore)
has interesting information about the Highland area at:

http://www.nps.gov/archive/caco/places/thehighlands.html

Another interesting page about the history of the Highland Light
can be found at:
http://lighthouse.cc/highland/history.html