An LED beacon has been installed in the Highland Light at Cape Cod National Seashore/NPS

Though the Highland Light at Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts has been warning mariners of shoals for 220 years, the time has come to move the lighthouse into the 21st century with an LED bulb.

Through most of history, lighthouses had fixed or flashing lights to differentiate them. Double light and triple light configurations, such as Chatham and Nauset lights at Cape Cod, further distinguished light stations so mariners would know where they were, based on the number of lights they saw. Eventually, the multiple towers were replaced by single towers with unique flash intervals and colors.

This evolution continues with the recent installation by the U.S. Coast Guard of a new beacon at Highland Light. While the National Park Service owns the lighthouse and adjoining keeper’s house, the U.S. Coast Guard maintains the lighthouse optics system as an aid to navigation. The new beacon is a light-emitting diode beacon that flashes every five seconds, but does not rotate.

This LED lantern has a range similar to the former beacon, but it uses much less power, and it has a longer maintenance interval. The beacon replaces several earlier generations of beacons that included Fresnel lenses and aerobeacons. Each modification has improved the reliability of the optics to assist the U.S. Coast Guard in fulfilling its critical mission of protecting those who rely on lighthouses for navigation and safety, according to the Park Service.

Highland Light opened for the season on Monday. Lighthouse tours and the Keeper’s Shop are operated by the park’s education partner, Eastern National, which also operates gift and bookstores in Salt Pond and Province Lands visitor centers. For more information about Highland Light, visit the Highland Light website.