{"nrhp_refnum":"11000823","name":"Truro Highlands Historic District","other_names":["Highland House Resort"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Highland Light Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Truro","county":"Barnstable County","state":"MA","lat":42.03818600000005,"lon":-70.06089768968687,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2011-11-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Entertainment/Recreation","Landscape Architecture","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A roughly 85-acre historic district on Highland Light Road in North Truro, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, within Cape Cod National Seashore. It contains the Highland House resort buildings, the Highland Golf Links, Highland Light Road and the Highland Light Station.","why_significant":"The district preserves the Highland House resort complex, including five early-twentieth-century buildings that reflect the tourist accommodations offered there. It also includes the Highland Golf Links, laid out in 1898 and described as an important early American links-style course tied to the trend of resort golf. The Highlands were also the site of Cape Cod's first lighthouse.","narrative":"Perched on an elevated clay bluff above the Atlantic in North Truro, this 85-acre district grew up around the Highland House resort. It lies inside Cape Cod National Seashore and holds eight contributing resources: five early-twentieth-century resort buildings, the Highland Golf Links, Highland Light Road and the Highland Light Station. The Highland House, a two-story shingled wood-frame hotel built in 1907, is the largest building and now houses a museum. Nearby are the Margaret Adams Cottage, used as the golf clubhouse, and a group of three cottages named Rock, Haven and Beacon. The golf course, laid out in 1898, is described as an early American links-style course and an example of the national trend of adding golf to tourist resorts. The Highlands' clay base gave farmers workable soil, made the area the first settled on Truro's ocean side, and supported Cape Cod's first lighthouse. The same clay contributes to erosion along the cliff face.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"No style","criteria":[],"status_note":"Highland House now serves as a museum and the former Margaret Adams Cottage is the golf clubhouse; the golf links remain in use as a sports facility. Cliff erosion is noted as a major threat to the area.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:10:51.930335-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/57/7940/63794057/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/11000823.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/11000823/b63b801117-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/11000823/b63b801117-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Highland_Light,_North_Truro_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Highland_Light,_North_Truro_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794057","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truro_Highlands_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16902011"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/barnstable-county/truro-highlands-historic-district-11000823/"}