Pocasset’s Wings Neck Lighthouse is the perfect spot to infuse your Cape Cod vacation with history without sacrificing a stellar location and view. Yes, you and your family can spend a week (or a long weekend beginning November 1st) in an actual Cape Cod lightkeeper’s home.
What is the History of the Wings Neck Lighthouse?
The original Wings Neck Lighthouse was built in 1849. Like many early Cape Cod lighthouses, the original lantern was built into the roof of a Cape Cod-style home. The lantern served as a beacon warning ship traveling through Buzzards Bay to busy ports in Wareham and Sandwich. In 1914 when the Cape Cod Canal opened, the lighthouse guided ships safely through the bay.
Forty years later, in 1889, damage from a fire and general disrepair required the construction of a new keeper’s house with its attached hexagonal wooden tower housing the lantern.
For many years, the Wings Neck Lighthouse was considered one of the most important lighthouses on the Atlantic Coast because of the heavy shipping in the Cape Cod Canal. It was decommissioned in 1943. While new technology like GPS and sonar has made many lighthouses obsolete, the history and romance of lighthouses with their flashing lanterns lighting up misty coastlines, serving as a beacon in the night for those at sea, remains.
This sense of seaside history, novelty, and romance draw visitors to vacation at Wings Neck Lighthouse. It may also be that Wings Neck Lighthouse happens to be situated on a gorgeous spit of rolling rocky New England shoreline steps from the water with one of the most remarkable views of the Atlantic you will ever experience.
In 1947, the government sold the Wings Neck Lighthouse to Frank and Irene Flannagan, who enjoyed the golden years of their retirement caring for the property until Irene passed away in 1999.
Who Owns the Wings Neck Lighthouse Now?
The Wings Neck Lighthouse is privately owned and managed by the Wings Neck Lighthouse Trust. Fully renovated and updated in 2003, it is full of coastal charm and a host of amenities, including a private beach, outdoor shower, fully outfitted kitchen, washer and dryer, and sleeping accommodations for eight people.
Is the Light Tower open to Guests?
Yes! The lighthouse is attached to the home by a breezeway accessed through the family room. A mahogany spiral staircase will take you to the top of the light tower, where you can climb a ladder to the glassed-in area that once held the lantern.
A memorable experience
The lighthouse is available for weekly rentals throughout the high season and limited long weekends after November 1st. If you are looking for a memorable vacation rental with a spectacular view, a private sandy beach, and a home steeped in hundreds of years of Cape Cod history, the Wings Neck Lighthouse will not disappoint.
For another opportunity to stay in a lighthouse or keeper’s house on Cape Cod, check out the Race Point Lighthouse located in the Cape Cod National Seashore just outside of Provincetown.
