Measured mile center targets
This 1930 view of the state highway along what was then New Beach shows what looks to be the coastal half of the central pair of target towers, at the right side of the scene. [Scrapbooks of Althea Boxell 10:95 / Dowd Collection / Provincetown History Preservation Project Page 4640]
Text last updated on 10 September 2018 | To permit naval vessels to accurately gauge their speed over a short distance, three pairs of target towers were built along Herring Cove coastline, where the sea floor falls sharply off to a depth of 150 feet off Shank Painter Bar. A vessel proceeding on a course of 311 degrees 11 minutes could track its progress with reference first to the southernmost target towers, one on the shoreline, one farther upland. When the upland and shoreline target towers aligned, the vessel was at the beginning of a course extending one nautical mile (1.15 statute mile) to the alignment point of the center targets or one-and-a-half nautical miles (1.73 statute miles) to the alignment point of the northern targets. None of the towers still stand.
¶ Republished on 19 December 2023.
