Highland Light (Cape Cod Light)

George Washington commissioned it in 1797 — the first lighthouse on Cape Cod, built on a 125-foot clay cliff in North Truro. The current 66-foot brick tower dates to 1857. By the early 1990s, erosion had closed the gap to roughly 100 feet from the edge, so in 1996 the Truro Historical Society and state and federal grants funded a move: 450 feet west, 18 days of work, relit November 3. Henry David Thoreau visited several times in the 1850s and called it "a neat building, in apple pie order." The National Park Service owns it; the Coast Guard still runs the light.