Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland
, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer months. The name Cape Cod, coined in 1602 by
Bartholomew Gosnold, is the ninth oldest English place-name in the U.S.
As defined by the
Cape Cod Commission
The Cape Cod Commission is a regional planning authority and department of Barnstable County. It was created in 1990 by an Act of the Massachusetts General Court and confirmed by a majority of county voters.
In the wake of an unprecedented growth ...
's enabling legislation, Cape Cod is conterminous with
Barnstable County, Massachusetts
Barnstable County is a county located in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. At the 2020 census, the population was 228,996. Its shire town is Barnstable. The county consists of Cape Cod and associated islands (some adjacent islands are in Duke ...
. It extends from
Provincetown in the northeast to
Woods Hole
Woods Hole is a census-designated place in the town of Falmouth in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. It lies at the extreme southwest corner of Cape Cod, near Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands. The population was 781 at ...
in the southwest, and is bordered by
Plymouth
Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west.
Plymouth ...
to the northwest. The Cape is divided into fifteen
towns
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an ori ...
, several of which are in turn made up of multiple named villages. Cape Cod forms the southern boundary of the
Gulf of Maine
The Gulf of Maine is a large gulf of the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of North America. It is bounded by Cape Cod at the eastern tip of Massachusetts in the southwest and by Cape Sable Island at the southern tip of Nova Scotia in the northeast ...
, which extends north-eastward to
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Eng ...
.
Since 1914, most of Cape Cod has been separated from the mainland by the
Cape Cod Canal
The Cape Cod Canal is an artificial waterway in the U.S. state of Massachusetts connecting Cape Cod Bay in the north to Buzzards Bay in the south, and is part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. The approximately canal traverses the neck o ...
. The canal cuts roughly across the base of the peninsula, though small portions of the Cape Cod towns of
Bourne
Bourne may refer to:
Places UK
* Bourne, Lincolnshire, a town
** Bourne Abbey
** Bourne railway station
* Bourne (electoral division), West Sussex
* Bourne SSSI, Avon, a Site of Special Scientific Interest near Burrington, North Somerset
* Bourne ...
and
Sandwich
A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...
lie on the mainland side of the canal. Two highway bridges cross the Cape Cod Canal: the
Sagamore Bridge
The Sagamore Bridge in Sagamore, Massachusetts carries Route 6 and the Claire Saltonstall Bikeway across the Cape Cod Canal, connecting Cape Cod with the mainland of Massachusetts. It is the more northeastern of two automobile canal crossings, ...
and the
Bourne Bridge
The Bourne Bridge in Bourne, Massachusetts carries Route 28 across the Cape Cod Canal, connecting Cape Cod with the rest of Massachusetts. It won the American Institute of Steel Construction's Class "A" Award of Merit as the "Most Beautiful St ...
. In addition, the
Cape Cod Canal Railroad Bridge
The Cape Cod Canal Railroad Bridge (also known as the Buzzards Bay Railroad Bridge), a vertical lift bridge in Bourne, Massachusetts near Buzzards Bay, carries railroad traffic across the Cape Cod Canal, connecting Cape Cod with the mainland.
Des ...
carries
railway freight and provides limited passenger service onto the Cape.
Region of Cape Cod and the Islands
![Capecod oli 2020055](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Capecod_oli_2020055.jpeg)
Like Cape Cod itself, the islands south of the Cape have evolved from whaling and trading areas to become resort destinations, attracting wealthy families, celebrities, and tourists. These include the large nearby islands of
Nantucket
Nantucket () is an island about south from Cape Cod. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and County of Nantucket, a combined county/town government that is part of the U.S. state of Massachuse ...
and
Martha's Vineyard
Martha's Vineyard, often simply called the Vineyard, is an island in the Northeastern United States, located south of Cape Cod in Dukes County, Massachusetts, known for being a popular, affluent summer colony. Martha's Vineyard includes the s ...
.
Both islands are also famous summer tourist destinations, commonly accessed by ferry from several locations on the cape. The phrases ''Cape Cod and the Islands'' and ''the Cape and Islands'' are often used to describe the whole region of Barnstable County,
Dukes County
Dukes County is a county located in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. As of the 2020 census, the population was 20,600, making it the second-least populous county in Massachusetts. Its county seat is Edgartown.
Dukes County comprises the Viney ...
(including Martha's Vineyard and the smaller
Elizabeth Islands), and Nantucket County.
Several small islands right off Cape Cod, including
Monomoy Island,
Monomoscoy Island,
Popponesset Island, and
Seconsett Island, are also in Barnstable County.
The
Forbes family
The Forbes family is one of the components of the Boston Brahmins—they are a wealthy extended American family long prominent in Boston, Massachusetts. The family's fortune originates from trading opium and tea between North America and China ...
-owned
Naushon Island was first purchased by
John Murray Forbes
John Murray Forbes (February 23, 1813 – October 12, 1898) was an American railroad magnate, merchant, philanthropist and abolitionist. He was president of both the Michigan Central railroad and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad in ...
. Naushon is one of the Elizabeth Islands, many of which are privately owned. One of the publicly accessible Elizabeths is the southernmost island in the chain,
Cuttyhunk Island, with a year-round population of 52 people. Several prominent families have established compounds or estates on the larger islands, making these islands some of the wealthiest resorts in the Northeast, yet they retain much of the early merchant trading and whaling culture.
Cape Cod in particular is a popular retirement area; 31.8% of the population of Barnstable County is 65 years old or older., and the average age of residents is the highest of any area in
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
. Cape Cod is majority
Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
, but by a smaller margin than the rest of Massachusetts.
The bulk of the land in the area is
glacial terminal moraine and represents the southernmost extent of glacial coverage in southeast New England; similar glacial formations make up Long Island in New York and
Block Island
Block Island is an island in the U.S. state of Rhode Island located in Block Island Sound approximately south of the mainland and east of Montauk Point, Long Island, New York, named after Dutch explorer Adriaen Block. It is part of Washingt ...
in Rhode Island.
Geography and political divisions
Physical geography and boundaries
![CapeCod2022OSM](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/CapeCod2022OSM.png)
The name "Cape Cod", as it was first used in 1602, applied only to the very tip of the peninsula. It remained that way for 125 years, until the "Precinct of Cape Cod" was incorporated as the Town of Provincetown. No longer in "official" use over the ensuing decades, the name came to mean all of the land east of the Manomet and Scusset rivers – essentially along the line that became the Cape Cod Canal. The creation of the canal separated the majority of the peninsula from the mainland. Most agencies, including the
Cape Cod Commission
The Cape Cod Commission is a regional planning authority and department of Barnstable County. It was created in 1990 by an Act of the Massachusetts General Court and confirmed by a majority of county voters.
In the wake of an unprecedented growth ...
and the
Federal Emergency Management Agency
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Exec ...
(FEMA), treat the Cape as an island with regard to disaster preparedness, groundwater management, and the like.
Cape Codders tend to refer to the land on the mainland side of the canal as "off-Cape", though the legal delineation of Cape Cod, coincident to the boundaries of Barnstable County, includes portions of the towns of Bourne and Sandwich that are located north of the canal.
Cape Cod Bay
A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck.
History
Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. Th ...
lies in between Cape Cod and the mainland – bounded on the north by a line between
Provincetown and
Marshfield. North of Cape Cod Bay (and Provincetown) is
Massachusetts Bay, which contains the
Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary
Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary (officially the Gerry E. Studds Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary) is an 842-square-mile (638-square- nautical-mile) federally protected marine sanctuary located at the mouth of Massachusetts Bay, ...
, located north of Provincetown. Cape Cod Bay and Massachusetts Bay are both part of the Gulf of Maine, which includes the waters between the Cape and Nova Scotia. The Atlantic Ocean is to the east of Cape Cod, and to the southwest of the Cape is
Buzzards Bay
Buzzards Bay is a bay of the Atlantic Ocean adjacent to the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It is approximately 28 miles (45 kilometers) long by 8 miles (12 kilometers) wide. It is a popular destination for fishing, boating, and tourism. Since ...
. The Cape Cod Canal, completed in 1916, connects Buzzards Bay to Cape Cod Bay; its creation shortened the trade route between New York and Boston by .
Cape Cod extends into the Atlantic Ocean, with a breadth of between , and covers more than of shoreline. Its elevation ranges from at its highest point, at the top of
Pine Hill, in the Bourne portion of
Joint Base Cape Cod, down to sea level.
Cape Cod and the Islands form part of a continuous
archipelagic region consisting of a chain of islands running from Long Island to the tip of the Cape. This region is historically and collectively known by naturalists as the
Outer Lands
The Outer Lands is the prominent terminal moraine archipelagic region off the southern coast of New England in the United States. This eight-county region of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New York, comprises the peninsula of Cape Cod and th ...
.
Towns and villages
![Deyo-map](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/Deyo-map.jpg)
Cape Cod incorporates all of Barnstable County, which comprises 15 towns:
Bourne
Bourne may refer to:
Places UK
* Bourne, Lincolnshire, a town
** Bourne Abbey
** Bourne railway station
* Bourne (electoral division), West Sussex
* Bourne SSSI, Avon, a Site of Special Scientific Interest near Burrington, North Somerset
* Bourne ...
,
Sandwich
A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...
