It bounds down the alleyways off Commercial Street, its black cloak trailing in the wind, dark laughter bubbling from behind its horrible metal mask. Children dash home in terror the […]
History
ROAD TRIP
To Edward Gorey, Everything Was a Gem
The Yarmouth Port home of the artist known for his sense of Edwardian macabre is anything but scary
I have an image flaming in my head, and it’s glorious. Edward Gorey (or Ogred Weary, for he often used anagrams) drives up to his house in Yarmouth Port. He has […]
POLISHING UP
Letting Gravestones Speak
Robert Sweetman teaches the careful cleaning of historic markers
“Her toils are past, her apricots down, her scurvy and her love,” Robert Sweetman reads. “No, that can’t be right.” He kneels before the lichen-covered grave in Provincetown’s Old Alden […]
HISTORIC PRESERVATION
Owners Say They Can’t Afford to Save Capt. Joseph Hatch House
Commission deems the 1780 house historically significant
WELLFLEET — Matthew Walker and Sally McCarthy, who live in Washington, D.C., have applied for a permit to demolish the Capt. Joseph Hatch House, a full Cape built around 1780. The […]
ROAD TRIP
With Ishmael, on Johnny Cake Hill
In New Bedford, the whaling museum has history both ominous and hopeful
NEW BEDFORD — Herman Melville’s Ishmael certainly must have scuffed his soles on the cobblestones of Johnny Cake Hill. I know he arrived thinking “…whenever it is a damp, drizzly […]
ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY
How Puritan Beliefs Shaped Cape Cod’s Landscape
At John Doane’s Eastham home, evidence of rapid deforestation but no wild meat
EASTHAM — Somewhat surprisingly, given that Cape Cod is an enormous glacial sandpile, the first European settlers to build permanent homes on the Outer Cape were in search of dirt. […]
ARCHAEOLOGY
A Dig Reveals the Ways of One of Eastham’s Early Settlers
John Doane was wealthy, pious, and industrious and may have feared witches
EASTHAM — John Doane, who emigrated from England to the Plymouth Colony sometime between 1628 and 1632, became the patriarch of one of the first seven families that settled in […]
PRESERVATION
At Nauset Light, the Chance to Live (a Little) Like a Keeper
Preservation society and Park hope rentals will help maintain the historic residence
EASTHAM — The small house on the edge isn’t everyone’s idea of a dream vacation home. There’s no air conditioning, and a constant stream of visitors crowds the front lawn, […]
OLD COLONY
Riding the Rails and Rallying the Resolute
That time 150 years ago when Ulysses S. Grant took the train to Provincetown
PROVINCETOWN — Preident Ulysses S. Grant’s visit to Cape Cod and the Islands in late August 1874 was more than a mere celebration. Ostensibly, Grant was here to commemorate the […]
PHILATELY
One Small Impression at a Time, a Big Picture of American History
Hugh Daugherty’s ‘chockablock full’ stamp collection
Hugh Daugherty lingers under the low doorjamb of his 19th-century house in Eastham on a sunlit afternoon before he turns and leads the way through his office — what used […]
HISTORY
At Race Point, a Shipwreck Rescue Relived
Remembering the surfmen who saved lives with cannons, hawser lines, and breeches buoys
PROVINCETOWN — It was a dark Thursday afternoon with a squall moving in, the kind of conditions that might set the stage for the dramatic rescue of shipwrecked mariners but […]
HISTORY
At Race Point, a Shipwreck Rescue Relived
Remembering the surfmen who saved lives with cannons, hawser lines, and breeches buoys
PROVINCETOWN — It was a dark Thursday afternoon with a squall moving in, the kind of conditions that might set the stage for the dramatic rescue of shipwrecked mariners but […]
MONUMENTS
Inside the Quest for a Provincetown Fishermen’s Memorial
After nearly 50 years, a new committee hopes that a sculpture’s time has come
PROVINCETOWN — It has been nearly 50 years since the select board approved the idea of a memorial statue dedicated to local fishermen lost at sea. It’s a monument that […]
ERRATICS
Go Ahead, Climb the Rock That Holds a Place in Eastham’s Heart
‘No Climbing’ sign at Doane Rock will be removed by Park Service
EASTHAM — For at least the last couple of hundred years, the boulder near Coast Guard Beach known as Doane Rock has been a popular spot for rock climbers and […]
OBJECT LESSONS
Mind the Raincatcher
Beneath a door at the Wellfleet Historical Society and Museum, an ingenious sill kept wind-driven water at bay
Curious objects that tell stories of the past fill the displays at the Wellfleet Historical Society and Museum. More are stacked in boxes in the basement awaiting the completion of […]
