Part 1

STORIES OF CAPE COD

_by_ JACK JOHNSON

[Illustration]

A “DISCOVERY BOOK”...

Romantic Facts of All the Cape Cod Towns

Copyright 1944 by JACK JOHNSON

Designed and printed by THE MEMORIAL PRESS Plymouth, Massachusetts

Cover design by Leo Schreiber

First Printing August 10, 1944 Second Aug. 25, Third Sept 11, Fourth Oct. 1, 1944 Fifth June 4, 1945

_For additional copies of this book write_: Jack Johnson, Yarmouthport, Cape Cod, Mass.

_CONTENTS_

Bourne 1

Sandwich 5

Falmouth 9

Mashpee 13

Barnstable 17

Yarmouthport 21

Dennis 25, 29

Brewster 33

Harwich 37

Chatham 41

Orleans 45, 49

Eastham 53

South Wellfleet 57

Admiral Nimitz 61

Truro 65

Pioneer Trans-Atlantic Steamship Service 69

Provincetown 73

Cape Cod Fishing 77

Cape Cod Beacon 81

First Glider Flight in United States 85

BOURNE----

_300 Years Ago The Pilgrims Visioned Cape Cod’s $50,000,000 Canal_

Myles Standish, the Pilgrim’s engineer, first conceived the idea for the Cape Cod Canal in 1624. Governor Bradford wished for the development in order that his fellow pioneers could better carry on their fur trade with the Dutch in New York. He craved to “avoyd the compasing of Cap-Codd, and those deangerous shoulds, and so make any vioage to ye southward in much shorter time, and with far less danger.”

But, the actual building of this eight-mile waterway was delayed for 300 years. August Belmont took over in 1909, and the job consumed five years and $13,000,000. Later the Government acquired the Canal--to date the total cost, including periodic dredging and other improvements, is said to be around $50,000,000.

The Canal has proved to be Cape Cod’s greatest contribution to the winning of the war.

George Washington saw its military value. In 1776, when he was in Boston, planning to send troops to New York, Washington observed that this “interior barrier should be cut in order to give greater security to navigation, and against the enemy.”

BUILT TO PREVENT SHIPWRECKS

Often the military angle is mentioned in the long and hectic history of planning the project, but primarily the Canal was visioned to safeguard shipping in an era when shoals and fogs off this coast took a great toll of vessels and lives. Also, by speeding up traffic, the Canal was intended to help in the development of New England commerce.

Prophetic words were uttered by Belmont’s survey engineer while the construction was under way. These are found in some interesting material passed on to me by Bill McLaughlin of the Hotel Onset. “The Canal as planned,” said Engineer Parsons, “is quite sufficiently deep to take all the smaller vessels of the Navy, even to cruisers.... There might, however, arise a contingency when the Canal would be of the greatest value to the country in time of war.”

On the shipwreck problem hereabouts in that day, Parsons noted: “Of all the wrecks occurring on the whole Atlantic coast from Eastport, Maine, to Key West, Florida, one-quarter take place in the short stretches between Chatham and Provincetown.”

Numerous costly attempts were made to put through the waterway, and failed, before Belmont entered the scene. As the story goes, the financier was moved largely by sentiment, for when he functioned with a silver spade at the ceremonious opening of operations it was on land that once belonged to his ancestors.

Prospects looked bright for another promoting group just before the Civil War. It appeared the Government would provide a large portion of the necessary funds. But negotiations halted when the war started. At a later stage some 500 Italian laborers were imported to Sandwich from New York and they began work scooping out the ditch, using shovels and wheelbarrows. This lasted only a few weeks. Another means employed was a dredge with a chain of buckets, 39 in all, operated by two steam engines. Lack of capital halted this venture; the dredge was burned and sunk in the Canal at the spot where operations had started.

FAITH TRIUMPHED IN CRISIS

August Belmont’s engineer found quicksand in the borings when he began his survey. He was about to write a report to his boss and recommend that he save his money. But another engineer whose heart was in the Canal dream argued warmly that the quicksand was confined to the center and not over the entire bed of the proposed canal. A glacier had ploughed its way into the waters of Cape Cod Bay, cutting a furrow through the valley between Sandwich and Buzzards Bay.

