Three Sisters Lighthouses at Cape Cod National Seashore

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See the Lighthouses web page for an interactive location map.

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VISITING THE THREE SISTERS LIGHTHOUSES

The Three Sisters Lighthouses at Cape Cod National Seashore are located a quarter mile from Nauset Light Beach on Cable Road. There are two standard and one handicap parking spaces along the road right in front of the lighthouse site plus a small parking lot that holds about a half dozen cars just past the lighthouses (towards the beach).

Three Sisters Lighthouses parking lot at Cape Cod National Seashore

If you can’t find parking at the lighthouse site, you must park in the Nauset Light Beach parking lot (a paved walking path runs between the lighthouses and the beach). During the summer, beach parking spaces are hard to come by from 10 AM to around 3 PM, plus you are subject to parking fees from late June through Labor Day. If you can’t get one of the free spots next to the lighthouses and you don’t want to pay $25 to park, come back after 5 PM. Or better yet, don’t bother visiting before 5 PM in the first place.

Path from Nauset Light Beach to the Three Sisters Lighthouses at Cape Cod National Seashore

Visitors are welcome to stop and see the lighthouses at any time during the day, but the tower interiors are closed. To get inside you must join one of the guided tours that are conducted on select days from June through September. Exact schedules come out a month in advance and are posted on the National Park Service’s Calendar web page for Cape Cod National Seashore (search “Three Sisters” in the By Keyword filter). Schedules are also published in a free newspaper that is available at the Salt Pond and Province Lands visitor centers. There is no fee but reservations are required. Call the Visitor Center at (508) 255-3421 no earlier than one week in advance to book your spot.

Tour guide lectures on the history of Cape Cod National Seashore’s Three Sisters Lighthouses

Sizable crowd joins the Three Sisters Lighthouses tour at Cape Cod National Seashore

The tour begins with a lecture on the history of the Three Sisters Lighthouses, then the group walks from the parking lot down to the lighthouse site. The first two lighthouses are open. One still has a light on top while the others do not. Participants can go inside the tower without the light, but there’s nothing much to see. Most people just peak in from the doorway.

One of two Three Sisters Lighthouses at Cape Cod without a light

The tower with the light on top is open for climbing, but there may be a long wait if the tour group is large because only a few people can get inside at one time. There is nothing to see at the top because the glass is too dirty, plus you are only 22 feet up and surrounded by forest. There is also some information and historical photos on display.

The only Three Sisters Lighthouse at Cape Cod with a light

First ladder to the top of the Three Sisters Lighthouse at Cape Cod National Seashore

Ladder to the lantern area of the Three Sisters Lighthouse at Cape Cod National Seashore

LIGHTHOUSE HISTORY

Lighthouses on Cape Cod date back to 1797 when the Highland Lighthouse (aka Cape Cod Lighthouse) went into operation on the north end of the outer cape. Lighthouses were also placed at the south end of the lower cape at Chatham and in the center of the outer cape at Nauset. At the time, technology did not allow for the lights to blink or rotate in a distinctive pattern, so for mariners to tell them apart and thus know their location, one lighthouse was used at Highland, two at Chatham, and three at Nauset.

The original three lighthouses at Nauset went into operation in 1838. They were brick structures only 15 feet tall and known as the Three Sisters. The winter storms constantly eroded the cliffs, and soon the three lighthouses were close to falling into the sea. In 1892 they were replaced with lighter wooden towers that could be moved inland when needed. The original brick towers were left in place until they eventually toppled off the cliff.

By 1911, technology was advanced enough so that lights could be distinguished by blinking and rotating patterns, so multiple lighthouses were no longer needed. Two of the Three Sisters were decommissioned and eventually sold at auction to private buyers in 1918, while one remained to serve as the Nauset Lighthouse.

The two Three Sisters Lighthouses that were sold were purchased by a lady who turned them into a house on Cable Road. The lights themselves were not sold with the towers, but were kept in case they were needed at some other lighthouse in the United States. Unfortunately, they were eventually lost over time.

House built with two of the Three Sisters Lighthouse towers

The remaining Three Sisters lighthouse was replaced by one of the Chatham lighthouses in 1923 (this is the current Nasuet Lighthouse). It was sold to a man who also turned it into a house.

In 1965, the National Park Service purchased the two towers that were sold at auction. The third tower was purchased in 1975; it still had its light. All three were restored during the 1980s and placed in their original configuration on the current site. Tours began in 1989.

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