Highland Light
lighthouse at Cape Cod, in North Truro, Massachusetts, United States
The Highland Light (previously known as Cape Cod 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.
The grounds are open year-round, while the light is open to the public from May until late October, with guided tours available. Highland Light is owned by the National Park Service, and was cared for by the Highland Museum and Lighthouse, Inc. until 2014 when Eastern National, another non-profit group, took over the contract to operate the facility as a tourist attraction. The United States Coast Guard operates the light as an aid to navigation. The United States Navy ship USS Highland Light (IX-48) was named after the light. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Highland Light Station.
History
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.
The public source identifies “Highland Light” as lighthouse at Cape Cod, in North Truro, Massachusetts, United States. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Highland, Light and lighthouse.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5758878. Authority coordinates are 42.040, -70.061. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1857, 1797, 1831 and 2014.
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This entry incorporates text from “Highland Light” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.