The quicksand came of this glacier, declared this authority, and he added it was not general enough to be a serious detriment. His advice was taken, he was proved correct, and Belmont’s engineer submitted a report that was favorable.

On the south bank of the Canal, in Bourne, is a replica of the trading post, “Aptucxet”, which rests on the very foundation stones that were laid in 1627. Here the first business between New York and Eastern Massachusetts was carried on by the Pilgrims who then were intent upon getting money together to settle with their backers in London who had financed their voyage to the New World.

Meanwhile, Governor Bradford was observing the Indians paddle their canoes up Manomet River, then portage them over a stretch of land to Scusset Creek and finally navigate on into Cape Cod Bay. It caused him to think of the advantage of having a Cape Cod Canal.

SANDWICH----

_Joe Jefferson Described It As “The Handsomest Town Out of England”_

Joseph Jefferson, great actor of his time, called Sandwich, Cape Cod, “the handsomest town out of England.” And even today it is interesting to note that Sandwich--the first town settled on Cape Cod--imparts more of the nostalgic feeling than any other community on the Cape.

Massive trees shade her quiet streets, with their beautiful old homes, and the stranger is conscious of a serenity that places her apart from the modern world. But, Sandwich, founded in 1637 and with a present population of less than 2,000 has much to talk about.

The ancestry of President Franklin D. Roosevelt is traced to the historic Freeman Farm, at a junction on Route 28. Alvin Page Johnson of Swampscott, Mass., an accredited genealogist, definitely connects the President with Cape Cod ancestry and beyond to John Howland, a Mayflower passenger. Edmond Freeman was among the ten men who came from Saugus and settled Sandwich. He, according to data discovered by this genealogist in 1934, was found to be one of the early American ancestors of our President. Back of the Freeman Farm are boulders with bronze tablets marking the graves of Edmond and his wife, Elizabeth.

DANIEL WEBSTER’S HAVEN

“Rip Van Winkle” lies in another Sandwich grave. Joe Jefferson had a strong desire to live in Sandwich. Both he and his friend, President Grover Cleveland, negotiated to buy houses there, but were unsuccessful. Historians drop the hint that this might have been because the righteous Puritans of the community did not want an actor in their midst. At any rate it is recorded on good authority that Jefferson remarked to a friend: “They wouldn’t let me live in Sandwich, but they can’t prevent my burial there.”

Daniel Webster, great statesman, spent some of his pleasantest hours on annual fishing and hunting excursions to the streams and marshes of Sandwich. Daniel Webster Inn, the first stagecoach stop for Cape Cod travellers of yore, and still providing food and good cheer, was named for him. Webster put up there. He drank his rum straight and when he was not engaged in camaraderie with the townsmen in the inn’s quaint little taproom, the jug was delivered by a lift direct to his room.

Millions of American kiddies of this and past generations can feel indebted to Sandwich, for here, also, is the birthplace of one of their favorite authors. Thornton W. Burgess was born in Sandwich in 1874 and here he discovered the beloved little characters of his animal kingdom, whose adventures he put into print and which have lulled many a child into slumberland. Thornton Burgess had to put a little boy of his own to bed after his wife’s death, and that’s how he first began discovering his delightful little characters of the woods and fields.

The great meat packing industry, Swift and Company of Chicago, stemmed from the brain and tireless toil of Gustavus Franklin Swift, who was born in Sandwich in 1839. Gustavus’ ambitions came to light in early boyhood when he bought hens from his grandfather at 40 cents each, then sold each hen at a profit. At 16 he bought a heifer, slaughtered it and peddled the meat. At his death Swift and Company was capitalized at $25,000,000. Building the foundation for the business on Cape Cod, Gustavus would drive pigs through the streets of Hyannis, aided by a well-trained Collie dog. A housewife would come to the door, single out the porker she wanted, and the dog and master would then thread through the procession and work together to corner the pig until the transaction was completed. The Swift family moved to Barnstable in 1861. Tools used on Cape Cod in the beginning of the great meat business were collected in Barnstable some years ago and now form a prized collection at the Swift plant in Chicago.

