When CMMC was being renovated, this trail was an overgrown footpath, covered in tangled weeds, small brush and litter. Then in 2012, the CMMC Board authorized a project to build a walking trail behind the museum building. This ten-minute trail follows the track to the first of the original Marconi antennas.

 

This project was led by a then 17 year old Boy Scout from Chatham, Elijah Eldredge, and it has since earned him the rank of Eagle Scout. The project team accepted donations of material and equipment from local vendors and businesses, and Eldredge coordinated a small group of fellow Boy Scouts and volunteers.

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Visitor bench along the Antenna Field Trail

Along the way, Eldredge worked with the CMMC Board of Directors and with Chatham Selectmen and Conservation agents, ensuring that all environmental regulations were addressed and that no plant species were harmed.

 

For months, they removed brush and cleared a four-foot-wide walking trail a distance of 650 feet to the top of the hill. Because the soil was loose and sandy, Eldredge and his crew lugged 300-pound railroad ties up the hill and strategically positioned them to prevent erosion. They also hauled and placed comfortable benches along the way so visitors can relax and enjoy the view towards Stillwater Pond.

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To read more about Elijah Eldredge's Eagle Scout project, click here to see the article from the Cape Cod Chronicle.(Article by Alan Pollock. Used with permission of The Cape Cod Chronicle.)

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The first antennas at WCC Chatham were constructed in 1914 by the J.G. White Engineering Company.  That antenna system consisted of six large towers averaging 350 feet in height in a straight line about one mile long.... pointing at Stavanger, Norway. This initial configuration was modified and improved over the years from 1914 through World War I and beyond.

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Google Earth users can click here for a 3D view of the Antenna Field Trail.

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For a full history of the antenna types in operation at the station, click here.