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French Cable Hut in Cape Cod National Seashore

Sight · Cape Cod National Seashore

French Cable Hut

A small hut marks Cape Cod's part in the French cable story.

Photo: Public Domain
Type
Sight
Nearest trail
1.1 mi
Audio stories
6 nearby
  • Parking
  • Restrooms
DirectionsMap

Hear the audio tour

Nauset Light and the Three Sisters

Overview

About French Cable Hut

Why stop

  • A tangible piece of Cape Cod's transatlantic cable history.

Heads up

  • A quick exterior visit; public interior access and tours are unconfirmed.

Map

Where it is

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Full map
SightFrench Cable Hut41.85941, -69.95236
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Plan your stop

Before you go

3 active Cape Cod alerts

  • CautionSharks active in park waters through OctoberSharks are active in Cape Cod National Seashore waters through October; heed all beach guidelines and signage before entering the water. Check current park conditions before entering the water.Official details
  • CautionHarmful algal bloom advisories at Snows and Slough PondsDo not swim in or swallow water at Snows Pond or Slough Pond; the Town of Truro currently lists harmful algal bloom advisories at both ponds.Official details
See all 3 alerts
A park ranger sits on a dash-mounted phone, talking, as Parkwolf’s Tour Guide plays “Army Cutworm Moths: A Grizzly Bear Buffet” on Grand Loop Road below Dunraven Pass in Yellowstone
Parkwolf Tour GuideThe highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.

Cape Cod Tour Guide

Your drive to French Cable Hut, narrated.

Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Cape Cod National Seashore. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.

See the Cape Cod audio tour

Recorded for this place

Nauset Light and the Three Sisters
0:00 / 0:37
“You're coming up on Nauset Light and the Three Sisters, two very different lighthouse stops close together. For the red-and-white tower on Cape Cod Chips bags, follow the path from the Nauset Light Beach parking lot.”

Plays as you drive up to French Cable Hut in the Parkwolf Cape Cod Tour Guide.

More stories near here in the app

  • Doane Rock and Picnic Area
  • Keeping Pace with the Waves
  • Coast Guard Beach via Little Creek
  • A Pine That Can Start Again
  • 56 audio storiesacross Cape Cod’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
  • Wildlife heatmapsfor Gray Seal, Coyote, Red Fox, and 13 more
  • Works offlinemaps, 32 trails, 55 places, and audio download before you lose signal
  • CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
★★★★★
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
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4.7 from 8,600+ ratings

Guide

More about French Cable Hut

A brief stop at Nauset Light BeachFrench Cable Hut is a small, shingled historic building at the north edge of Nauset Light…

French Cable Hut is a small, shingled historic building at the north edge of Nauset Light Beach’s parking lot. It is a quick add-on for anyone curious about Cape Cod’s early communications history, not a separate museum visit. The park locates the hut here but does not confirm public interior access or tours, so plan to view it from outside.

The cable connectionThe original hut measured about 10 by 15 feet.

The original hut measured about 10 by 15 feet. The French telegraph company built this smaller cable-connection point in 1893, after moving its larger North Eastham station to Orleans. That earlier station handled messages from the first French transatlantic line, laid from Brest through Saint-Pierre to Cape Cod in 1879. A later direct cable ran to Orleans, a different site that is now home to the separate French Cable Station Museum.

See the hut in contextThe structure is small enough to frame whole from the parking area; a wider view helps show its…

The structure is small enough to frame whole from the parking area; a wider view helps show its roadside setting and scale. Nauset Light Beach’s public restrooms and bathhouse are seasonal facilities in the adjacent beach area, not part of the hut.

historytelegraphhistoricbeach

Wildlife

Wildlife in Cape Cod

All Cape Cod wildlife maps
Gray Seal461 sightingsGray SealMost seen around 11 AMSighting mapCoyote85 sightingsCoyoteMost seen around 6 AMSighting mapRed Fox300 sightingsRed FoxMost seen around 7 PMSighting mapWhite-tailed Deer49 sightingsWhite-tailed DeerMost seen around 6 AMSighting mapHorseshoe Crab264 sightingsHorseshoe CrabMost seen around 8 PMSighting mapGreat Blue Heron74 sightingsGreat Blue HeronMost seen around 6 PMSighting map

Sighting maps show where each species has been reported across Cape Cod. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.

Keep exploring

Near French Cable Hut

See it all on the map

Trails nearby

EasyDoane Trail0.6 mi · 30 min · 1.1 mi awayA short paved loop past a glacial boulder at the start.EasyButtonbush Trail0.3 mi · 15 min · 1.8 mi awayBraille, guide ropes and a pond bridge pack into 0.3 miles.EasyCoast Guard Beach Trail4 mi · 2.2 hr · 1.8 mi awaySalt marsh footpath to a wide Cape Cod beach.EasyNauset Marsh Trail1.3 mi · 1 hr · 1.8 mi awaySalt Pond, tidal marsh and a short loop through recovering forestEasyNauset Bike Trail2 mi · 1.3 hr · 1.9 mi awayA rolling paved path through woods to Coast Guard Beach.EasyRed Maple Swamp Trail0.8 mi · 30 min · 2.6 mi awayA short boardwalk beneath red maples, brightest in fall.EasyFort Hill Trail1 mi · 45 min · 2.9 mi awayA short field loop with marsh views and a 20-ton story.ModerateAtlantic White Cedar Swamp Trail1.2 mi · 1 hr · 3.8 mi awayBoardwalk through cedar swamp; half a mile of soft sand after.

More stops nearby

Sight · 0.1 mi awayNauset LightThe red-and-white tower printed on the Cape Cod Chips bag.Sight · 0.2 mi awayThree Sisters LighthousesThree small towers with a story that wandered inland.Entrance station · 1 mi awayLittle Creek Beach Shuttle and Fee StationSettle fees and catch the Coast Guard Beach shuttle here.Beach · 1 mi awayCoast Guard BeachOpen Atlantic sand, where the Great Beach begins.Sight · 1.1 mi awayDoane RockA giant ice-age erratic with an accessible woodland loop nearby.Picnic area · 1.1 mi awayDoane Rock Picnic AreaA covered picnic stop with an easy forest loop next door.Sight · 1.2 mi awayDoane Homestead SiteA vanished 17th-century home left unusually vivid archaeological clues.Visitor center · 1.8 mi awaySalt Pond Visitor CenterRanger help, local history, and a view over Salt Pond.

Parkwolf’s Cape Cod ranking

Top sights in Cape Cod

All 55 places
  1. 1Nauset LightSight
  2. 2Coast Guard BeachBeach
  3. 3Race Point BeachBeach
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  5. 5Highland LightSight
  6. 6Marconi BeachBeach

Take Parkwolf to Cape Cod.

The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.

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