,
Falmouth,
Mashpee,
Barnstable,
Yarmouth
Yarmouth may refer to:
Places Canada
*Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia
**Yarmouth, Nova Scotia
**Municipality of the District of Yarmouth
**Yarmouth (provincial electoral district)
**Yarmouth (electoral district)
* Yarmouth Township, Ontario
*New ...
,
Harwich
Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-on- ...
,
Dennis
Dennis or Denis is a first or last name from the Greco-Roman name Dionysius, via one of the Christian saints named Dionysius.
The name came from Dionysus, the Greek god of ecstatic states, particularly those produced by wine, which is someti ...
,
Brewster,
Chatham
Chatham may refer to:
Places and jurisdictions Canada
* Chatham Islands (British Columbia)
* Chatham Sound, British Columbia
* Chatham, New Brunswick, a former town, now a neighbourhood of Miramichi
* Chatham (electoral district), New Brunswic ...
,
Orleans,
Eastham,
Wellfleet,
Truro, and
Provincetown. Each of these towns include a number of villages; see
Barnstable County for a complete list.
Barnstable, the most populated municipality on Cape Cod, is the only one to have adopted a city form of government, whose legislative body is an elected 13-member
council
A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...
.
However, like other smaller Massachusetts cities, Barnstable retained its "Town of Barnstable" moniker. All of the other towns elect a 5-member
Board of Selectmen as the executive policy-setting board, and utilize
Town Meetings as their legislative body.
Cape Cod and the Islands
To the south of Cape Cod lie
Nantucket Sound
Nantucket Sound_(geography), Sound is a roughly triangular area of the Atlantic Ocean offshore from the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It is long and wide, and is enclosed by Cape Cod on the north, Nantucket on the south, and Martha's Vineyard on ...
;
Nantucket
Nantucket () is an island about south from Cape Cod. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and County of Nantucket, a combined county/town government that is part of the U.S. state of Massachuse ...
and
Martha's Vineyard
Martha's Vineyard, often simply called the Vineyard, is an island in the Northeastern United States, located south of Cape Cod in Dukes County, Massachusetts, known for being a popular, affluent summer colony. Martha's Vineyard includes the s ...
, both large islands; and the mostly privately owned
Elizabeth Islands.
Sections
![Old Harbor Life Saving Station, Sunset](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Old_Harbor_Life_Saving_Station%2C_Sunset.JPG)
For most of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, Cape Cod was considered to consist of three sections (see map):
* The Upper Cape is the part of Cape Cod closest to the mainland, comprising the towns of
Bourne
Bourne may refer to:
Places UK
* Bourne, Lincolnshire, a town
** Bourne Abbey
** Bourne railway station
* Bourne (electoral division), West Sussex
* Bourne SSSI, Avon, a Site of Special Scientific Interest near Burrington, North Somerset
* Bourne ...
, Sandwich, Falmouth, and Mashpee. Falmouth is the home of the famous
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI, acronym pronounced ) is a private, nonprofit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of marine science and engineering.
Established in 1930 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, it i ...
and
Marine Biological Laboratory as well as several other research organizations, and is also the most-used ferry connection to Martha's Vineyard. Falmouth is composed of several separate villages, including
East Falmouth
East Falmouth is a census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Falmouth in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located at the base of Massachusetts' "fishhook" peninsula (''see map at right''). The population was 6,038 at the ...
,
Falmouth Village,
Hatchville,
North Falmouth
North Falmouth is a census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Falmouth in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 3,084 at the 2010 census.
Geography
North Falmouth is located next to the northern border of Falmouth ...
,
Teaticket, Waquoit,
West Falmouth, and
Woods Hole
Woods Hole is a census-designated place in the town of Falmouth in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. It lies at the extreme southwest corner of Cape Cod, near Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands. The population was 781 at ...
, as well as several smaller hamlets that are incorporated into their larger neighbors (e.g., Davisville, Hatchville, Falmouth Heights, Quissett, Sippewissett, and others).
Bourne
Bourne may refer to:
Places UK
* Bourne, Lincolnshire, a town
** Bourne Abbey
** Bourne railway station
* Bourne (electoral division), West Sussex
* Bourne SSSI, Avon, a Site of Special Scientific Interest near Burrington, North Somerset
* Bourne ...
is home to the
Massachusetts Maritime Academy, in the village of
Buzzards Bay
Buzzards Bay is a bay of the Atlantic Ocean adjacent to the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It is approximately 28 miles (45 kilometers) long by 8 miles (12 kilometers) wide. It is a popular destination for fishing, boating, and tourism. Since ...
, along the canal,
Joint Base Cape Cod,
Aptucxet Trading Post
The Aptucxet Trading Post Museum is a small open-air historical museum in Bourne, Massachusetts. The main attraction is a replica of the 17th-century Aptucxet Trading Post which was built by the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony in order to trade with ...
, the annual
Bourne Scallop Festival
Bourne may refer to:
Places UK
* Bourne, Lincolnshire, a town
** Bourne Abbey
** Bourne railway station
* Bourne (electoral division), West Sussex
* Bourne SSSI, Avon, a Site of Special Scientific Interest near Burrington, North Somerset
* Bourne ...
in September, and, until 1884, was part of Sandwich. Sandwich, the oldest town on Cape Cod, founded in 1637, is home to the
Dexter Grist Mill, the historic
Hoxie House
The Hoxie House (c. 1675) is a saltbox house located in Sandwich, Massachusetts. According to the Massachusetts Historical Commission, it's likely the oldest extant house "in the area". The residence was owned by both the Smith and Hoxie families ...
,
Heritage Museums and Gardens
Heritage Museums and Gardens (100 acres), formerly the Heritage Plantation of Sandwich, is located at 67 Grove Street, Sandwich, Massachusetts. The public garden, with its nationally significant collection of rhododendrons hybridized by Charles De ...
, and the
Sandwich Glass Museum
Sandwich Glass Museum is a glass museum in Sandwich, Massachusetts, featuring a wide range of rare glass, including glass from the local Boston & Sandwich Glass Factory which was founded in Sandwich by Deming Jarves
Deming Jarves (1790–186 ...
.
Mashpee, is the home of the
Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe
The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (formerly Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribal Council, Inc.) is one of two federally recognized tribes of Wampanoag people in Massachusetts. Recognized in 2007, they are headquartered in Mashpee, Massachusetts, Mashpee on ...
of Native Americans.
* The Mid-Cape area includes the towns of Barnstable, Yarmouth and Dennis. The area features many beautiful beaches, including warm-water beaches along
Nantucket Sound
Nantucket Sound_(geography), Sound is a roughly triangular area of the Atlantic Ocean offshore from the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It is long and wide, and is enclosed by Cape Cod on the north, Nantucket on the south, and Martha's Vineyard on ...
, e.g., Kalmus Beach in Hyannis, which gets its name from one of the inventors of
Technicolor, Herbert Kalmus. This popular windsurfing 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 Mid-Cape is also the commercial and industrial center of the region. There are seven villages in Barnstable, including
Barnstable Village
Barnstable is the name of one of the seven villages within the Town of Barnstable, Massachusetts. The Village of Barnstable is located on the north side of the town, centered along "Old King's Highway" (Massachusetts Route 6A), and houses the Coun ...
,
Centerville,
Cotuit
Cotuit ( ) is one of the villages of the Town of Barnstable on Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. Located on a peninsula on the south side of Barnstable about midway between Falmouth and Hyannis, Cotuit is bounded by t ...
,
Hyannis,
Marstons Mills,
Osterville
Osterville is one of seven villages within the town of Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States. The village of Osterville is located on the south side of Barnstable on Nantucket Sound. Osterville is a residential community that includes marshes, ...
, and
West Barnstable
West Barnstable is a seaside village in the northwest part of the town of Barnstable, Massachusetts. Once devoted to agricultural pursuits, West Barnstable now is largely residential and historic. Originally founded in 1639 as part of its neighbori ...
, as well as several smaller hamlets that are incorporated into their larger neighbors (e.g.,
Craigville,
Cummaquid
The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (formerly Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribal Council, Inc.) is one of two federally recognized tribes of Wampanoag people in Massachusetts. Recognized in 2007, they are headquartered in Mashpee on Cape Cod. The other Wa ...
,
Hyannis Port
Hyannis Port (or Hyannisport) is a small residential village located in Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States. It is an affluent summer community on Hyannis Harbor, 1.4 miles (2.3 km) to the south-southwest of Hyannis.
Community
It has ...
, Santuit, Wianno, and others). The villages of Yarmouth are
South Yarmouth,
West Yarmouth
West Yarmouth is a census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Yarmouth in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 6,012 at the 2010 census.
Geography
West Yarmouth is located in the southwest quarter of the town of ...
and
Yarmouth Port. There are five villages in Dennis, including
North Dennis,
East Dennis,
West Dennis,
Dennis Port, and
South Dennis.
* The Lower Cape & Outer Cape traditionally includes all of the rest of the Cape, or the towns of
Harwich
Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-on- ...
,
Brewster,
Chatham
Chatham may refer to:
Places and jurisdictions Canada
* Chatham Islands (British Columbia)
* Chatham Sound, British Columbia
* Chatham, New Brunswick, a former town, now a neighbourhood of Miramichi
* Chatham (electoral district), New Brunswic ...
