During the late 17th and early 18th centuries the shipping commerce of Massachusetts was burgeoning and the government scrambled to provide mariners with navigational aids to protect business investments. Cape Cod jutting out into the Atlantic created a treacherous area for vessels plying the waters from Boston Harbor to the southern U.S. and the Caribbean. Two light stations were initially built to mark the cape at Highland Light (1797) and the twin lighthouses of Chatham (1808) but more were needed. In 1836 residents of Eastham requested the erection of a lighthouse to mark the gap between these two light stations.