Category Archives: Uncategorized

Pleasant Point’s summer colony in South Wellfleet marks the beginning of the change of Wellfleet’s economy from maritime pursuits to tourism. The land developers Robert Howard and Edward Reed simultaneously promoted land sales on Lieutenant’s Island and the Old Wharf, … Continue reading →

Cook’s Camps has been in Wellfleet since the 1930s. This unique group of cottages is situated right on the ocean, at the top of a 125 foot dune. It is owned by David and Laurie Sexton, through Laurie’s family, the … Continue reading →

With great thanks to Chet Lay, Wellfleet Surveyor, who has provided a continual supply of information, books, and maps, increasing my appreciation of how we chart the land and its ownership. This article shares a few observations on South Wellfleet’s … Continue reading →

Continues the history of Lieutenant’s Island started in my previous post In 1889, the upland areas of Lieutenant’s Island were purchased by Robert Howard and his partner, Edward Reed, and the modern era of the Island began. Robert Howard followed … Continue reading →

Lieutenant’s Island became a seaside retreat in the 1890s, as the Cape began to develop as a tourist destination. Simeon Deyo, in his 1890 history of Cape Cod, refers to: that sensible practice happily increasing among city people, of checking … Continue reading →

Recently, a medical historian, while commenting on the Ebola epidemic, said “Ebola is jerking us back to the nineteenth century.” Human illnesses are certainly one of the great divides between modern life and that of the 18th and 19th centuries. … Continue reading →

I recently opened Henry David Thoreau’s Cape Cod to check on a quote for another post, and started re-reading. To my surprise, I found that I was understanding this classic in a whole new way. Now that I’ve worked my … Continue reading →

The Cape Codder in May of 1959 had a small note on the death of Albert Stone, Jr. who had a “summer camp” in the woods of South Wellfleet, near the ocean. The reporter noted that only three people from … Continue reading →

Hard to believe, but there was a time when pizza was not such a mainstay of the American diet. Introduced to the culture after World War II by returning American servicemen, it took a while for word to spread. By … Continue reading →

The bottom of the sea is strewn with anchors, some deeper and some shallower, and alternately covered and uncovered by the sand, perchance with a small link of cable still attached, — to which where is the other end? Henry … Continue reading →