Chatham Marconi Maritime Center, Maritime museum in North Chatham, Massachusetts
The Chatham Marconi Maritime Center sits on the grounds of a former wireless receiving station and houses several preserved buildings filled with exhibits about radio communication at sea. The site displays original radio equipment and explains how signals traveled across the Atlantic to connect ships with land-based stations.
The station opened in 1914 as a Marconi facility that sent and received radio signals between the United States and Norway. It later became the largest coastal radio station operated by RCA and served ships crossing the Atlantic for decades.
The center displays how radio changed the way ships and land stations stayed connected across the ocean, with equipment and objects that show the work of the operators who ran this place. These exhibits reveal the skill and responsibility that went into keeping communication lines open.
It is best to contact ahead if you plan to visit during quieter months, as operations vary with the season. The grounds are easy to walk around, and you can spend time reading the signs along the trails and exploring the buildings at your own pace.
You can operate replica Enigma cipher machines to see how coded messages were created and decoded during wartime communications. The Antenna Field Trail marks where the original towering antennas once stood, with signs explaining their role in long-distance transmission.
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