Cape Cod

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The flexed bicep
Cape Cod is shaped roughly like the arm of someone flexing a bicep. It is divided into four regions: from west to east, or from the "shoulder" to the "hand": the Upper Cape, the Mid Cape, the Lower Cape and the Outer Cape. Each region is made up of towns, and most towns include several "villages." The Upper Cape town of Bourne, for example, is made up of seven villages: Sagamore, Bournedale, Buzzards Bay, Bourne, Monument Beach, Pocasset and Cataumet.

To the north of the Cape, enclosed by the arm to the south and east and by the mainland to the west, is Cape Cod Bay. To the south, between the Cape and the islands of Nantucket and Marthas Vineyard, is Nantucket Sound. To the southwest is Buzzards Bay, and to the east is the Atlantic Ocean. Thanks to its low and sandy profile, the Cape has countless inland marshes, rivers and ponds, many of which are great for swimming, canoeing and fishing.

Three major thoroughfares traverse the Cape. Route 6 is a four-lane highway for much of its length and extends all the way to Provincetown on the tip of the Cape. Route 28 is a slower road that ends at the "elbow" of the Cape; its many stoplights, bargain shopping opportunities and restaurants make it a parking lot on summer weekends. Route 6A, also known as the Old Kings Highway, runs parallel to Route 6 along the Upper and Mid Cape, but is closer to the shore. Its graceful turns through picturesque neighborhoods make it a favorite scenic route.

Historic villages
The Upper Cape refers to the area around the western "shoulder." The Cape Cod Canal cuts through here, connecting Buzzards Bay in the southwest to Cape Cod Bay in the northeast. Two bridges, the Sagamore and the Bourne, connect the Cape to mainland Massachusetts. Built in the 1930s, they are backed up for hours on weekends in the summer.

The Upper Cape has some very old towns. The oldest is Sandwich, founded in 1637. Native Americans have contested claims on the town of Mashpee as recently as the 1970s, and it is still the home of many Wampanoag Indians. Falmouth, on the southern shore, was founded by Quakers in 1661.

One of the villages in Falmouth, Woods Hole, is on a tip of land that extends into Buzzards Bay. Home to the world-famous Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, it is also one of the busiest ports on Cape Cod. With its mix of scientists, students, locals, and tourists, this is the Capes funkiest and most cosmopolitan village outside of Provincetown.

Shops and tourists
The Mid Cape is the "bicep" and includes the towns of Yarmouth, Dennis, and Barnstable. The village of Hyannis, made famous as the summer home of the Kennedy clan, is in Barnstable. This part of the Cape is the destination of many summer vacationers, who return year after year to enjoy the soft sand and warm waters of the Nantucket Sound beaches. Other features include the tourist attractions and shopping in Hyannis and the unabashed campiness of the miniature golf courses, T-shirt stands and obnoxious road signs along the (poorly zoned) section of Route 28 that runs through the Mid Cape. The Barnstable County Airport is located here, as well.

The quieter Cape
The "elbow" is called the Lower Cape and includes the towns of Harwich, Chatham, Orleans, and Brewster. Similar in feel are the "forearm" Outer Cape towns of Eastham, Wellfleet, and Truro. The Atlantic waters of the Cape Cod National Seashore, which runs the length of the eastern side of the Outer Cape, are colder and less protected than either Cape Cod Bay or Nantucket Sound, and the wild beauty of the dunes and marshes is very different from that of the calmer Mid Cape beaches. The many islands and inlets, while beautiful, make for treacherous navigation, and the Capes most scenic and photographed lighthouses are here, including the Cape Light in Truro and Chatham Light.

Although tourism is a major part of the economy of the Lower and Outer Cape, the towns here are generally quieter than those elsewhere on the Cape. The exception is Orleans, which has beaches on both the east and west shores and is the site of sport fishing in Rock Harbor. It is also where Routes 6A and 28 end as they merge into Route 6 in feared and busy rotaries. To capitalize on the traffic, there is more shopping in Orleans than elsewhere in this part of the Cape.

Provincetown (often called P-town) is on the very tip of Cape Cod, more than 60 miles on Route 6 from the Sagamore bridge. The Pilgrims landed here in 1620 before moving on to Plymouth, on the mainland, where they found fresh water and better soil. In the intervening centuries, artists and writers have flocked to P-town, inspired by the huge dunes and what has been described by painters as the unique quality of the light. It has also become a mecca for gays, who are able to be very open in a welcoming atmosphere. With all of these influences and attractions, plus whale watching, ferry boats from Boston, and scores of shops, restaurants, and galleries, its no mystery why P-town, like the entire Cape, is packed in the summer with families, couples, tourists and students from all over the world.

