Eastham Center
The town center of Eastham — home to Town Hall, the Eastham Windmill, and the gateway to the Cape Cod National Seashore.
Overview
Eastham Center is the civic heart of the town, located along Route 6. Town Hall, the Eastham Public Library, and the historic Eastham Windmill are all located here. The town is notable for being largely within the Cape Cod National Seashore.
Your Elected Officials
Your state legislators represent this community on Beacon Hill. Check which precinct you are in at sec.state.ma.us to confirm your exact representatives.
Key Locations
Cape Cod National Seashore — Salt Pond Visitor Center
The main visitor center for the National Seashore. Exhibits, trails, programs.
Local Favorites & Useful Spots
Coast Guard Beach is consistently ranked among the best beaches in America — dramatic dunes, powerful Atlantic surf, and pristine sand stretching along the National Seashore. But this beach is more than scenery. It sits at the heart of one of the most remarkable rescue stories in maritime history.
On February 18, 1952, a massive nor'easter split the oil tanker SS Pendleton in two off the coast of Chatham, just south of here. With the stern section drifting and 33 men trapped aboard, the Coast Guard dispatched a 36-foot motor lifeboat from the Chatham station into 60-foot seas and blinding snow. Boatswain's Mate First Class Bernie Webber and his three-man crew — Richard Livesey, Andrew Fitzgerald, and Ervin Maske — navigated the Chatham Bar in near-impossible conditions, reached the sinking stern, and rescued 32 of the 33 crewmen, loading them into a boat designed for a fraction of that number. They made it back to shore in the dark, guided by the headlights of a single car on the beach.
The rescue was made into the 2016 Disney film The Finest Hours, starring Chris Pine as Bernie Webber. The real story is even more harrowing than the movie. What's often overlooked is that on the same night, another tanker — the SS Fort Mercer — also broke apart nearby, and Coast Guard crews launched multiple rescue missions simultaneously. The combined effort saved nearly 70 lives in one of the worst storms to hit the New England coast.
The old Coast Guard station at Coast Guard Beach (now a National Seashore facility) was part of a network of lifesaving stations that dotted the Outer Cape. These stations and the men who served in them are a central part of the Cape's identity — and a reminder that this beautiful shoreline has always been as dangerous as it is stunning.