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French Cable Station Museum 50th Anniversary
July 2, 2022 at 12:00 pm - 4:00 pm
In celebration of its 50th anniversary, the French Cable Station Museum (FCSM) will hold a 30-minute ceremony at noon on Saturday, July 2 including a few brief talks and, at the end, play the French National Anthem. The Museum will be open for docent-led tours until 4:00 pm. There will also be a FCSM display at the Snow Library in Orleans through July. The FCSM is located at 41 South Orleans Road, the corner of Cove Road and Route 28. frenchcablestationmuseum.org
Addison Art Gallery, 43 South Orleans Road, invites visitors and celebrants to stop by for a toast and to view an exhibition of work by French artist Olivier Suire Verley. On his trips to the United States over two decades, Verley has greeted FCSM guests when here for his exhibitions.
About the French Cable Station Museum
When it was in operation, this station was the American termination point for a telegraph cable that came directly to Orleans from France. It was called Le Direct, the direct cable. It was installed in 1898 and was almost 3,200 miles long.
The first French Cable was installed in 1869 and landed in Duxbury, MA. It had been routed through St. Pierre Island near Newfoundland. Duxbury was a busy shipping area, not suitable as a place for submarine cable, and a lot of damage occurred from fishing and shipping operations.
A new French Cable was laid in 1879 to North Eastham at Nauset Light and a two-story station was built. North Eastham was an isolated area and difficult to reach in bad weather. The current building in Orleans was built in 1891.The equipment and men were moved to the new building in the same year. That’s correct, the communications cable went under the water from Cape Cod to Europe.
The station remained in operation until 1959 except for a few years during WW II when it was closed for security reasons.
The station was purchased in 1972 from France by a committee of ten prominent Orleans citizens who raised the money and personally guaranteed a loan. They eventually raised the funds to eliminate the debt. The French Cable Station Museum first opened to the public in July of 1972.