In November 1857, word reached Provincetown that the schooner E. Nickerson was missing and presumed lost with all on board. Built at Essex in 1850 and previously enrolled at Barnstable, […]
GRAVEYARD SHIFT
The Freemans of San Francisco and Provincetown
Simple markers belie the dramatic tale of a seafaring family’s adventures, misfortunes, and resilience
The name Freeman looms large in the annals of Cape Cod history. In 1637, Edmund Freeman (1596-1682) was a founder of Sandwich, the Cape’s first town, and later became prominent […]
GRAVEYARD SHIFT
Remembering the Wreck of the Jason
The awful night in December 1893 when 26 mariners died on Truro’s back shore
The story of the wreck of the British ship Jason in December 1893 is one that serves as a dramatic reminder that the history of Cape Cod is inextricably linked […]
GRAVEYARD SHIFT
Finding His Marbles: The Art of Oliver H. Linnell
Only a few of his distinctive headstones have been inventoried
Even on an overcast day in Truro’s Pine Grove Cemetery, a small marble headstone glows with an other-worldly presence. A beautifully rendered hand clutching a simple flower points downward to […]
GRAVEYARD SHIFT
A Father’s Last Devotion: The Death of Amos Sellew
The sad story of the architect of Truro’s Christian Union Church
In a corner of Truro’s Old North Cemetery is a group of stones with the name Sellew. They were Pond Villagers, as the folks in North Truro were once called, […]
GRAVEYARD SHIFT
Living on the Eminence
By the lighthouse, the Smalls welcomed Henry David Thoreau to Truro
“These are the Highlands of Cape Cod, the most dangerous point on the Cape,” wrote Shebnah Rich in his landmark Truro history. “No place, perhaps, has witnessed more shipwrecks, and […]
GRAVEYARD SHIFT
The Lifesaving Legacy of Capt. David H. Atkins
A historian lifts the shadow cast by anonymous critics and unfounded reporting
Edward Rowe Snow, the master chronicler of New England sea stories, wrote a letter to the Provincetown Advocate in February 1964, seeking information about descendants of Capt. David H. Atkins, […]
GRAVEYARD SHIFT
In Althea Boxell’s Pages, a Hidden History of Provincetown
Collected in a visitor’s scrapbook, nuggets of ‘old-timer’ gold
As history buffs explore the Provincetown History Preservation Project’s collections online, one name, Althea Boxell (1910-1988), pops up repeatedly. But were it not for Provincetown artist John Dowd, we might […]
GRAVEYARD SHIFT
The Long-Lived Gross Sisters of Wellfleet
Connections to Kamehameha, and other stories seagoing families needed to believe
“A most remarkable picture was taken yesterday” read an item in the Sept. 30, 1851 issue of the Boston Evening Transcript. The story announced that the artists Ormsbee and Silsbee […]
GRAVEYARD SHIFT
Mr. Greenough’s Tea
A wreck at Race Point plunged the Outer Cape into Revolutionary politics
In Wellfleet’s Duck Creek Cemetery, three remarkably well-preserved colonial headstones with classic iconography are a tangible reminder of the John Greenough family. The stones, like too many in Cape Cod’s […]
GRAVEYARD SHIFT
Amazing Grace: A Mother’s Legacy
The deathbed testament of Grace Smith in 1710 offers a timeless creed
A bronze tablet attached to a boulder in Eastham’s Cove Burial Ground is one of the few tangible reminders of the Ralph Smith (or Smythe) family, who arrived in Eastham […]
GRAVEYARD SHIFT
The Schooner Rienzi and the ‘Mystery Brig’
A 15-month voyage in 1859 and 1860 was long remembered for a strange encounter
During Provincetown’s fishing and whaling heyday, the Bowly brothers — Joshua Elsbury (1813-1883) and Gideon (1816-1893) — were among the town’s most prominent owners and outfitters of vessels. In 1849, […]
GRAVEYARD SHIFT
Isaiah Hatch and the Wreck of the Franklin
On his first excursion to Cape Cod in October 1849, Henry David Thoreau stopped in Cohasset to view the gut-wrenching aftermath of the wreck of the brig St. John, carrying […]
GRAVEYARD SHIFT
Freeman Hatch, Eastham’s Captain of the Saucy, Wild Clipper
His 76-day, 5-hour voyage from San Francisco to Boston has never been equalled
In Eastham’s Evergreen Cemetery where, last spring, the courageous service of the keepers of Nauset Beach Light Station was honored with a solemn ceremony, the nephew of keeper Henry Young […]
GRAVEYARD SHIFT
The Illustrious Atwoods of Provincetown
The life of Nathaniel Ellis Atwood spanned the town’s golden era
Henry David Thoreau, enjoying his fourth and last visit to Cape Cod, wrote in his journal dated June 21, 1857 that he had “called on Mr. Atwood, the Representative of […]
