Marconi visitor pavilion being torn down
In yet another reminder of the battering that the Cape Cod coastline took this off-season the Cape Cod National Seashore was forced to tear down the visitor pavilion at the former Marconi Wireless site due to the steady encroachment of the dune’s edge. In 1903 From this location Guglielmo Marconi made the first trans-Atlantic wireless communications to Great Britain. Like much of Cape Cod’s oceanfront the site has been steadily eroding for years. The actual location of the wireless of where the wireless tower was itself is now well over the cliff face and some of the towers concrete pilings can be seen on the beach after a walk from the beach parking lot.
The Seashore issued the following statement regarding the the structure, “With the modern interpretive shelter a mere 32 feet from the edge,[sic] we began the demolition of the shelter and its concrete pad. We considered relocating the shelter, but its condition made this infeasible. In the future we will install new exhibits near the parking area, safely away from the eroding dune, to interpret the site’s history.”