,
Orleans,
Eastham,
Wellfleet,
Truro, and
Provincetown. In the present day, the five outermost towns (Provincetown, Truro, Wellfleet, Eastham and Orleans) are more commonly and collectively known as the Outer Cape. This area is home to the
Cape Cod National Seashore, a national park that encompasses much of the Outer Cape, including the entire east-facing coast from Orleans to Provincetown. The Outer Cape is home to popular beaches such as Nauset Light Beach and Coast Guard Beach in Eastham, Race Point Beach in Provincetown, Ballston Beach in Truro, and Skaket Beach in Orleans. This area is less populated than the rest of Cape Cod, though Provincetown can have a crowded, city-like atmosphere during the summer season. Provincetown has become a major gay & lesbian resort destination – the town is regarded as one of the largest
LGBT
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term is a ...
resort communities in the United States. Provincetown is also renowned for its historic fishing fleets and
Stellwagen Bank
Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary (officially the Gerry E. Studds Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary) is an 842-square-mile (638-square- nautical-mile) federally protected marine sanctuary located at the mouth of Massachusetts Bay, ...
, a popular fishing ground and
whale watching
Whale watching is the practice of observing whales and dolphins ( cetaceans) in their natural habitat. Whale watching is mostly a recreational activity (cf. birdwatching), but it can also serve scientific and/or educational purposes.Hoyt, E. 2 ...
destination, is located a few miles north of Race Point.
Geology
![Geologic Map of Cape Cod](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Geologic_Map_of_Cape_Cod.jpg)
The bulk of the land on Cape Cod consists of
glacial landforms, formed by
terminal moraine and
outwash plains. This represents the southernmost extent of glacial coverage in southeast New England; similar glacial formations make up
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
in New York and
Block Island
Block Island is an island in the U.S. state of Rhode Island located in Block Island Sound approximately south of the mainland and east of Montauk Point, Long Island, New York, named after Dutch explorer Adriaen Block. It is part of Washingt ...
in
Rhode Island
Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...
. Together, these formations are known as the
Outer Lands
The Outer Lands is the prominent terminal moraine archipelagic region off the southern coast of New England in the United States. This eight-county region of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New York, comprises the peninsula of Cape Cod and th ...
, or more obscurely as the "Isles of Stirling". Geologically speaking, Cape Cod is quite young, having been laid down some 16,000 to 20,000 years ago.
Most of Cape Cod's geological history involves the advance and retreat of the
Laurentide Ice Sheet
The Laurentide Ice Sheet was a massive sheet of ice that covered millions of square miles, including most of Canada and a large portion of the Northern United States, multiple times during the Quaternary glacial epochs, from 2.58 million years a ...
in the late
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...
geological era and the subsequent changes in sea level. Using
radiocarbon dating
Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon.
The method was dev ...
techniques, researchers have determined that around 23,000 years ago, the ice sheet reached its maximum southward advance over North America, and then started to retreat. Many
kettle ponds – clear, cold lakes – were formed and remain on Cape Cod as a result of the receding glacier. By about 18,000 years ago, the ice sheet had retreated past Cape Cod. By roughly 15,000 years ago, it had retreated past southern New England. When so much of Earth's water was locked up in massive ice sheets, the sea level was lower. Truro's bayside beaches used to be a petrified forest, before it became a beach.
![Deposition erosion](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Deposition_erosion.jpg)
As the ice began to melt, the sea began to rise. Initially, sea level rose quickly, about per 1,000 years, but then the rate declined. On Cape Cod, sea level rose roughly per millennium between 6,000 and 2,000 years ago. After that, it continued to rise at about per millennium. By 6,000 years ago, the sea level was high enough to start eroding the glacial deposits that the vanished continental ice sheet had left on Cape Cod. The water transported the eroded deposits north and south along the outer Cape's shoreline through a process known as
longshore drift
Longshore drift from longshore current is a geological process that consists of the transportation of sediments (clay, silt, pebbles, sand, shingle) along a coast parallel to the shoreline, which is dependent on the angle incoming wave direction ...
. Those reworked sediments that moved north went to the tip of Cape Cod. The entire town of Provincetown, at the extreme tip of the Cape, is a
spit consisting largely of deposited
marine sediment
Marine sediment, or ocean sediment, or seafloor sediment, are deposits of insoluble particles that have accumulated on the seafloor. These particles have their origins in soil and rocks and have been transported from the land to the sea, mainly ...
that was eroded and transported from farther south along the shore. Those sediments that instead moved south created the islands and shoals of Monomoy. So while other parts of the Cape have dwindled from the action of the waves, these parts of the Cape have grown through the
deposition of sediment in just the last 6,000 years.
This process continues today. Due to their exposure to the open ocean, the Cape and islands are subject to considerable
coastal erosion
Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of waves, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts of storms. The landward ...
. Geologists say that due to erosion, the Cape will be completely submerged by the sea within several thousand years. This erosion causes the washout of beaches and the destruction of the barrier islands; for example, the ocean broke through the barrier island at Chatham during
Hurricane Bob in 1991, allowing waves and storm surges to hit the coast with no obstruction. Consequently, the sediment and sand from the beaches is being washed away and deposited elsewhere. While this destroys land in some places, it creates land elsewhere, most noticeably in marshes where sediment is deposited by flowing water.
Cape Cod's aquifer consists of six hydrologically independent
lenses
A lens is a transmissive optical device which focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements''), ...
from which all the towns on the Cape obtain drinking water (except Falmouth, which, in 2015, drew 43.5% of its water from Long Pond). Contamination with industrial chemicals and pharmaceutical drugs from septic systems is a concern.
Climate
Under the
Koppen Climate Classification Koppen is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Dan Koppen (born 1979), American football offensive lineman
* Erwin Koppen (1929–1990), German literary scholar
* Luise Koppen (1855–1922), German author
* Wladimir Köppen (1846 ...
, the Cape Cod area has a temperate humid climate or Cfb climate (coldest month has a mean temperature above -3 C (26.4 F) but below 18 C (64.4 F). Locally, the Cape has a more moderate climate than inland locations in eastern New England. On occasion it takes the brunt of extreme weather systems such as the
Blizzard of 2005
The North American blizzard of 2005 was a three-day storm that affected large areas of the northern United States, dropping more than 3 feet (0.9 m) of snow in parts of southeastern Massachusetts, as well as much of the Boston metropo ...
and
Hurricane Bob. Because of the influence of the Atlantic Ocean on three sides, temperatures are typically a few degrees lower in the summer and often several degrees higher in the winter than the adjacent mainland. Two ocean currents (the
Gulf Stream
The Gulf Stream, together with its northern extension the North Atlantic Current, North Atlantic Drift, is a warm and swift Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico and flows through the Straits of Florida a ...
, a warm ocean current from the south) and the
Labrador Current, a cold ocean current from the north), meander and interact with each other. As a result, the ocean temperatures on the eastern shore of Cape Cod rarely gets above , while along the southern coast (
Nantucket Sound
Nantucket Sound_(geography), Sound is a roughly triangular area of the Atlantic Ocean offshore from the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It is long and wide, and is enclosed by Cape Cod on the north, Nantucket on the south, and Martha's Vineyard on ...
), water temperatures can sometimes reach or higher.
Cape Cod's climate is also known for a delayed spring season due to the sea remaining cold from the winter; by the same token, the summer heat retained in the sea moderates fall temperatures in comparison to the adjacent inland area. The highest temperature yet recorded on the peninsula was in Provincetown,; the lowest temperature recorded was in Barnstable.
The water surrounding Cape Cod moderates winter temperatures nearly enough to extend the
humid subtropical climate zone to what could be its northernmost limit in eastern North America, as the majority of Cape Cod is in USDA
hardiness zone
A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most wide ...
7a. Consequently, many subtropical indicator plant species typically found in more southerly latitudes are grown there, including ''
Camellias'', ''
Ilex opaca'', ''
Magnolia grandiflora
''Magnolia grandiflora'', commonly known as the southern magnolia or bull bay, is a tree of the family Magnoliaceae native to the Southeastern United States, from Virginia to central Florida, and west to East Texas. Reaching in height, it is a ...
'' and ''
Albizia julibrissin''. However, Cape Cod falls below the threshold, as the warmest month, July, averages around . Therefore, the climate may be better characterized as either a
maritime climate or a
humid continental climate (particularly on the northern coast of the upper and mid cape, which is somewhat sheltered from the cooler onshore wind to the south).
Precipitation on Cape Cod and the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket is the lowest in the southern New England region, averaging slightly less than a year (most parts of New England average ). This is due to the maritime influence inhibiting summertime thunderstorm development and maintenance. The region does not experience a greater number of sunny days, however, as the number of cloudy days is the same as inland locales, in addition to increased fog. On average, roughly of snow, which is about less than Boston, falls in an average winter.
Once every five or six years, a
tropical storm
A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...
, accompanied by very high and potentially damaging winds and heavy rain, will strike the region. About once every 11 or 12 years a
hurricane
A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...
brings damaging winds and
storm surge
A storm surge, storm flood, tidal surge, or storm tide is a coastal flood or tsunami-like phenomenon of rising water commonly associated with low-pressure weather systems, such as cyclones. It is measured as the rise in water level above the n ...
s to the region. Several
Category 3 storms have struck Cape Cod since record-keeping began, such as a
hurricane in 1869, the
1938 New England hurricane
The 1938 New England Hurricane (also referred to as the Great New England Hurricane and the Long Island Express Hurricane) was one of the deadliest and most destructive tropical cyclones to strike Long Island, New York, and New England. The stor ...
