The Cape Cod National Seashore (CCNS) encompasses 43,607 acres on Cape Cod, in Massachusetts. CCNS was created on August 7, 1961, by President John F. Kennedy, when he signed a bill enacting the legislation he first co-sponsored as a Senator a few years prior. It includes ponds, woods and beachfront of the Atlantic coastal pine barrens ecoregion. The CCNS includes nearly 40 miles (64 km) of seashore along the Atlantic-facing eastern shore of Cape Cod, in the towns of Provincetown, Truro, Wellfleet, Eastham, Orleans and Chatham. It is administered by the National Park Service.
Eastham is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, Barnstable County being coextensive with Cape Cod. The population was 5,752 at the 2020 census.
This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Barnstable County, Massachusetts.
Nauset Light, officially Nauset Beach Light, is a restored lighthouse on the Cape Cod National Seashore near Eastham, Massachusetts, erected in 1923 using the 1877 tower that was moved here from the Chatham Light. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The tower is a cast-iron plate shell lined with brick and stands 48 feet (15 m) high. The adjacent oil house is made of brick and has also been restored. Fully automated, the beacon is a private aid to navigation. Tours of the tower and oil house are available in summer from the Nauset Light Preservation Society which operates, maintains and interprets the site. The tower is located adjacent to Nauset Light Beach.
Race Point Light is a historic lighthouse on Cape Cod, in Provincetown, Massachusetts; it is on the National Register of Historic Places. The original tower, first illuminated in 1816, was replaced in 1876 with the current 45-foot tall iron-plated tower and a new keeper's dwelling. The American Lighthouse Foundation operates the property and rents out two buildings for overnight stays. The actual light is maintained by the Coast Guard. The site is reached by walking about 45 minutes over sand; with a National Park Service Oversand Permit, a four-wheel-drive vehicle can be used.
The Highland Light is an active lighthouse on the Cape Cod National Seashore in North Truro, Massachusetts. The current tower was erected in 1857, replacing two earlier towers that had been built in 1797 and 1831. It is the oldest and tallest lighthouse on Cape Cod.
Long Point Light Station is a historic lighthouse at the northeast tip of Long Point in Provincetown, Massachusetts. As a navigational aid, it marks the southwest edge of the entrance to Provincetown Harbor. The United States Coast Guard Light List describes it simply as a "white square tower". The light it casts is green, occulting every 4 seconds, and, at a focal height of 35.5 feet (10.8 m) above mean sea level, has a visible range of 8 nautical miles. When the weather affords low-visibility, one can hear the station's fog horn – sounding a single blast for two seconds, and repeating every 15 seconds – as it seems to call out for its nearly-identical closest neighbor, the Wood End Light.
The Atwood–Higgins Historic District encompasses a historic property with deep colonial roots in Cape Cod National Seashore. Located on Bound Brook Island on the west side of Wellfleet, Massachusetts, the centerpiece of the district is the Thomas Atwood House, built c. 1730. The property is emblematic of Cape Cod's colonial origins and its later transformation into a summer resort area. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976; the district was listed in 2010. The property is open for guided tours by the National Park Service on a seasonal basis.
The French Cable Hut is a historic building in Cape Cod National Seashore, near the Nauset Beach Light in Eastham, Massachusetts. Built in 1891, the hut formed a linkage point in the transatlantic telegraph cable of the French Cable Company connecting the cable, where it came ashore near the present site to its main station in Orleans. After the cable was abandoned in 1932, the hut was adapted for residential use. It has since been restored to its turn-of-the-century appearance by the National Park Service. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
The Highland House is a historic hotel building, now serving as a museum, located at 27 Highland Light Road within the Cape Cod National Seashore in Truro, Massachusetts. It is located in the Cape Cod National Seashore near the Highland Light in the Truro Highlands Historic District. The present two story wood-frame building was constructed in 1907 by Isaac Small, whose family had been serving tourists in the area since 1835.
The John Newcomb House is a historic house in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. It is best known as the house described by Henry David Thoreau in the chapter on the "House of the Wellfleet Oysterman" in his 1865 book, Cape Cod. The house is located in Cape Cod National Seashore, on a sandy lane off Gull Pond Road to the east of Williams Pond in northern Wellfleet. The Cape style house is presumed to have been built by John Y. Newcomb.