FAME OF SANDWICH GLASS

Sandwich, herself, was in the big industry bracket. Indeed, the products of the Boston & Sandwich Glass Company have given the community national fame, and this fame lives on today. Sandwich glass, by virtue of design and distinctive colorings, is prized by collectors all over the country. Here the largest glass-works in the country flourished in 1850, with 500 master-craftsmen and a weekly output of 100,000 pounds. There is the legend that the first skilled glass blowers were from England and were smuggled into this country in barrels at a time when they were forbidden to enter this country. The famous plant is in ruins now. It closed down after a strike in 1888, though, at that time, machine-made glassware, turned out in Pittsburgh and Chicago, was entering into competition with the wares fashioned by the original Sandwich artificers.

Humor and curious laws and prejudices lighten the pages of Sandwich history. A story that always gets a chuckle is that of “Seth the Peddler” who, in 1669, was ordered out of town “lest he might become a public charge.” Seth Pope shook the dust of Sandwich, but before he left he announced he would be back and he would “buy up the town.” Which is exactly what he did. Thirty years after making his bitter departure, Seth, no longer the humble peddler, strode back into Sandwich and proceeded to purchase nearly all the land in the town. He built two houses and gave one each to his sons, Seth and John. Then Seth Pope left Sandwich for good after letting it be generally known “he would not live in the damn town.”

And, romancing was decidedly different in those olden days of Sandwich. Richard Bourne, minister to the Mashpee Indians, lost his wife, Bathsheba. Not long after, he wrote to a widow who was to be his second wife: “I have had divers motions since I received yours, but none suits me but yourself, if God soe incline your myndie to marry me ... I doe not find in myselfe any flexableness to any other but an utter loatheness.”

FALMOUTH----

_The “Marrying Town” For New England’s Greatest Military Camp_

When New England’s greatest military camp was developed almost on Falmouth’s doorstep, this very picturesque old community, with its rich store of whaling lore and seafaring color, became the busiest and most exciting center on all Cape Cod.

Falmouth has had a notable number of wartime marriages in the New England area. Many and many a Camp Edwards soldier, before embarking for foreign duty has been joined in wedlock. And, these young people who made the most of a few fleeting hours have come from widespread parts of the country.

The time factor also was precious in Falmouth romances of olden days. There’s the story of the sailing-ship master of the last century. His wedding plans were all arranged when he received orders to sail out of New Bedford to Germany with a cargo of oil. A friend arranged to have his beloved and the parson ready at the hour when the vessel would arrive off Falmouth.

No time was lost. The skipper rowed ashore and sped to the new house he had built for his bride. The ceremony was performed, he kissed his bride farewell and an hour later was over the water again, resuming a voyage to Bremen.

OUTSTANDING IN HISTORY

Falmouth is one of the most interesting places, historically, on the Cape. The first house was built in 1685; the town meeting custom was established in 1686; the first church was erected in 1796. The Village Green, most attractive feature of the town, is linked with the colorful course of Falmouth history.

Opposite the Green is the old meeting house; in its spire is a bell cast by Paul Revere. An inscription reads: “The living to the church I call; And to the grave I summon all.” A faded receipt is in a local bank, bearing the date 1796 and giving the purchase price as $338.94. The Green had its whipping post. Not many years ago the top of the post was found in the attic of a house facing the Green and was removed to the Public Library to go on exhibition.

Outstanding in Falmouth’s story is her rich fund of whaling lore. The Town’s Museum has a generous assortment of articles reflecting the great activity in this line: navigation instruments, revolvers used to put down mutinies, logbooks, handcuffs, harpoon and many ship pictures.

Elijah Swift, who began as a carpenter, is rated the most useful citizen in Falmouth history and he is credited with first bringing prosperity to the town. Elijah Swift knew wood, hence his services were highly valued when he was engaged to supply live oak for the shipbuilding program of the American Navy after the War of 1812. He recruited a large number of Falmouth men to go South on the live oak operation and, incidentally, he was successful in fighting the dreaded “yellow jack” disease in the swamp country. This business was destined to run into the millions.

