Cape Cod
- This article refers to the geographic landform. For other meanings of Cape Cod, see Cape Cod (disambiguation).
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Geography
Cape Cod consists of three portions:
The "Upper Cape" is the section of Cape Cod closest to the mainland. This portion of the Cape includes the towns of Bourne, Falmouth, Mashpee, and Sandwich. While part of the town of Barnstable is located on the Upper Cape, it is more commonly considered to be in the Mid-Cape area. Falmouth is the home of the famous Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and several other research organizations, and is also the most-used connection to Martha's Vineyard via ferry. Falmouth is also composed of several villages including Woods Hole, Quissett, West Falmouth, North Falmouth, Hatchville, East Falmouth, Teaticket, and Waquoit.
The Mid-Cape includes the towns of Barnstable, Dennis and Yarmouth. There are seven villages in Barnstable: Barnstable, Centerville, Cotuit, Hyannis, Marstons Mills, Osterville, and West Barnstable. There are many beautiful beaches in the Mid-Cape area, including Kalmus Beach in Hyannis, which gets its name from the one of the inventors of Technicolor, Herbert Kalmus. This popular wind surfing destination was bequeathed to the town of Barnstable by Dr. Kalmus on condition that it not be developed, possibly one of the first instances of open-space preservation in the US.
The "Lower Cape" is the narrower portion of the cape, which bends sharply to the north. This section includes the towns of Brewster, Chatham, Eastham, Harwich, Orleans, Provincetown, Truro, and Wellfleet.
The large area of water enclosed by Cape Cod and the mainland seacoast to the north is Cape Cod Bay; west of Cape Cod is Buzzards Bay. To the south lie Nantucket sound; Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard (both large islands); and the mostly-privately-owned Elizabeth Islands in the town of Gosnold, of which the most populated is Cuttyhunk.
Cape Cod is connected to the mainland by a pair of canal-spanning highway bridges from Bourne and Sagamore that were constructed in the 1930s, and a vertical-lift railroad bridge. The entire Cape is roughly bisected by U.S. Route 6, locally known as the Mid-Cape Highway, which runs as a four- and then two-lane freeway between Sandwich and Orleans and then as a surface street to Provincetown. Commercial air service to Cape Cod occurs at Barnstable Municipal Airport and Provincetown Municipal Airport.
History
"(Cape Cod is) . . . a vast morgue, where famished dogs may range in packs - the most uninviting landscape on earth." - Thoreau
As all American school children know, Cape Cod was among the first places settled in the North America. Thanks to its early settlement and intensive land use, by the time Thoreau saw Cape Cod during his four visits over 1849 to 1857, its vegetation was depauperate and trees were scarce. As all heating was by wood, and it took 10 to 20 cords of wood to heat a home, most of Cape Cod was cleared early on. Other areas were planted to crops familiar to the English but unsuited to Cape Cod's thin, glacially derived soils. For instance, much of Eastham was planted to wheat. Burning of woodlands was common to release nutrients into the soil. Improper and intensive farming lead to erosion and the loss of topsoil. Dunes on the outer Cape became more common and many harbors filled in with eroded soils. By 1800, most of Cape Cod's firewood came by boat from Maine. The paucity of vegetation was worsened by the Merino sheep and wool "mania" that reached it's peak in New England around 1840. Lacking any significant water power the early industrial revolution, which occurred through much of Massachsetts and Rhode Island, bypassed Cape Cod. After 1860 and the opening of the west, agricultural abandonment began on the Cape so that by 1950 it had more forests than at any time since the 1700s.
Much of the East-facing Atlantic seacoast of Cape Cod consists of wide, sandy beaches. In 1961, a significant portion of this coastline - already slated for housing subdivisions - was made a part of the Cape Cod National Seashore by President John F. Kennedy, and is thus protected from development. Large portions are open to the public, including the "Marconi Site" in Wellfleet, a park built around the site of the first two-way transoceanic radio transmission (by Theodore Roosevelt using Guglielmo Marconi's equipment). The area near Provincetown enjoys the historical distinction of being the first, exploratory, landing site of the Pilgrims, on their journey from England to Plymouth Rock.
On May 15, 1602 Bartholomew Gosnold became the first European to discover Cape Cod.
On April 26, 1717, the pirate ship Whydah Gally sank off Cape Cod.
Tourism
Although Cape Cod has a year round population of about 230,000, it experiences a tourist explosion each summer between Memorial Day and Labor Day, as the New England cold gives way to a brief but comfortable summer. Many businesses are specifically targeted to the visitors, and close during the "off season" (roughly 8-9 months per year.) Some particularly well known Cape products and industries include cranberries, shellfish (particularly oysters and clams) and lobstering.
Provincetown, at the tip of Cape Cod, also berths several whale watching fleets. Most fleets guarantee a whale sighting, and one is the only federally certified operation qualified to rescue whales. Most motels in and around Cape Cod provide coupons that offer discounts on the whale watching trips. Provincetown in recent years has also become a gay and lesbian culture center, attracting tourists to the various shows, shops, and events held there.
Islands off Cape Cod
Like Cape Cod itself, the islands south of Cape Cod have turned from being whaling and trading areas to resort destinations for the Northeast, attracting old, wealthy families, celebrities, and prosperous tourists alike. The islands include Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, as well as the Elizabeth Island chain, which includes the Forbes family-owned Naushon Island, which was purchased by John Murray Forbes with profits from opium dealing in the China trade during the Opium War. Several prominent families have established compounds or estates on the larger islands, making these Cape Cod offshore islands some of the wealthiest resorts in the Northeast, yet they retain much of the early merchant trading and whaling culture.
External links
- CapeLinks Cape Cod
- Best Read Guide Cape Cod
- CapeCodToday - Local News, Info & Links
- Land Cover History
- Cape Cod, by Henry David Thoreau
