Cape lighthouse mystery solved

by sweet east pearl | June 4, 2008 at 05:00 pm

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A Cape Cod lighthouse thought to be destroyed more than 80 years ago has reappeared — in California.

Local historians for decades believed the 30-foot-tall lighthouse that once overlooked Wellfleet Harbor had been demolished in 1925.

"The story has always been that that little 30-foot lighthouse in Wellfleet was taken down and destroyed," said Jim Walker, chairman of the Cape Cod Chapter of the American Lighthouse Foundation. "Here we are 80 some odd years later and it's been discovered. I think it's fantastic that it's not lost and gone."

The fate of the 30-foot-tall, cast-iron tower that stood at Mayo's Beach until 1925 was uncovered late last year by lighthouse researchers digitally archiving historic photographs.

Colleen MacNeney, whose parents, Bob and Sandra Shanklin have photographed every lighthouse in the United States, reported the find in this month's edition of Lighthouse Digest.