History of Cape Cod

The Cape Cod peninsula was created by glaciers that dumped their accumulated till some 18,000 years ago and then began their retreat northward, scooping out Cape Cod Bay. Glaciers are also responsible for the deep ponds that dot the Cape. At least 5,000 years ago, the first Native Americans settled on Cape Cod. These were the Wampanoag Indians, part of the Algonquin Indian Nation. As they settled the Cape, they split into five tribes. There are some stories of Viking explorations in the area about 1,000 years ago, but many experts do not accept these claims. However, it is well established that, in the early 1600s, Europeans started making their way onto the Cape.

One of the most famous explorers was Bartholomew Gasnold, who sailed from England with a small crew. During their journey, they anchored in Cape Cod Bay and caught so much codfish that Gasnold named the area Cape Cod. Despite attempts by later explorers and settlers to change it, the name stuck. Other explorers passed through as well, but the most famous visitors to the Cape were the Pilgrims, who arrived on November 20, 1620.

Although every American schoolchild learns about Plymouth Plantation, the Pilgrims actually first stopped at Provincetown, on the end of Cape Cod. Having missed their intended destination of Virginia, they were struggling to reach land safely before winter in the treacherous waters just to the east of Cape Cod. They finally found Provincetown Harbor, anchored, and sent a team to explore the Cape. The scouts found a stash of Wampanoag corn at a place still known as Corn Hill , in Truro, and "borrowed" it from them. They also found some fresh water in the ponds of that area, but decided they weren't a sufficiently reliable source, and so left the Cape and went on to Plymouth. However, while they were anchored off the Cape, they accomplished a remarkable feat: they wrote the Mayflower Compact, which established a fairly democratic form of government and ensured the social stability of what would be a very difficult colonization. Their history here is commemorated in the Pilgrim Tower in Provincetown, the tallest all-granite structure in the U.S., and in the adjoining Provincetown Museum.

Once in Plymouth, the Pilgrims remained the dominant European influence on the Cape, and, as their colony grew, they began expanding onto the Cape. The numbers of Native Americans predictably waned, in a story of epidemics and territorial loss familiar from other American settlements. The Pilgrims founded the Cape Cod towns of Sandwich, Barnstable, and Yarmouth in the 1630s, and a significant portion of their congregation relocated to Eastham in 1645. They engaged in farming and fishing.

New settlers, some fleeing the religious repression of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, developed new technology and industries throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. Salt works were widely established in the 1830s and were a major industry until cheaper methods were developed in the West. Glass from Sandwich was world-famous in the 1800s (the industry is remembered at the Sandwich Glass Museum). Cranberries were cultivated and the Cape is still a world-leading producers of the fruit. Clipper ships and the men to skipper them were produced in abundance on the Mid and Lower Cape.

These industries slowly became obsolete or were outdone by cheaper and bigger establishments elsewhere, but they also produced an unexpected spinoff. In the 19th century, the Cape Cod Railroad serviced the Capes industries and agriculture, but also, eventually, began to bring tourists from Boston and New York all the way to the tip of the Cape. This was the beginning of the summer tourist industry that has been the economic mainstay of the Cape for many decades. The 17-mile long Cape Cod Canal was finished in 1914 (and is still the widest sea-level canal in the world); in the 1930s, the Sagamore and Bourne bridges were built over the Canal, opening up the Cape to automobiles that have increased in number every summer since.

The Cape exploded in popularity and livability in the last half of the 20th century, and everywhere there are signs of the Capes struggle to find a happy medium between commercialism and its quaint New England roots. Cozy cottages with weathered cedar shingles, tacky motels with neon signs and waterfront trophy homes have all multiplied rapidly. Summer tourism approximately triples the population and a local joke has it that the Cape sinks a foot in July and August. Recent years have seen a dramatic increase in the number of retirees living here, too. In fact, the population of Cape Cod is the fastest growing of any region in Massachusetts. But the draw is obvious: its a beautiful place to be, with the most swimmable beaches you'll find this side of the Mason-Dixon line and a small-town, Yankee feel despite all the development.

Probably the Capes most famous summer visitors are the Kennedys. Joseph P. Kennedy and his wife, Rose, rented a house in Hyannisport in the 1920s. They later bought it, other family members found homes nearby, and the Kennedy Compound was created. Although the Cape is very proud of their link to Camelot - celebrated at the John F. Kennedy Hyannis Museum - Richard Nixon had a 20 percent margin of victory over JFK in his summer hometown in the 1960 presidential election. One of the Capes other footnotes in history is that Orleans is the site of the only World War I attack on American soil: a German U-boat shelled the coast in 1918, sinking two barges and a tugboat.

Throughout its history, the Cape has been separate from mainland Massachusetts in its geography, vegetation, architecture and culture. From its beginnings as a haven for religious outcasts, the Cape has appealed to those who feel ostracized elsewhere, including artists, gays and lesbians, and inventors. But every summer, and now even in the spring and in the fall, they open their galleries, restaurants, shops, and inns to hordes of families and tourists who call the Cape their home away from home. And, for now, theres room for everybody.

 

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