The Old Harbor U.S. Life Saving Station is a historic maritime rescue station and museum, located at Race Point Beach in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Built in 1897, it was originally located at Nauset Beach near the entrance to Chatham Harbor in Chatham, Massachusetts. It was used by the United States Life-Saving Service (USLSS), and then by its successor, the United States Coast Guard (USCG), as the Old Harbor Coast Guard Station. The station was decommissioned in 1944, abandoned and sold as surplus in 1947, and was used as a private residence for the next twenty-six years.
The Three Sisters of Nauset are a trio of historic lighthouses off Cable Road in Eastham, Massachusetts. The original three brick towers fell into the sea due to erosion in 1890 and were replaced with wooden towers on brick foundations in 1892. The Sisters were decommissioned in 1911 but one of them, the Beacon, was moved back from the shoreline and attached to the keeper's house. It continued to operate but was replaced by a new steel tower, the Nauset Light, in 1923.
This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Cape Cod National Seashore.
The Truro Highlands Historic District encompasses an area of North Truro, Massachusetts, within the Cape Cod National Seashore, that has served as a recreational destination for more than 175 years. The major features of the district, which is centered on Highland Road east of US Route 6, are the Highland Light Station, the Highland House, and the Highland Golf Links, one of the oldest golf courses on Cape Cod.
The Gershom Durgin House is a historic house at 391 Franklin Highway in Andover, New Hampshire. Probably built between 1808 and 1820, it is a well-preserved example of an early 19th-century Cape Cod style house. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.
The Samuel and Minette Kuhn House is a historic house in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. It is one of a modest number of surviving houses in Wellfleet that combine elements of Modern architecture with traditional Cape Cod architecture. The single-story wood-frame house was built in 1960 to a design by Nathaniel Saltonstall, founder of Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art. The Kuhns were exposed to Saltonstall's work when they stayed at The Colony, another property he designed that is located nearby on Griffins Island. The house incorporates Bauhaus design principles of simplicity and economy, and is based around the idea of square modules, which are repeated on small, medium and large scales, affecting the room shapes and sizes, windows, and interior furnishings and decorations. The house, which is within the bounds of the Cape Cod National Seashore, was sold by the Kuhns to the National Park Service in 1973, but they retained right of occupancy for 25 years. The Park Service began using the property for employee housing in 2003.
The Peter Kugel House, also known as the Kugel-Gips House, is a historic house at 188 Way 626, Wellfleet, Massachusetts, in Cape Cod National Seashore. It is one of a modest number of surviving houses in Wellfleet that combine elements of Modern architecture with traditional Cape Cod architecture. This house was built in 1970 to a design by architect Charlie Zehnder, who took his design inspiration for it from the Fallingwater estate designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
The Paul and Madeleine Weidlinger House, also known simply as the Weidlinger House, is a historic house at 54 Valley Road in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. It is one of a modest number of surviving houses in Wellfleet that combine elements of Modern architecture with traditional Cape Cod architecture. The single story wood-frame house was built in 1954 by designer Paul Weidlinger for his family's use. It is located on a steep grade overlooking Higgins Pond, with one end projecting over the grade. A deck wraps around three sides of the house, and large glass doors give views of the surrounding landscape. The house, which is within the bounds of the Cape Cod National Seashore, was donated to the National Park Service in 1973 by Madeleine Weidlinger. The house is the subject of a 2012 lease agreement between the Park Service and the Cape Cod Modern House Trust.
The Vera and Laszlo Tisza House is a historic house at 2 Deer Trail in the remote northeastern part of Wellfleet, Massachusetts, within the Cape Cod National Seashore. It is one of a number of surviving houses in Wellfleet that combine elements of Modern architecture with traditional Cape Cod architecture. The house was designed by Olav Hammarstrom, a protégé of Eero Saarinen, for Vera and László Tisza. The house is a T-shaped one-story structure with a central breezeway that provides views of the surrounding woodlands to much of the house. The main block, which is divided by the breezeway, measures 41 by 25 feet, with a 31 by 14 foot section added perpendicular to its north end. A flat roof, covered with rolled asphalt, extends for two feet beyond the edges of the house, and has exposed rafters that are visible both inside and outside the house. There is a recessed porch on the south side of the main block.
