Highland Lighthouse, Truro MA.
(Also known as Cape Cod Light)

Cape Cod Lighthouses

Usually when one encounters a lighthouse on a golf course, the typical reaction is to putt your golf ball through the small opening and hope it comes out into the adjacent “row boat” or “pirate something”. However, at Highland Light Golf course in Truro, Massachusetts, (just outside of Provincetown) the lighthouse is not mere statuary, it’s a 210 year old beacon and warning to oncoming ships. Truro was settled in 1646 as Dangerfield , and it’s dreaded Northernly Peaked Hills Sandbars claimed hundreds of ships. In 1794, Rev. James Freeman wrote to Congress expressing that more ships met their demise near the eastern shore of Truro than on any other part of Cape Cod, and requested a lighthouse, near the Clay Pounds, that would prevent many of these fatal accidents. Highland Light was authorized by George Washington as a navigational aid to ships traveling the dangerous coastline between Cape Ann and Nantucket, Highland Light is 43 miles away from Cape Ann Light and 41 miles away from Boston Light. In 1796, 10 acres of land on a bluff that rose up 120 feet from the Atlantic Ocean, was acquired from Isaac Small of Truro. The parcel of land cost $110., and Mr. Small became the first lighthousekeeper. The 45 ft-tall lighthouse was just the 20th to be built in the United States, and it was erected 500 feet from the sea. The bluff Highland Light originally sat upon rose up 120 feet up from the Atlantic Ocean, and the light shone out a radius of 20 miles.

It was first lit in 1798 by 24 whale-oil based lamps and is generally the first lighthouse spotted by ships sailing from Europe to Massachusetts Bay The light shone out a radius of 20 miles. Highland Light was the first American Lighthouse to have a flashing light, so it would not be confused with Boston Light. A rotating eclipser circled around the light every 80 seconds, giving the illusion of a flashing light. The timing was erratic and the device never worked properly, it was replaced by a system of lamps and reflectors designed by Winslow Lewis in 1812. The height of the tower was reduced by 17 feet and a new 10 foot lantern was installed. Lighthouse keeper Isaac Small was displeased with the amount of time the updated system required and he was replaced by 70 year old Constant Hopkins, who remained at the post less than five years. In response to a 1828 report claiming that the lighthouse was “very imperfect—is easily wracked by the winds, which shakes the lantern so much as to break the glass very frequently” , a new brick lighthouse was constructed under the supervision of Winslow Lewis in 1833.

Henry David Thoreau’s visits to the Cape began in 1849 and he made stopovers at the lighthouse on his treks across the Cape’s backside (as the Atlantic side of the Outer cape is referred to). He described the lighthouse as “a neat building, in apple pie order” These visits earned Highland Light the distinction of being the only one out of four active lighthouses on the Outer Cape to be listed in the National register of Historic Places. In Thoreau’s classic book Cape Cod, he expressed concern that the tower would topple as a result of the encroaching sea. His writings contain his own personal measurements, calculations, and other observations made during visits to the site.

He wrote,,
The keeper entertained us handsomely in his solitary little ocean house. He was a man of singular patience and intelligence, who, when our queries struck him, rang as clear as a bell in response. The light-house lamp a few feet distant shone full into my chamber, and made it bright as day, so I knew exactly how the Highland Light bore all that night, and I was in no danger of being wrecked... I thought as I lay there, half-awake and half-asleep, looking upward through the window at the lights above my head, how many sleepless eyes from far out on the ocean stream -- mariners of all nations spinning their yarns through the various watches of the night -- were directed toward my couch.

Winslow’s nephew, I.W.P. Lewis, installed a new lantern and lighting apparatus, along with a new staircase and windows in 1840. Jesse Holbrook, who became lighthouse keeper that year, reported that “the interior of the wall was filled with rubbish, and the brickwork apparently thrown together without any regard to form, there being neither mortar nor bond.”

During one 11 day period in July, 1853, Keeper Enoch Hamilton counted 1200 vessels passing the station. A many as 600 craft were reportedly counted in a single day in 1867.

In 1857, a new 66 foot brick tower was built at the cost of $15,00., 510 feet from the edge of the Truro Bluffs. A lightkeeper’s building and generator shed were also constructed and can be seen today.. The updated Lighthouse was fitted with a first order fresnel lens from Paris. This made Highland Light, the highest on the New England mainland, one of the coasts brightest. . The lamp was upgraded to 1000 watts in 1901 and received a powerful coal-burning Daboll fog signal, along with the assignment of a new keeper and two assistants. Subsequent improvements resulted in the lamp being replaced by two areobeacons, each with a 1000 watt bulb and a back-up lamp, in 1988 the areobeacons were replaced by 110 watt beacons.

Issac M. Smal, grandson of Highland Light’s first keeper, composed a small booklet in 1891, called Highland Light: This Book Tells You All About It.
Regarding the daily life of the keepers:
The lives of the keepers are somewhat monotonous, though relieved in a measure during the summer months by visits of many pilgrims to this attractive Mecca.

The routine of their duties is regular and systematic. Promptly, one half hour before sunset the keeper whose watch it may be at the time repairs to the tower and makes preperations for the lighting of the lamps. At the moment the sun drops below the western horizon the light flashes out over the sea; the little cog wheels begin their revolutions; the tiny pumps force the oil up to the wicks and the night watch has begun. At 8 o'clock the man who has lighted the lamp is relieved by No. 2, who in turn is also relieved at midnight by No. 3, No. 1 again returning to duty at 4 a.m. As the sun shows its first gleam above the edge of the eastern sea the machinery is stopped and the light is allowed to gradually consume the oil remaining in the wicks and go out. This occurs in about fifteen minutes. As night comes on again No. 2 is the man to light the lamp, the watches are changed at 8, 12 and 4, and so go on as before night after night.

Small also made a plea on behalf of the keepers:
It is written somewhere that keepers must not accept tips from people who visit the light, but of course it does not really mean that, but should be understood that keepers should not solicit tips. When you have climbed to the top floor of that winding stair, and then have reached the ground again, and you are pretty nearly out of breath and exclaim, "My, but that was some climb," you would appreciate the feelings and condition of the keeper who had gone up and down some twenty times during the day. No law requires them to do this, but out of courtesy and your enjoyment they make the trips. Think it over and decide whether you would like to change places with them.

As the next century worn on, so did the coast line, and Cape Cod preservationists began a 1.5 million dollar fundraising campaign to save the historic Highland Light. In 1995, the distance between the lighthouse and the 117-foot cliff it rested upon had decreased to less than 125 feet. Highland Light was moved was by International Chimney Corp. of Buffalo NY and Expert House Movers of Maryland over a period of 18 days in July 1996.