Name and Location

The Three Sisters Light #2 is one of three nearly identical brick lighthouses located within Cape Cod National Seashore in Eastham, Massachusetts. The official name is Three Sisters Light #2, but it is also known locally as One of the “Three Sisters of Nauset”. Its address is Cable Road (MA 6A), Eastham, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, USA (Zip 02642). The coordinates are 41°51′34.0″ N, 69°57′25.5″ W.

Construction and History

The lighthouse was constructed in 1838, approved by Congress in 1836, and completed in June of that year. It was first lit in July 1838. The tower remained in service until 1923 when a single taller steel tower replaced the trio. Tower #2 was dismantled and moved to a site adjacent to the modern Nauset Light, where it remains as a historic exhibit.

Architecture and Materials

The lighthouse is an early 19th-century Federal/vernacular design with a simple conical brick tower, lantern room, and gallery. The construction materials are hand-molded brick with internal wooden stairs and cast-iron lantern room. The original dimensions of each tower were approximately 30 feet (9.1 m) to the parapet and roughly 50 feet (15 m) above mean sea level.

Light and Navigation

The optical apparatus used from 1838 to 1923 was a fixed white light, likely provided by a 4th-order Fresnel lens. The characteristic was a fixed white light with no flashing.

Accessibility and Visiting

The lighthouse is open to the public year-round and can be accessed without admission fee. Visitors can reach the site by car or on foot/bicycle via the Cape Cod Rail Trail. On-site facilities include restrooms, picnic tables, beach access, and guided lighthouse talks in summer by National Park Service volunteers.

Notable Views and Landscape

The surrounding landscape features dune grass, beach trails, and parking area for Nauset Light, as well as walking distance to Coast Guard Beach.

Anecdotes and Folklore

• Mariners relied on the distinct pattern of three equally spaced lights to distinguish Nauset Beach from other Cape Cod headlands.
• After deactivation, one of the three towers was demolished for salvage, while the other two (#1 and #2) were saved and moved. Tower #2's use of salvaged bricks in its new location fascinated local residents, who nicknamed it the ����Recycled Sister”.
• Keeper diaries record fierce Nor'easters pounding the thin dunes around the sisters.

Technical and Operational Details

The lighthouse does not serve as an active aid to navigation and is decommissioned. No modern aids are installed on the historic tower.

Further Information

For further reading, refer to Wikipedia's article “Three Sisters of Nauset” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Sisters_of_Nauset), U.S. National Park Service's Cape Cod NS webpage (https://www.nps.gov/caco/planyourvisit/three-sisters.htm), and MassGIS Lighthouses of Massachusetts resource (http://mass.gov/mgis/lighthouses.htm).