Have you ever wondered how some of your favorite National Seashore beaches earned their names? Some capture Native American history, some retain some English namesake, and some have gathered a right all their own. Marconi Beach is one beach along the National Seashore that has it’s own unique history and Cape Cod fame. Guglielmo Marconi made the first transatlantic wireless transmission originating in the United States from Cape Cod, at Wellfleet. The beach below the bluffs where his station was located is now what is called Marconi Beach. In 1914 he began construction of a new transatlantic wireless receiver station in Chatham and a companion transmitter station in Marion. In 1920 the stations were acquired by RCA, and in 1921 Chatham began operations as a maritime radio station communicating to ships at sea using the call sign WCC. Walter Cronkite even narrated a 17-minute documentary in 2005 about the history of the Chatham Station.