INTERESTING PERSONALITIES

A living reminder of Elijah Swift’s works are the beautiful, tall trees surrounding the Village Green. He was permitted by the town, in 1832, to plant, at his own expense, the saplings that developed into these giants. The first summer after the planting was unusually dry. Elijah Swift hired a man to carry water daily from Shiverick’s Pond to keep life in the saplings, and this loving care he gave at the outset makes this scene today “a glory to the community.”

Falmouth has had, and still has, many people who have done distinctive work in their lifetime. Katherine Lee Bates, who wrote “America, the Beautiful,” was Falmouth-born. Edward Herbert Thompson, great American archaeologist, who did some of the most important work of bringing to light the facts of ancient American life and culture, was a Falmouth native.

Coonamessett Ranch, in the township of Falmouth, is said to be the largest ranch east of the Mississippi. Charles R. Crane of Chicago started cultivating it in 1915, to demonstrate the agricultural possibilities of Cape Cod. But he had an idealistic aim that was thwarted by the outbreak of the last war. The great acres were to have been settled by carefully selected families of the Russian peasantry, and the owner was intent upon carrying through his ideas for developing the possibilities of the less fortunate Russian folk.

MASHPEE----

_Where the Wampanoag Indian Tongue is Still Chanted_

Mrs. Dorcas Gardner, of Wampanoag Indian descent, sits in a low-ceiling little room mellowed from many years of simple living, and she speaks with the wisdom of her 74 years.

“Why? I come up against the word Why so often I have to let it go by. The Lord knows best. It should be a better world after this war. When you go to the lowest, there must be an uplift somehow. We’ve seen so much of the bad we’re bound to have some good come out of it.”

Mashpee (originally Massapee) is steeped in Indian lore. Here is Cape Cod’s smallest town. It has a population of 405. George Perlot proudly points to the town’s remarkable service record.

From the tent days Camp Edwards has had close ties with little Mashpee. Indeed, 90 per cent of its airport is on Mashpee land. But this historic settlement has always had more than a local reputation, as far back as 1658 when Richard Bourne began his evangelistic work among the Indians. Mashpee election returns are watched for and featured in the city newspapers, because they are the first to be announced in every State or Federal polling.

OLDEST CAPE COD CHURCH

The Indian Church, oldest house of worship on Cape Cod, is a rare landmark; likewise the Indian burial ground, whose oldest gravestone marks the resting place of Chief Popmonnett, who died in 1770 at the age of 51. The fame of historic Hotel Attaquin, a whaling skipper’s enterprise, is such that someone, in 1910, filched the register which bore the signatures of Daniel Webster, Joseph Jefferson, Charles Dana Gibson, Grover Cleveland, John Drew and Finley Peter Dunne.

Two men survive in Mashpee who still speak the Wampanoag tongue--Ambrose Pells and William James. One or the other intones the primitive language over the grave when a Mashpee resident of Indian descent is given to the earth.

In 1711, the Rev. Daniel Williams of London left a fund in charge of Harvard University for the religious education of Indians. Mashpee became the beneficiary of this largesse. Richard Bourne taught the Indians here to govern themselves; they were authorized to hold their own courts, try criminals and pass judgment. Further, Bourne caused a law to be invoked whereby “No land could be bought by or sold to any white person without the consent of all the Indians, not even with the consent of the General Court.”

A Provincetown preacher, one Mr. Stone, appeared before the Mashpees long ago and, in his sermon, laid particular stress on the evils of alcohol. One of the Indians was asked how he liked the sermon. He answered:

“Mr. Stone is one very good preacher, but he preach too much about rum. Indian think nothing about it; but when he tells how Indian love rum, and how much they drink, then I think how good it is, and think no more ’bout the sermon, my mouth waters all the time so much for rum.”

ANCIENT RITES RE-ENACTED

Another in the line of preachers who occupied the Indian Church pulpit was Rev. Phineas Fish of Sandwich. He annoyed his early American parishioners, because, while accepting a salary, he held church for the whites and discouraged attendance by the Indians. At a meeting of the elders some strong sentiments were expressed and ultimately Mr. Fish was forcibly ejected, after which “the lock on the door of the chapel was changed.”