, and
Hurricane Carol in 1954. Strong
Category 2 storms, such as the
1869 Saxby Gale
The Saxby Gale was a tropical cyclone which struck eastern Canada's Bay of Fundy region on the night of October 4–5, 1869. The storm was named for Lieutenant Stephen Martin Saxby, a naval instructor who, based on his astronomical studies, ha ...
,
Hurricane Edna in 1954, and
Hurricane Bob in 1991, also caused considerable damage. Notable
Category 1 storms include the
1944 Great Atlantic hurricane and
Hurricane Donna
Hurricane Donna, known in Puerto Rico as Hurricane San Lorenzo, was the strongest hurricane of the 1960 Atlantic hurricane season, and caused severe damage to the Lesser Antilles, the Greater Antilles, and the East Coast of the United States, ...
in 1960. Other notable storms include the
Gale of 1815, which would likely have been rated a strong hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, and the so-called "
Perfect Storm
A perfect storm is a meteorological event aggravated by a rare combination of circumstances. The term is used by analogy to an unusually severe storm that results from a rare combination of meteorological phenomena.
Origin
The Oxford English Dic ...
" of October 31, 1991. The
February 2013 nor'easter
The February 2013 North American blizzard, also known as ''Winter Storm Nemo'' and the ''Blizzard of 2013'', was a powerful blizzard that developed from the combination of two areas of low pressure, primarily affecting the Northeastern United St ...
produced winds in excess of and dropped over of snow on some parts of Cape Cod. The storm knocked out power to tens of thousands of Cape Cod residents, some for up to two weeks.
Native population
Cape Cod has been the home of the
indigenous Wampanoag
The Wampanoag , also rendered Wôpanâak, are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands based in southeastern Massachusetts and historically parts of eastern Rhode Island,Salwen, "Indians of Southern New England and Long Island," p. 17 ...
for centuries prior to
European colonization
The historical phenomenon of colonization is one that stretches around the globe and across time. Ancient and medieval colonialism was practiced by the Phoenicians, the Greeks, the Turks, and the Arabs.
Colonialism in the modern sense began ...
. They lived from the sea and were accomplished farmers. They understood the principles of
sustainable forest management
Sustainable forest management (SFM) is the management of forests according to the principles of sustainable development. Sustainable forest management has to keep the balance between three main pillars: ecological, economic and socio-cultural. ...
, and were known to light
controlled fires to keep the underbrush in check. They helped the
Pilgrims, who arrived in the fall of 1620, survive at their new
Plymouth Colony
Plymouth Colony (sometimes Plimouth) was, from 1620 to 1691, the British America, first permanent English colony in New England and the second permanent English colony in North America, after the Jamestown Colony. It was first settled by the pa ...
.
The Wampanoag gradually lost their lands during the period of European colonization through land cessions and violent conflict with white settlers. The documentary ''Natives of the Narrowland'' (1993), narrated by actress
Julie Harris, shows the history of the Wampanoag people through Cape Cod archaeological sites.
In 1974, the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council was formed to articulate the concerns of those with Native American ancestry. They petitioned the federal government in 1975 and again in 1990 for official recognition of the Mashpee Wampanoag as a tribe. In May 2007, the Wampanoag tribe was federally recognized.
History
European exploration
Cape Cod was a landmark for early explorers. It may have been the "Promontory of
Vinland
Vinland, Vineland, or Winland ( non, Vínland ᚠᛁᚾᛚᛅᚾᛏ) was an area of coastal North America explored by Vikings. Leif Erikson landed there around 1000 AD, nearly five centuries before the voyages of Christopher Columbus and John ...
" mentioned by the
Norse voyagers (985–1025). The Manomet River area (taken up by the western end of the Cape Cod Canal in the early 20th century) is claimed by some to have been visited by
Leif Eiriksson
Leif Erikson, Leiv Eiriksson, or Leif Ericson, ; Modern Icelandic: ; Norwegian language, Norwegian: ''Leiv Eiriksson'' also known as Leif the Lucky (), was a Norsemen, Norse explorer who is thought to have been the first European to have s ...
, and a stone wall
discovered in Provincetown in 1805 is also claimed to have been built by his younger brother
Thorvald Eiriksson around AD 1007,
when the keel of his ship was repaired in the harbor, according to
Norse sagas. He was killed later in the same journey, and is said to have been returned to this spot for burial. However, there is no tangible support of the presence of Norse voyagers in Cape Cod, and the view is not generally accepted by archaeologists or historians.
Giovanni da Verrazzano
Giovanni da Verrazzano ( , , often misspelled Verrazano in English; 1485–1528) was an Italian ( Florentine) explorer of North America, in the service of King Francis I of France.
He is renowned as the first European to explore the Atlantic ...
approached it from the south in 1524. He named
Martha's Vineyard
Martha's Vineyard, often simply called the Vineyard, is an island in the Northeastern United States, located south of Cape Cod in Dukes County, Massachusetts, known for being a popular, affluent summer colony. Martha's Vineyard includes the s ...
Claudia, after
Claude of France
Claude of France (13 October 1499 – 20 July 1524) was Queen of France by marriage to King Francis I. She was also ruling Duchess of Brittany from 1514 until her death in 1524. She was a daughter of King Louis XII of France and his second wife ...
, the wife of
Francis I of France
Francis I (french: François Ier; frm, Francoys; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his first cousin once ...
.
In 1525, Portuguese explorer
Estêvão Gomes called it Cabo de la Arenas while sailing under the Spanish crown.
In 1602,
Bartholomew Gosnold named the tip Cape Cod, the surviving term and the ninth oldest English place-name in the U.S.
Samuel de Champlain
Samuel de Champlain (; Fichier OrigineFor a detailed analysis of his baptismal record, see RitchThe baptism act does not contain information about the age of Samuel, neither his birth date nor his place of birth. – 25 December 1635) was a Fre ...
charted its sand-silted harbors in 1606, and
Henry Hudson
Henry Hudson ( 1565 – disappeared 23 June 1611) was an English sea explorer and navigator during the early 17th century, best known for his explorations of present-day Canada and parts of the northeastern United States.
In 1607 and 160 ...
landed there in 1609. Captain
John Smith noted it on his map of 1614, and at last the
Pilgrims entered the "Cape Harbor" and made their first landing near
Provincetown on November 11, 1620. They had their first encounter with Indians in nearby
Eastham.
European settlement
Cape Cod was among the first places settled by
Puritan colonists in North America. The Cape's fifteen towns developed slowly, aside from
Barnstable (1639),
Sandwich
A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...
(1637), and
Yarmouth
Yarmouth may refer to:
Places Canada
*Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia
**Yarmouth, Nova Scotia
**Municipality of the District of Yarmouth
**Yarmouth (provincial electoral district)
**Yarmouth (electoral district)
* Yarmouth Township, Ontario
*New ...
(1639). The final town to be established on the Cape was
Bourne
Bourne may refer to:
Places UK
* Bourne, Lincolnshire, a town
** Bourne Abbey
** Bourne railway station
* Bourne (electoral division), West Sussex
* Bourne SSSI, Avon, a Site of Special Scientific Interest near Burrington, North Somerset
* Bourne ...
in 1884, breaking off from Sandwich. Provincetown was a group of huts until the 18th century. A channel from
Massachusetts Bay to
Buzzards Bay
Buzzards Bay is a bay of the Atlantic Ocean adjacent to the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It is approximately 28 miles (45 kilometers) long by 8 miles (12 kilometers) wide. It is a popular destination for fishing, boating, and tourism. Since ...
is shown on Southack's map of 1717. The present Cape Cod Canal was slowly developed from 1870 to 1914. The federal government purchased it in 1928.
The Cape's vegetation was
depauperate
A depauperate ecosystem is an ecosystem which is lacking in numbers or variety of species, often because it lacks enough stored chemical elements and resources required for life. Thus, depauperate ecosystems often cannot support rapid growth of f ...
and trees were scarce by the time that
Henry Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading transcendentalist, he is best known for his book ''Walden'', a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and hi ...
saw Cape Cod during his four visits over 1849 to 1857, because of early colonial settlement and intensive land use. The settlers heated by fires, and it took 10 to 20 cords (40 to 80 m
3) of wood to heat a home, so they cleared most of Cape Cod of timber early on. They planted familiar crops, but these were unsuited to Cape Cod's thin, glacially derived soils. For instance, much of Eastham was planted to wheat. The settlers practiced burning of woodlands to release nutrients into the soil. Improper and intensive farming led to erosion and the loss of topsoil. Farmers grazed their cattle on the grassy dunes of coastal Massachusetts, only to watch "in horror as the denuded sands 'walked' over richer lands, burying cultivated fields and fences." Dunes on the outer Cape became more common, and many harbors filled in with eroded soils.
By 1800, much of Cape Cod's firewood had to be transported by boat from
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...
. The paucity of vegetation was worsened by the raising of
merino sheep that reached its peak in New England around 1840. The early
industrial revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
occurred through much of Massachusetts and
Rhode Island
Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...
, but it mostly bypassed Cape Cod due to a lack of significant water power in the area. The Cape developed as a large fishing and
whaling
Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution.
It was practiced as an organized industry ...
center as a result, and also because of its geographic position. After 1860 and the opening of the
American West
The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...
, farmers abandoned agriculture on the Cape. By 1950, forests had recovered to an extent not seen since the 18th century.
