Highland Lighthouse
by Joan Carroll
Title
Highland Lighthouse
Artist
Joan Carroll
Medium
Photograph - Digital Art
Description
This may be an unorthodox back view of the Highland Light (previously known as Cape Cod Light), but only because the sun seemed to illuminate the lens from this side on a late fall afternoon! Visiting the lighthouse in late fall gives a hint of the lonely and austere existence of the lighthouse keepers. The Highland Light s an active lighthouse on the Cape Cod National Seashore in North Truro, Massachusetts. It is the oldest and tallest lighthouse on Cape Cod. In 1797, a station authorized by George Washington was established at this point on the Cape, with a wood lighthouse to warn ships about the dangerous coastline between Cape Ann and Nantucket. It was the first light on Cape Cod. In 1833, the wood structure was replaced by brick and in 1840 a new lantern and lighting apparatus was installed. In 1857 the lighthouse was declared dangerous and demolished, and the current 66 foot brick tower was constructed with a first orderFresnel lens from Paris. Along with the lighthouse, there was a keeper's building and a generator shed, both of which can still be seen today. The present location of the lighthouse is not the original site. It was in danger of falling down the cliff due to beach erosion, so the structure was moved 450 feet to the west. Henry David Thoreau wrote in 1865: "THIS LIGHT-HOUSE, known to mariners as the Cape Cod or Highland Light, is one of our "primary sea-coast lights," and is usually the first seen by those approaching the entrance of Massachusetts Bay from Europe. It was said in 1794 that more vessels were cast away on the east shore of Truro than anywhere in Barnstable County. Notwithstanding that this light-house has since been erected, after almost every storm we read of one or more vessels wrecked here, and sometimes more than a dozen wrecks are visible from this point at one time".
FEATURED PHOTO, Five Star Artist group, 4/4/16
FEATURED PHOTO, Atlantic Coast of the USA Places group, 3/14/16
FEATURED PHOTO, Premium FAA Artists group, 3/7/16
Uploaded
October 27th, 2015
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Viewed 2,278 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 04/26/2024 at 8:12 AM
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