Mrs. Gardner many years ago originated the Richard Bourne Day ceremony, in celebration of the ordination of the pioneer missionary. In August of each year the colorful pageantry of braves in their great feather head-dresses, their squaws with beaded buckskins, tom-toms, tepees and even papooses was witnessed at the Indian Church. The Indians came from Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and other parts. Their ancient rites were re-enacted and they exchanged reminiscenses of their family lines, while large crowds of white visitors looked on and let their imaginations roll backward. The war came and the curtain was drawn--for the duration, at least--on this picturesque ceremony at the 257-year-old Indian Church in Mashpee.

BARNSTABLE----

_Revival Of A Great Cape Cod Tradition Is Taking Place In Hyannis Village_

In olden days New England’s great clipper ships had a world reputation. Fortunes of the American merchant marine were at the crest in the 1850’s, when, also, Cape Cod’s memorable pageant of clippers and stalwart shipmasters were in full lustre--notably, the famous Red Jacket, which made the record crossing of the Atlantic on her maiden voyage in 13 days and one hour.

Today the spirit of this great tradition is revived here with a new, even more widespread, sort of drama. The historic Massachusetts Maritime Academy has established a “permanent shore base” at Hyannis, Cape Cod, to school officers for wartime duty in our merchant marine and Navy and--after the war--to train young men for technical jobs at sea or ashore.

This is definitely the most newsworthy and promising wartime development in Cape Cod affairs.

OLD SEAFARER GIVES ADVICE

The 100th class of this old school which had its beginning in the era of wooden ships and iron men was graduated in 1944 with colorful and impressive ceremonies. A full dress drill by a battalion of midshipmen on the Academy parade grounds provided a stirring scene for some 500 fathers and mothers and relatives. The graduating class was the largest in the 51 years of the institution. Governor Saltonstall, Rear Admiral Robert A. Theobald, U.S.N., Commandant of First Naval District, and other notables bid Godspeed and counselled the new officers who were to join Academy comrades scattered over the world in all theatres of the war.

Particularly interesting was the meaty advice Admiral Theobald offered the new officers out of his own 40-odd years of seafaring experience. He said:

“You’re going to have to spend endless days and months in the sameness of only a cloudless sky above you and a smooth sea beneath you. Don’t get in a seagoing rut. Get an avocation as soon as you can. I would suggest that you develop the habit of doing heavy reading on international relations. Your nation is in the middle of world politics now and will never recede again from world relationships.”

“We, as a nation, have been too prone to accept the notion that other nations have the same psychological reactions as ours. You will find it a very interesting avocation to get books and study other people of the world. You must go back to find out what makes them tick. And, also, this reading will enable you to determine whether your own statesmen are doing a good job.”

He made a point of impressing the graduates that a man in war never gets over fear. In a crisis of danger they would be afraid the first time, and the hundredth time, although each time they would learn more of what to expect.

GOVERNOR SEES FUTURE

Governor Saltonstall spoke of America’s plans for a great merchant marine fleet, and said, “I congratulate you on the opportunities that lie ahead of you.”

Capt. Walter K. Queen, U.S.N.R., Ret., chairman of the Academy’s board of commissioners, announced that the total number of Massachusetts lads trained for officer duty since the Academy was founded now was 2,277. In keeping with a long-time custom, the Boston Marine Society, established in 1742 and the oldest marine society in the world, presented its prize to Vincent Francis Leahy of Brookline as “the graduate excelling in those qualities making for the best shipmaster.” Prizes were presented also to other outstanding students by the Society of the War of 1812 and the Massachusetts State Society.

Cape Cod, pioneered by men of the sea, is an appropriate setting for a modern school of shipmasters. The future looks extremely promising and the Academy, hardly established on the new site, is steadily expanding. Its erstwhile students are in the thick of action in this war, and many of them saw the worst of it while “delivering the goods” to Murmansk. Some have been killed, some wounded and some decorated for valor.