Modern era
![Cranberry Picking on Cape Cod](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Cranberry_Picking_on_Cape_Cod.jpg)
Cape Cod became a summer haven for city dwellers beginning at the end of the 19th century. Improved rail transportation made the towns of the Upper Cape, such as
Bourne
Bourne may refer to:
Places UK
* Bourne, Lincolnshire, a town
** Bourne Abbey
** Bourne railway station
* Bourne (electoral division), West Sussex
* Bourne SSSI, Avon, a Site of Special Scientific Interest near Burrington, North Somerset
* Bourne ...
and
Falmouth, accessible to
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
ians. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Northeastern mercantile elite built many large, shingled "cottages" along
Buzzards Bay
Buzzards Bay is a bay of the Atlantic Ocean adjacent to the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It is approximately 28 miles (45 kilometers) long by 8 miles (12 kilometers) wide. It is a popular destination for fishing, boating, and tourism. Since ...
. The relaxed summer environment offered by Cape Cod was highlighted by writers including
Joseph C. Lincoln
Joseph Crosby Lincoln (February 13, 1870 – March 10, 1944) was an American literature, American author of novels, poems, and short stories, many set in a fictionalized Cape Cod.
Biography
Lincoln was born in 1870 in Brewster, Massachusetts, o ...
, who published novels and countless short stories about Cape Cod folks in popular magazines such as ''
The Saturday Evening Post
''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely c ...
'' and the ''Delineator''.
Guglielmo Marconi
Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi, 1st Marquis of Marconi (; 25 April 187420 July 1937) was an Italians, Italian inventor and electrical engineering, electrical engineer, known for his creation of a practical radio wave-based Wireless telegrap ...
made the first transatlantic
wireless
Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided medium for the transfer. The most ...
transmission originating in the United States from Cape Cod, at
Wellfleet. The beach below the bluffs where his station was located is now called
Marconi Beach. In 1914, he began construction of a new transatlantic wireless receiver station in
Chatham
Chatham may refer to:
Places and jurisdictions Canada
* Chatham Islands (British Columbia)
* Chatham Sound, British Columbia
* Chatham, New Brunswick, a former town, now a neighbourhood of Miramichi
* Chatham (electoral district), New Brunswic ...
and a companion transmitter station in
Marion Marion may refer to:
People
*Marion (given name)
*Marion (surname)
*Marion Silva Fernandes, Brazilian footballer known simply as "Marion"
*Marion (singer), Filipino singer-songwriter and pianist Marion Aunor (born 1992)
Places Antarctica
* Mari ...
. In 1920, the stations were acquired by RCA and, in 1921, Chatham began operations as a maritime radio station communicating to ships at sea using the callsign
WCC. WCC supported the communications of
Amelia Earhart
Amelia Mary Earhart ( , born July 24, 1897; disappeared July 2, 1937; declared dead January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer and writer. Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She set many oth ...
,
Howard Hughes
Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in th ...
,
Admiral Byrd
Richard Evelyn Byrd Jr. (October 25, 1888 – March 11, 1957) was an American naval officer and explorer. He was a recipient of the Medal of Honor, the highest honor for valor given by the United States, and was a pioneering American aviator, p ...
, and the ''
Hindenburg''. Marconi chose Chatham due to its vantage point on the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded on three sides by water.
Walter Cronkite narrated a 17-minute documentary in 2005 about the history of the Chatham Station.
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
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...
. It was protected from private development and preserved for public use. Large portions are open to the public, including the Marconi Site in
Wellfleet. This is a park encompassing the site of the first two-way transoceanic radio transmission from the United States. (
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
used Marconi's equipment for this transmission.)
The
Kennedy Compound
The Kennedy Compound consists of three houses on of waterfront property on Cape Cod along Nantucket Sound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, in the United States. It was once the home of Joseph P. Kennedy, an American businessman, investor, poli ...
in
Hyannis Port
Hyannis Port (or Hyannisport) is a small residential village located in Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States. It is an affluent summer community on Hyannis Harbor, 1.4 miles (2.3 km) to the south-southwest of Hyannis.
Community
It has ...
was President Kennedy's
summer White House during his presidency, and the Kennedy family continues to maintain residences on the compound. President
Grover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...
maintained a summer home in the Gray Gables section of Bourne. Other notable residents of Cape Cod have included actress
Julie Harris, US Supreme Court justice
Louis Brandeis
Louis Dembitz Brandeis (; November 13, 1856 – October 5, 1941) was an American lawyer and associate justice on the Supreme Court of the United States from 1916 to 1939.
Starting in 1890, he helped develop the "right to privacy" concept ...
, figure skater
Todd Eldredge, composer and radio personality
Canary Burton
Canary Lee Burton, is an American keyboardist, composer and writer.
Biography
Burton was born on September 16, 1942, in Richmond, California. In 1972 she moved to Moscow, Idaho, to attend the University of Idaho where she was one of th ...
, and novelists
Norman Mailer
Nachem Malech Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007), known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, playwright, activist, filmmaker and actor. In a career spanning over six decades, Mailer ...
and
Kurt Vonnegut. Influential natives included patriot
James Otis, historian and writer
Mercy Otis Warren, jurist
Lemuel Shaw
Lemuel Shaw (January 9, 1781 – March 30, 1861) was an American jurist who served as chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (1830–1860). Prior to his appointment he also served for several years in the Massachusetts House ...
, and naval officer
John Percival.
Lighthouses
![Race Point Lighthouse 1876 MA](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Race_Point_Lighthouse_1876_MA.JPG)
Beginning in 1797,
lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways.
Lighthouses mar ...
s were erected along Cape Cod to aid in navigation.
Highland Light
The Highland Light (previously known as Cape Cod Light) is an active lighthouse on the Cape Cod National Seashore in North Truro, Massachusetts. The current tower was erected in 1857, replacing two earlier towers that had been built in 1797 and 18 ...
(or Cape Cod Light) is the oldest and tallest of these, and remains as one of a number of working lighthouses on Cape Cod and the Islands. Many of Cape Cod's earliest lighthouses featured a light tower that was attached directly to – and centered on the roof of – the
keeper's dwelling. A stairway to the lantern room was accessible only from the top floor of the house. This came to be known as a
Cape Cod style
Cape Cod style was a style of lighthouse architecture that originated on Cape Cod in Massachusetts during the early 1800s, and which became predominant to the West Coast, where numerous well-preserved examples still exist. In such lighthouses, ...
lighthouse, yet today, the only fully intact specimens are on the west coast of the United States.
![Nauset Light, Eastham, MA, Cape Cod](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Nauset_Light%2C_Eastham%2C_MA%2C_Cape_Cod.jpg)
Most of Cape Cod's lighthouses are operated by the U.S. Coast Guard, with some exceptions, such as the
Nauset Light
Nauset Light, officially Nauset Beach Light, is a restored lighthouse on the Cape Cod National Seashore near Eastham, Massachusetts, erected in 1923 using the 1877 tower that was moved here from the Chatham Light. It is listed on the National Regis ...
, which has been owned since 1997 by the
Cape Cod National Seashore (National Park Service) and operated since 2004 in partnership between that agency and the non-profit Nauset Light Preservation Society.
In 1996, both Highland Light and Nauset Light were moved further from the shore because they were each at risk of being lost due to erosion by the sea. Highland Light, then from the ocean, was moved to the west, and Nauset Light, from the bluff, was moved west.
The lighthouses of Cape Cod include:
* Upper Cape:
Nobska Light,
Wing's Neck Light
The Wing's Neck Light is a historic lighthouse in the Pocasset village of Bourne, Massachusetts. It is located on Wing's Neck Road at the end of Wing's Neck, a peninsula between Pocasset Harbor and the Hog Island Channel, which provides access t ...
(privately owned), and
Cleveland Ledge Light (also private).
* Mid Cape:
Sandy Neck Light,
Hyannis Harbor Light
The Hyannis Rear Range Light, also known as the Hyannis Harbor Light, was a lighthouse and, for part of its life, one of a pair of range lights adjacent to Hyannis Harbor. The Range Rear tower was built in 1849 and equipped with a 5th order Fres ...
, Lewis Bay Light (or Hyannis Inner Harbor Light, also private),
Bishop and Clerks Light
Bishop and Clerks Light is a lighthouse located in open water on Bishop and Clerks Rocks, about two nautical miles south of Point Gammon in Hyannis, Massachusetts.
The light was established in a granite tower in 1858. It was automated in 1923 ...
,
West Dennis Light
West Dennis Light is a lighthouse in West Dennis, Massachusetts. It was previously known as Bass River Light. It is owned by and sits on top of the Lighthouse Inn, a seasonal hotel.
Creation
During the early 1800s Bass River was an important safe ...
(formerly the Bass River Light)
* Lower Cape:
Chatham Light
Chatham Lighthouse, known as Twin Lights prior to 1923, is a lighthouse in Chatham, Massachusetts, near the "elbow" of Cape Cod. The original station, close to the shore, was built in 1808 with two wooden towers, which were both replaced in 1841. ...
,
Monomoy Point Light
Monomoy Point Light is a historic light in Chatham, Massachusetts.
The station was established in 1823. The first light was a wood tower and brick lantern room on top of the keeper's house. The current tower, one of the first made of cast iron, ...
,
Stage Harbor Light
* Outer Cape:
Long Point Light
Long Point Light Station is a historic lighthouse at the northeast tip of Long Point in Provincetown, Massachusetts. As a navigational aid, it marks the southwest edge of the entrance to Provincetown Harbor. The United States Coast Guard Light ...
