Transatlantic Cable Building
This little and insignificant looking building, located on the site of the Nauset Lighthouse, looks like a garden house. In reality, it is the site of one of the most important communication projects of the 19th century.
From the information sign nearby:
If you stood here on November 16, 1879, you would have joined thousands who cheered as the steamer CS Faraday delivered from France the last thread of a 3,000 - mile transatlantic telegraph cable. It was one of the first reliable undersea cables to connect the United States with Europe. America could now communicate with Europe in minutes, not weeks.
The small French Cable Hut in front of you housed the end of the transatlantic cable. Built in 1893 the hut was restored and moved back from the receding cliff in 2004. Remnants of the cable are displayed at Salt Pond Visitor Center in Eastham, Massachusetts.
For 24 years this and other cables brought messages and daily news to cities across America. Then, in 1903, six miles north of here Guglielmo Marconi ushered in a new age of communication by sending the first transatlantic wireless message. Cable technology remains in use today for some forms of communication.
Reaching depths of 15,000 feet, the transatlantic telegraph cable stretched across the ocean floor. Messages received by cable were translated onto paper by the mechanical recorder and then telegraphed overland.
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