Chatham Light Station
Why it's listed
Chatham Light Station occupies a bluff on the west side of Chatham Harbor, at the elbow of Cape Cod, overlooking the harbor inlet and the Nauset Beach sand bar. It warns ships of Monomoy Point and the Pollock Rip shoals. The main elements date from 1877: a cast iron tower made of five rings of iron plates, a 1 1/2 story double keeper's house with jerkinhead gables and sawn vergeboards, and a white brick oil house with a slate roof and cupola. The tower has Italianate windows with hooded cast iron surrounds and a spiral iron staircase inside. It originally had a twin 100 feet away, which was moved to Nauset Beach in 1923, so Chatham is the twin still standing where it was built. A 1930s storage house and a 1937 garage serve the station but do not belong to its main period of significance. The station was valued for its integrity and its role in coastal navigation, and it remained an active Coast Guard light.
Significance in brief: The 1877 cast iron tower is a well-maintained example of the period's cast iron lights and is the surviving in-place half of a pair of twin lights; the other was moved to Nauset in 1923. The station also keeps its altered double keeper's house and has associations with the development of aids to navigation in Massachusetts. It meets criteria A and C at the state level.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 87001501, listed June 15, 1987. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | Main St., Chatham |
|---|---|
| County | Barnstable County |
| Listed | June 15, 1987 |
| Reference number | 87001501 |
| Resource type | Structure |
| Period of significance | late 19th century |
| Architectural style | Italianate tower details; Gothic Revival detailing on the keeper's house |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Engineering, Transportation, Architecture, Maritime History |
| Level of significance | State |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Listed as manned and active in the form. A later letter says the 1930s garage lost historic integrity through alterations and does not contribute. |
| Acreage | 2 |
| Coordinates | 41.66770, -69.95682 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
For a publicly owned building or structure, listing mainly matters when federal funds, permits or licences are involved: projects then go through Section 106 review so effects on the property are considered. Listing also strengthens applications for preservation grants and, for leased income-producing uses, can enable the federal rehabilitation tax credit.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 87001501.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q5087672
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.