,
Wood End Light
Wood End Light Lookout Station is a historic lighthouse, located at the southwest end of Long Point in Provincetown, Massachusetts. It is located at Wood End, near the southernmost extent of the Provincetown Spit, and acts as a navigational aid ...
,
Race Point Light
Race Point Light is a historic lighthouse on Cape Cod, in Provincetown, Massachusetts; it is on the National Register of Historic Places. The original tower, first illuminated in 1816, was replaced in 1876 with the current 45-foot tall iron-plated ...
,
Highland Light
The Highland Light (previously known as Cape Cod Light) is an active lighthouse on the Cape Cod National Seashore in North Truro, Massachusetts. The current tower was erected in 1857, replacing two earlier towers that had been built in 1797 and 18 ...
,
Nauset Light
Nauset Light, officially Nauset Beach Light, is a restored lighthouse on the Cape Cod National Seashore near Eastham, Massachusetts, erected in 1923 using the 1877 tower that was moved here from the Chatham Light. It is listed on the National Regis ...
,
Three Sisters of Nauset
The Three Sisters of Nauset are a trio of historic lighthouses off Cable Road in Eastham, Massachusetts. The original three brick towers fell into the sea due to erosion in 1890 and were replaced with wooden towers on brick foundations in 1892. T ...
,
Mayo Beach Light,
Billingsgate Island Light
Transportation
Road
Cape Cod is connected to the mainland by a pair of canal-spanning highway bridges, the
Bourne
Bourne may refer to:
Places UK
* Bourne, Lincolnshire, a town
** Bourne Abbey
** Bourne railway station
* Bourne (electoral division), West Sussex
* Bourne SSSI, Avon, a Site of Special Scientific Interest near Burrington, North Somerset
* Bourne ...
and
Sagamore that were constructed in the 1930s (replacing a 1912 drawbridge). The two parallel road bridges are four miles apart, with the Bourne Bridge to the west, and the Sagamore to the east. The bridges form a bottleneck, resulting in traffic backups of several miles during the tourist season - especially going on-cape at the beginning of the weekend and off-cape at the end of the weekend.
The entire Cape is roughly bisected lengthwise by
U.S. Route 6
U.S. Route 6 (US 6), also called the Grand Army of the Republic Highway, honoring the American Civil War veterans association, is a main route of the U.S. Highway system. While it currently runs east-northeast from Bishop, California, to P ...
, locally known as the Mid-Cape Highway and officially as the Grand Army of the Republic Highway.
Air and water
Commercial air service to Cape Cod operates out of
Cape Cod Gateway Airport
Cape Cod Gateway Airport , also known as Boardman/Polando Field and formerly known as Barnstable Municipal Airport, is a public airport located on Cape Cod, north of the central business district of Hyannis, Massachusetts, Hyannis, in Barnstabl ...
and
Provincetown Municipal Airport. General aviation airports are:
*
Chatham Municipal Airport
Chatham Municipal Airport is a public airport located two miles (3 km) northwest of the central business district of Chatham, a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. The airport is owned by the Town of Chatham. It has a ...
*
Falmouth Airpark
Falmouth Airpark is a public-use airport and residential airpark located four miles (6 km) northeast of the central business district of Falmouth, in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. It is privately owned by Falmouth Airpar ...
*
Cape Cod Airfield
Cape Cod Airfield, in Marstons Mills, Massachusetts is a public airport owned by the Town of Barnstable.
History
Cape Cod Airfield is located on the former site of Camp Perkins, a Massachusetts National Guard camp which was active on the si ...
in
Marstons Mills, Barnstable
There is one military airport at
Otis Air National Guard Base.
There are ferry connections from Boston to Provincetown, as well as from Hyannis and Woods Hole to the islands.
Bus
Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority
Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority (CCRTA) operates a bus transit system of fixed and flexible routes, seasonal rail service to Boston, and a paratransit service in the Cape Cod region of Massachusetts. The CCRTA was created under the provision ...
operates a year-round public bus system comprising three long-distance routes and a local bus in Hyannis and Barnstable Village. From mid June until October, additional local routes are added in Falmouth and Provincetown. CCRTA also operates Barnstable County's
ADA
Ada may refer to:
Places
Africa
* Ada Foah, a town in Ghana
* Ada (Ghana parliament constituency)
* Ada, Osun, a town in Nigeria
Asia
* Ada, Urmia, a village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran
* Ada, Karaman, a village in Karaman Province, Tur ...
-required
paratransit
Paratransit is the term used in North America, also known by other names such as community transport ( UK) for transportation services that supplement fixed-route mass transit by providing individualized rides without fixed routes or timetables. ...
(
dial-a-ride
Demand-responsive transport (DRT), also known as demand-responsive transit, demand-responsive service,
US National Trans ...
) service, under the name "B-Bus."
Long-distance bus service is available through
Plymouth and Brockton Street Railway
The Plymouth & Brockton Street Railway Co., commonly referred to as Plymouth & Brockton or simply P&B, is a private regional bus transportation company operating in Eastern Massachusetts. The company primarily operates a few routes connecting Bost ...
, with regular service to downtown Boston and
Logan International Airport
General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport , also known as Boston Logan International Airport and commonly as Boston Logan, Logan Airport or simply Logan, is an international airport that is located mostly in East Boston and partially ...
, as well as less frequent service to Provincetown.
Peter Pan Bus Lines also runs long-distance service to
T.F. Green Airport
Rhode Island T. F. Green International Airport is a public international airport in Warwick, Rhode Island, United States, south of the state's capital and largest city of Providence. Opened in 1931, the airport was named for former Rhode Islan ...
in
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...
; New York City; and service between Logan Airport, Boston
South Station
South Station, officially The Governor Michael S. Dukakis Transportation Center at South Station, is the largest railroad station and intercity bus terminal in Greater Boston and New England's second-largest transportation center after Logan In ...
, and Woods Hole.
Rail service
The third bridge over the Cape Cod Canal is a
vertical-lift railroad bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
, providing an alternative land transport option. After the bridge, the track splits in two directions, heading towards Hyannis in one direction and North Falmouth in the other. The track to Hyannis is used for both freight and passenger services, while the Falmouth track is used mostly for freight with very limited passenger service.
Passenger
The
CapeFlyer is a seasonal passenger rail service between Boston and Hyannis that operates on summer weekends from
Memorial Day through Labor Day. Stops along or near the Cape include
Buzzards Bay
Buzzards Bay is a bay of the Atlantic Ocean adjacent to the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It is approximately 28 miles (45 kilometers) long by 8 miles (12 kilometers) wide. It is a popular destination for fishing, boating, and tourism. Since ...
,
Bourne
Bourne may refer to:
Places UK
* Bourne, Lincolnshire, a town
** Bourne Abbey
** Bourne railway station
* Bourne (electoral division), West Sussex
* Bourne SSSI, Avon, a Site of Special Scientific Interest near Burrington, North Somerset
* Bourne ...
, and
Hyannis.
The
Cape Cod Central Railroad is a
heritage railroad on Cape Cod. The service is primarily tourist-oriented and includes a dinner train over a scenic route between Hyannis and the Cape Cod Canal lasting about 2 hours round trip. Select trains feature stops at
West Barnstable
West Barnstable is a seaside village in the northwest part of the town of Barnstable, Massachusetts. Once devoted to agricultural pursuits, West Barnstable now is largely residential and historic. Originally founded in 1639 as part of its neighbori ...
and
Sandwich
A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...
. Additional service is also provided from the Buzzards Bay station, and a small number of trains also depart from North Falmouth.
Freight
Active freight service remains in the Upper Cape, both along the main line from Bourne to Hyannis and on the spur to North Falmouth. One of the more frequent operations is the transport of municipal waste to a waste-to-energy plant in
Rochester, as well as removal of debris and refuse from
Joint Base Cape Cod in Falmouth.
Massachusetts Coastal Railroad
The Massachusetts Coastal Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class III railroad serving south-eastern Massachusetts. The railroad maintains track from Hyannis to Framingham, with the railroad operating its own trains on the 97 miles of lines betwe ...
is currently the sole operator of freight rail on the Cape, taking over from
Bay Colony Railroad
The Bay Colony Railroad is a shortline railroad operating in Massachusetts.
Formerly operating along most of the south coast region (including all lines on Cape Cod), Bay Colony currently operates only along a roughly six-mile stretch of track ...
in 2007.
Historic
Daily passenger rail service by the
New Haven Railroad
The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad , commonly known as The Consolidated, or simply as the New Haven, was a railroad that operated in the New England region of the United States from 1872 to December 31, 1968. Founded by the merger of ...
from Boston to Cape Cod ended in June 1959. Summertime ''
Day Cape Codder
The Cape Codder was a pair of day and night passenger trains run by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (NH) from the latter 1920s to the mid 1960s, with some brief interruptions. Its distinction was the longest tenure of direct summerti ...
'' service by the New Haven from New York City to the Cape ended in 1964. In 1978, the tracks east of South Dennis were abandoned and replaced with the
Cape Cod Rail Trail
The Cape Cod Rail Trail (CCRT) is a paved rail trail located on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. The trail route passes through the towns of Yarmouth, Dennis, Harwich, Brewster, Orleans, Eastham, and Wellfleet. It connects to the 6-plus mile (1 ...
