Chatham: Cape Cod's Second Lighthouse

The history of Cape Cod's second lighthouse is (as was with the first at Highland) that of encroaching seas. Since 1808 its position has twice retreated before winter storm induced erosion. The next logical location for a lighthouse on Cape Cod, after the Cape Cod station at Highland, was along the Chatham shore. A light at this location would assist mariners make the passage from Nantucket Sound around the cape. Because there was no efficient manner at that time to distinguish one lighthouse from another (they all showed fixed white lights), the government decided to construct twin lighthouse towers on James Bluff, at the south end of the village of Chatham.