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Cape Cod Salt Works: Harnessing Renewable Energy in the 19th Century Aug 21, 2019

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Salt works once were a common sight along Cape Cod shores. Today, a replica of a salt works sits on the grounds of the Aptucxet Trading Post in Bourne. Salt was in constant demand for colonists who came to the new world from England in the 1600s. It was mainly used to preserve food, and the colonists got much of their supply of salt from England. But they wanted to figure out how to make it themselves. Initially, they tried filling cast-iron kettles with water. “They’d build a fire under it, and it really was the beginnings of providing salt for the colonists,” said Marth Beth Ellis, a volunteer at Aptucxet. “It would take a great deal of time for the water to evaporate, and it would leave crystals of salt all along the inside of that kettle. And they would have to scrape it off, and the result was not a lot of salt.” The process also used up a lot of valuable lumber. By the 1770s, the colonists were fighting for their independence from the Crown. They also wanted to break their

Remembering One Of The Country's Oldest Summer Camps Jul 22, 2019

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Nowadays, the shoreline along Pleasant Bay in Orleans features is dotted with large private homes, many on stately bluffs overlooking the water. But years ago those shores were home to numerous summer camps for boys and girls – some of the first of their kind in the country. One in particular – Camp Quanset – was started in 1905 by a local woman named Mary Hammatt. “She did it as a way to create a playgroup for her daughter,” said Jill Klein, who attended Camp Quanset from age 8 to 16 and later became a camp counselor. Klein is a college professor and Interim Dean at American University in Washington, and spends time during the summer at her home in East Orleans. “The property that the Hammatts owned was vast and right on the Bay, and over the years they built the cabins and created a rigorous sailing program,” said Klein. The cabins had names like Windward, Bunker Hill, and Chin-Chin. There was riding, archery, tennis, and singing. And everybody participated, regardless of their

Nantucket Tries Its Hand at Silk Production Jul 08, 2019

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In the 1830s, silk was all the rage in fashion. And Nantucket decided to get in on the action.

Cape Cod's Restored Modern Houses Recall A Golden Age Of Architecture Jun 10, 2019

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Say the phrase “Cape Cod house,” and most people picture a quaint, grey-shingled cottage. But deep in the woods of Wellfleet, a group of outliers defy that stereotype. These are modern homes built by a group of bohemian designers who gravitated to the area in the 1930s and 40s and pioneered the school of modern architecture. Several of these houses have been restored by the Cape Cod Modern House Trust, which offers tours of the homes during summer. “A group of American self-taught architects came to Wellfleet and started homesteading and building their own version of modern architecture,” said Peter McMahon, who founded the Cape Cod Modern House Trust in 2006. “They hadn’t gone to architecture school, so this was sort of like a naïve version of modern architecture that they had seen in Europe.” These American designers became friends with a group of European designers who were emigrating to America during the run-up to World War Two – people like Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer and

The Six-Decade Legacy of the Cape Cod Melody Tent May 27, 2019

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The Cape Cod Melody Tent begins its summer season in mid-June. Most people think of the Melody Tent as a summer music venue, but it started out nearly 70 years ago in a different location. The idea originated with British actress Gertrude Lawrence, who spent a lot of time on the Cape with her husband Richard Aldrich.

Museum Exhibit Reveals Personal Stories Etched In Glass May 13, 2019

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The Sandwich Glass Museum is presenting a new exhibit called ‘Remember Me-Stories Engraved in Glass’ - a collection of glass items that the engravers and cutters at the Boston and Sandwich Glass Company made for their friends and family. “The stories are the artistry of the glass, the givers of the gift and the recipients of the gift,” said Katharine Campbell, the museum’s Executive Director. The Boston and Sandwich Glass Company was founded in 1825 by Deming Jarvis, a glass importer/exporter from Boston. He chose Sandwich because of its location – you could easily get from there to Boston by water. It also had marsh grass, which was used for packing to cut down on costs. And at that time, the Cape was very wooded, which offered a built-in fuel source. During its heyday, the company was one of the world’s largest glass producers - employing over 500 people. The factory originally produced a variety of everyday items. “This is back before plastic. So while we have some very beautiful

Tracing the Origins of Route 6, Cape Cod's Main Transportation Artery Apr 15, 2019

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Whether you live on Cape Cod year-round or visit during summer, Route 6 is a part of daily life. Most of us use it to get pretty much anywhere of any distance on this small peninsula. It’s so baked into the DNA of the place that it’s hard to imagine a time before summer traffic jams, before the familiar artery we so heavily rely on today.

Restoring The Plummer House In New Bedford Apr 01, 2019

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The Plummer House in New Bedford is one of the latest restoration projects to be undertaken by the Waterfront Historic Area League, or WHALE, an organization focused on preserving New Bedford’s architectural heritage.

The Martha's Vineyard Museum Re-Opens At A New Location Mar 18, 2019

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The newly opened Martha’s Vineyard Museum sits on a bluff with stunning views of Vineyard Haven harbor. It’s a renovated structure with an interesting past. “The original property was commissioned to be built as a marine hospital by the Coast Guard in 1895, and it operated as a marine hospital for a number of years,” said Katy Fuller, the Museum’s Director of Operations. “And then once the Cape Cod Canal got built, it wasn’t as necessary and needed any more. So it dwindled in use, and by the 60s, the Coast Guard sold it. It went through a number of owners for a few years until the St. Pierre family purchased it and operated it first as a sleep-away camp in the summer for island kids, and then later as just a day camp.” Eventually, the original building fell into disrepair and was mostly hidden from view and forgotten. “There was shrubbery, arbor vitae’s. Trees had just grown up in front of the terrace. No one knew it was here,” Fuller said. When the property came on the market in 2011,

After 60 Years, Mayflower II Undergoes a Full-Scale Restoration Mar 04, 2019

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The Mayflower II is currently undergoing a full-scale restoration at the DuPont Shipyard in Mystic, Connecticut. It’s a replica of the merchant ship that brought the Pilgrims first to Provincetown and then to Plymouth in 1620 - a now-historic event that was completely unremarkable at the time. “This is just cargo. The only good thing about this cargo is it was self-loading cargo,” said Whit Perry, Director of Maritime Preservation at Plimoth Plantation. The original Mayflower was sold for scrap in 1624. Many years later, a man named Warwick Charlton was returning to England after serving in World War Two, and he began reading “Of Plimoth Plantation” by William Bradford, the definitive account of the Pilgrims. “He formed a private company to build this reproduction and give it as a gift of appreciation to America for America’s help during World War Two,” said Perry. There are no surviving plans for the original Mayflower, so historians relied on their general knowledge of vessels from

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