. Another bike path, the
Shining Sea Bikeway, was built over abandoned tracks between Woods Hole and Falmouth in 1975, and in 2008 the rail line between Falmouth and North Falmouth was removed and the right-of-way converted into an extension of the Shining Sea Bikeway.
In 1986,
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
operated a seasonal service in the summer from New York City to Hyannis called the ''
Cape Codder''. From 1988, Amtrak and the
Massachusetts Department of Transportation
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) oversees roads, public transit, aeronautics, and transportation licensing and registration in the US state of Massachusetts. It was created on November 1, 2009, by the 186th Session of t ...
increased service to a daily frequency, until service ended in 1996, leaving a gap until the current CapeFlyer service began in 2013.
Bicycle
![Old Colony Rail Trail](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Old_Colony_Rail_Trail.jpg)
Bicycle and pedestrian access to the Cape is possible via a sidewalk on the southbound side of the
Bourne Bridge
The Bourne Bridge in Bourne, Massachusetts carries Route 28 across the Cape Cod Canal, connecting Cape Cod with the rest of Massachusetts. It won the American Institute of Steel Construction's Class "A" Award of Merit as the "Most Beautiful St ...
. There are a number of dedicated bike trails and paths around the Cape, including:
*
Cape Cod Rail Trail
The Cape Cod Rail Trail (CCRT) is a paved rail trail located on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. The trail route passes through the towns of Yarmouth, Dennis, Harwich, Brewster, Orleans, Eastham, and Wellfleet. It connects to the 6-plus mile (1 ...
- South Dennis to Wellfleet
*
Old Colony Rail Trail
The Old Colony Rail Trail is a paved rail trail located in Harwich and Chatham, Massachusetts. It occupies the Old Colony Railroad's abandoned Chatham Branch railroad right-of-way. Most of the trail follows roughly the path of the old railbed, e ...
- Harwich and Chatham, connecting with the Cape Cod Rail Trail
* Various trails in the
Cape Cod National Seashore
* Various trails in
Nickerson State Park
Nickerson State Park is a state-owned, public recreation area of more than located on Cape Cod in Brewster, Massachusetts. The park's sandy soil and scrub pines surround many kettle ponds which are dependent on groundwater and precipitation. The ...
, connecting with the Cape Cod Rail Trail
*
Shining Sea Bikeway - Woods Hole to North Falmouth
* Cape Cod Canal path on both sides of the canal
* Various unpaved Mid-Cape trails
For long-distance biking, the mostly on-road
Claire Saltonstall Bikeway
The Claire Saltonstall Bikeway, also known as the Boston to Cape Cod Bikeway, is a 135-mile bikeway marked as Bike Route 1 that starts on the Charles River Bike Path near Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts and winds along Boston's Emerald ...
connects Cape Cod to the
Charles River Bike Path in Boston.
Tourism
![Sum04-115](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/Sailboat_in_Hyannis_Harbor.jpg)
Cape Cod has a year-round population of about 220,000, and it experiences a tourist season each summer, the beginning and end of which can be roughly approximated as
Memorial Day and Labor Day, respectively. Many businesses specifically target summer visitors, although the "on season" has been expanding somewhat in recent years due to
Indian Summer, reduced lodging rates, the number of people visiting the Cape after Labor Day who have no school-age children, and the elderly—reducing the true "off season" to six or seven months. In the late 20th century, tourists and owners of second homes began visiting the Cape more and more in the spring and fall, softening the definition of the high season and expanding it somewhat.
Provincetown berths the original East Coast
whale watching
Whale watching is the practice of observing whales and dolphins ( cetaceans) in their natural habitat. Whale watching is mostly a recreational activity (cf. birdwatching), but it can also serve scientific and/or educational purposes.Hoyt, E. 2 ...
fleet (Dolphin Fleet) who patrol the
Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary
Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary (officially the Gerry E. Studds Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary) is an 842-square-mile (638-square- nautical-mile) federally protected marine sanctuary located at the mouth of Massachusetts Bay, ...
. The fleet guarantee a whale sighting (mostly
humpback whale
The humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the only species in the genus ''Megaptera''. Adults range in length from and weigh up to . The hump ...
,
fin whale
The fin whale (''Balaenoptera physalus''), also known as finback whale or common rorqual and formerly known as herring whale or razorback whale, is a cetacean belonging to the parvorder of baleen whales. It is the second-longest species of cet ...
,
minke whale,
sei whale
The sei whale ( , ; ''Balaenoptera borealis'') is a baleen whale, the third-largest rorqual after the blue whale and the fin whale. It inhabits most oceans and adjoining seas, and prefers deep offshore waters. It avoids polar and tropical ...
, and the critically endangered
North Atlantic right whale) and is the only federally certified operation qualified to rescue whales. Provincetown has also long been known as an art colony, attracting writers and artists. The town is home to the Cape's most attended art museum, the
Provincetown Art Association and Museum.
![Cape Cod Beach](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Cape_Cod_Beach.png)
Cape Cod is a popular destination for beachgoers from all over, with of coastline. Beaches—both public and private—are easily accessible. The Cape has upwards of sixty public beaches, many of which offer parking for non-residents for a daily fee (in summer). The
Cape Cod National Seashore has of sandy beach and many walking paths.
Cape Cod is also popular for its outdoor activities, such as beach walking, biking, boating, fishing, go-karts, golfing, kayaking, miniature golf, and unique shopping. There are 27 public, daily-fee golf courses and 15 private courses on Cape Cod.
Bed and breakfasts or vacation houses are often used for lodging.
Each summer, the Naukabout Music Festival is held at the Barnstable County Fair Grounds located in
East Falmouth
East Falmouth is a census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Falmouth in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located at the base of Massachusetts' "fishhook" peninsula (''see map at right''). The population was 6,038 at the ...
, typically during the first weekend of August. The festival features local, regional, and national talent, along with food, arts, and family-friendly activities. Some particularly well-known Cape products and industries include
cranberries
Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus ''Oxycoccus'' of the genus ''Vaccinium''. In Britain, cranberry may refer to the native species ''Vaccinium oxycoccos'', while in North America, cranberry m ...
,
shellfish
Shellfish is a colloquial and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater envir ...
(particularly
oyster
Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not al ...
s and clams), and
lobstering.
Sport fishing
Cape Cod is known around the world as a spring-to-fall destination for sport anglers. Among the species most widely pursued are
striped bass
The striped bass (''Morone saxatilis''), also called the Atlantic striped bass, striper, linesider, rock, or rockfish, is an anadromous perciform fish of the family Moronidae found primarily along the Atlantic coast of North America. It has al ...
,
bluefish
The bluefish (''Pomatomus saltatrix'') is the only extant species of the family Pomatomidae. It is a marine pelagic fish found around the world in temperate and subtropical waters, except for the northern Pacific Ocean. Bluefish are known as ta ...
,
bluefin tuna, false albacore (
little tunny
The little tunny (''Euthynnus alletteratus''), also known as the false albacore, little tuna, bonita, bonito, or blue bonito, is a species of tuna in the family Scombridae. It can be found in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean and Blac ...
),
bonito
Bonitos are a tribe of medium-sized, ray-finned predatory fish in the family Scombridae – a family it shares with the mackerel, tuna, and Spanish mackerel tribes, and also the butterfly kingfish. Also called the tribe Sardini, it consists of ...
,
tautog,
flounder
Flounders are a group of flatfish species. They are demersal fish, found at the bottom of oceans around the world; some species will also enter estuaries.
Taxonomy
The name "flounder" is used for several only distantly related species, thou ...
and
fluke
Fluke may refer to:
Biology
* Fluke (fish), a species of marine flatfish
* Fluke (tail), the lobes of the tail of a cetacean, such as dolphins or whales, ichthyosaurs, mosasaurs
Mosasaurs (from Latin ''Mosa'' meaning the 'Meuse', and Greek ...
. The Cape Cod Bay side of the Cape, from Sandwich to Provincetown, has numerous harbors, saltwater creeks, and shoals that hold bait fish and attract the larger game fish, such as striped bass, bluefish and bluefin tuna.
The outer edge of the Cape, from Provincetown to Falmouth, faces the open Atlantic from Provincetown to Chatham, and then the more protected water of Nantucket and Vineyard Sounds, from Chatham to Falmouth. The bays, harbors and shoals along this coastline also provide a robust habitat for game species, and during the late summer months warm-water species such as
mahi-mahi
The mahi-mahi () or common dolphinfish (''Coryphaena hippurus'') is a surface-dwelling ray-finned fish found in off-shore temperate, tropical, and subtropical waters worldwide. Also widely called dorado (not to be confused with ''Salminus brasil ...
and
marlin will also appear on the southern edge of Cape Cod's waters. Nearly every harbor on Cape Cod hosts sport fishing charter boats, which run from May through October.
One of the most popular fishing spots on the East Coast is the Cape Cod Canal. Striped bass, especially, in season attract anglers from far and wide. A large part of the attraction involves ease of access. Ample free parking exists all along the waterway, and the banks are a short walk from one's vehicle. This reduces fishing to the basics – a pole and a few lures.
Sports
![Veterans Field, Chatham MA (345015947)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Veterans_Field%2C_Chatham_MA_%28345015947%29.jpg)
The Cape has nine amateur baseball franchises playing within Barnstable County in the
Cape Cod Baseball League
The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...
. The
Wareham Gatemen also play in the Cape Cod Baseball League in nearby
Wareham in
Plymouth County. The league's beginning is unsettled, even fanciful. Without any basis whatsoever, some claim a start date of 1875. However, the first Cape Cod League formed in Sandwich in 1910. It did not last. Three years later - in 1913 - another Cape Cod Baseball League organized. This venture lasted two years. In 1916, a third attempt at league play barely got off the ground. Then, in 1923, an initial four teams met in Hyannis and started a successful federation along the lines of the present league. Outstanding players from throughout the region competed until the war effort led to a shutdown in 1940. In 1946, the local town teams from the prewar County Twilight League and Lower Cape Cod League organized under the Cape Cod Baseball League banner. As the years passed, local players were moved aside by outside college stars. Finally, in 1963, the league became a wholly summer collegiate circuit sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association with some Major Leagues financial support. The current teams in the league are the
Bourne Braves,
Brewster Whitecaps
The Brewster Whitecaps are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Brewster, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's East Division. The Whitecaps play their home games at Stony Brook ...
,
Chatham Anglers (formerly the Chatham Athletics),
Cotuit Kettleers,
Falmouth Commodores,
Harwich Mariners,
Hyannis Harbor Hawks (formerly the Hyannis Mets),
Orleans Firebirds
The Orleans Firebirds, formerly the Orleans Cardinals, are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Orleans, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's East Division. The Firebirds play t ...
(formerly the Orleans Cardinals),
Wareham Gatemen and the
Yarmouth–Dennis Red Sox.
MLB scouts frequent the games in the summer, looking for stars of the future.
Along with the
Cape Cod Baseball League
The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...
and the new Junior Hockey League team, the
Cape Cod Islanders
The Cape Cod Islanders were a Tier III junior ice hockey team from Massachusetts. They were most recently a member of the North American 3 Hockey League and played at the Falmouth Ice Arena in Falmouth, Massachusetts. In 2019, they announced the ...
, many high school players are being recruited as well. Barnstable and Harwich have each sent multiple players to Division 1 colleges for baseball. Harwich has also won three state titles since 1996 (1996, 2006, 2007). Bourne and Sandwich, rivals in hockey, have each won state championships recently, Bourne in 2004 and Sandwich in 2007. Nauset, Barnstable, and Martha's Vineyard are also state hockey powerhouses. Barnstable and Falmouth hold the title of having
one of the longest Thanksgiving football rivalries in the country. The teams have played each other every year on Thanksgiving since 1895. High school football teams on the Cape have also recently become successful and the region has also become a hot-spot for college recruiting. In 2011, four high school football teams from the Cape won state championships in their respective divisions; Dennis-Yarmouth (Division 2A), Bourne (Division 3A), Mashpee (Division 4), as well as Nantucket and Upper Cape Cod Tech (Division 5). Also, numerous other Cape schools have made appearances in the football state championship game recently, including Barnstable in 2012, Martha's Vineyard in 2008, Cape Cod Tech in 2006, and Dennis-Yarmouth in 2013. The Bourne and Barnstable girls' volleyball teams are two of the best teams in the state and Barnstable is considered one of the best programs in the country. Bourne won the state title in 2003 and 2007, and Barnstable has won 12 Division 1 state titles in the past 13 years and has won the state title the three years in a row (2011–2013). In the 2010 cross country season, Sturgis Charter Public School's Division 4 cross country team remained virtually unbeaten throughout their running season.
The end of each summer is marked with the running of the
Falmouth Road Race, held on the third Saturday in August. It draws about 10,000 runners to the Cape and showcases the finest runners in the world (mainly for the large purse that the race is able to offer). The race is long, which is a non-standard distance. The reason for the unusual distance is that the man who thought the race up (Tommy Leonard) was a bartender who wanted a race along the coast from one bar (The Cap'n Kidd in Woods Hole) to another (The Brothers Four in Falmouth Heights). While the bar in Falmouth Heights is now the British Beer Company, the race still starts at the front door of the Cap'n Kidd in Woods Hole and now finishes at the beach in Falmouth Heights. Prior to the Falmouth race is an annual race through Brewster called the Brew Run, held early in August.
Education
Most Cape Cod towns have a few elementary schools, one or two middle schools and one large public high school that serves the entire town. Exceptions to this include
Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School
Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School is a suburban public high school (grades 812) in Yarmouth, Massachusetts, United States. It opened in 1957 and was expanded and renovated in 1979, and again in 2006. The school serves the communities of Yarmout ...
, located in Yarmouth, which serves the two towns in its name;
Monomoy Regional High School
Monomoy Regional High School is a regional secondary school located in Harwich, Massachusetts, United States, within Barnstable County. Monomoy Regional High School serves approximately 625 students in grades 8-12 from the towns of Chatham an ...
, located in Harwich and serving that town as well as Chatham; and
Nauset Regional High School in Eastham, which serves the towns of Brewster, Orleans, Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro, and Provincetown.
Bourne High School
Bourne High School is a public high school located in Bourne, Massachusetts.
History
Bourne High School is located about 1 mile west of the famous Bourne Bridge and "Cape Cod" topiary at the Bourne Bridge rotary that welcomes people crossing th ...
serves students in that town, which includes the villages of Sagamore, Sagamore Beach, and Buzzards Bay.
Barnstable High School
Barnstable High School is a public high school (grades 8–12) in the village of Hyannis, Massachusetts, United States, Town of Barnstable. The school is part of the Barnstable Public School District.
Barnstable High School was founded in the ...
is the Cape's largest.
Sturgis Charter Public School
The Sturgis Charter Public School is a dual-campus charter school located in the village of Hyannis, Massachusetts (Town of Barnstable, MA), United States. The school received its charter in February 1998 and opened in September for the 1998–1 ...
, a public school in Hyannis that was featured in ''Newsweek'' magazine's "Best High Schools" ranking, offers the
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) is a two-year educational programme primarily aimed at 16-to-19-year-olds in 140 countries around the world. The programme provides an internationally accepted qualification for entry into ...
in their junior and senior year and is open to students from as far away as
Plymouth
Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west.
Plymouth ...
. The Cape also has two vocational high schools. One is the
Cape Cod Regional Technical High School in Harwich, and the other is
Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical High School
Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School (also known as Upper Cape Tech, UCT, or simply Upper Cape) is a public vocational-technical high school located in Bourne, Massachusetts, United States. Opened in 1966, it serves over 720 students in 15 vo ...
in Bourne.
In 1976 the Cape schools and districts petitioned the Massachusetts Legislature to create an educational collaborative, the Cape Cod Collaborative, to facilitate cooperation and efficiency in providing gifted and talented, and special needs programs. With locations in Osterville and Bourne the Cape Cod Collaborative provides transportation services, professional development, autism support, developmental training, itinerant services and an alternative education program. Each summer, in cooperation with the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, it operates a science-based program for gifted and talented students from around the Cape.
Mashpee High School is home to the Mashpee Chapter of SMPTE, the
Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers
The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) (, rarely ), founded in 1916 as the Society of Motion Picture Engineers or SMPE, is a global professional association of engineers, technologists, and executives working in the m ...
. This chapter is the first and only high school chapter in the world to be a part of this organization and has received much recognition within the Los Angeles broadcasting industry as a result.
In addition to public schools, Cape Cod has a wide range of private schools. The town of Barnstable has Trinity Christian Academy,
Cape Cod Academy
Cape Cod Academy (CCA) is an independent coed college preparatory school for grades Kindergarten through 12 located in Osterville, Massachusetts.
Mission statement
"The pursuit of academic excellence and development of life skills in a safe, va ...
, St. Francis Xavier Preparatory School, and
Saint John Paul II High School. Sandwich offers the Waldorf School of Cape Cod, Harwich offers the Lighthouse Charter School for elementary and middle school students, and Falmouth offers
Falmouth Academy
Falmouth Academy is a non-profit, coed, independent, private college-preparatory day school serving students from grades 7–12. It is located in Falmouth, Massachusetts on Cape Cod.
History
Falmouth Academy was founded in 1977 as a small and ...
.
Riverview School
Riverview School is a private boarding/day school for students, ages 11–22, with complex language, learning and cognitive challenges located on Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the sou ...
is located in East Sandwich and is a special co-ed boarding school which serves students as old as 22 who have learning disabilities. Another specialized school is the
Penikese Island
Penikese Island is a island off the coast of Massachusetts, United States, in Buzzards Bay. It is one of the Elizabeth Islands, which make up the town of Gosnold, Massachusetts. Penikese is located near the west end of the Elizabeth island cha ...
School, located in the
Elizabeth Islands off southwestern Cape Cod, which serves struggling and troubled teenage boys.
Cape Cod contains three institutions of higher education. One is the
Cape Cod Community College
Cape Cod Community College, known locally as "Four Cs", is a public community college in West Barnstable, Massachusetts. It was established in 1961, the second institution to open as part of what is now a 15 community college system in Massachu ...
located in West Barnstable. The second is
Massachusetts Maritime Academy in the village of
Buzzards Bay
Buzzards Bay is a bay of the Atlantic Ocean adjacent to the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It is approximately 28 miles (45 kilometers) long by 8 miles (12 kilometers) wide. It is a popular destination for fishing, boating, and tourism. Since ...
. Massachusetts Maritime Academy is the oldest continuously operating maritime college in the United States. The third is
Bridgewater State University
Bridgewater State University is a public university with its main campus in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. It is the largest of nine state universities in Massachusetts. Including its off-campus sites in New Bedford, Attleboro, and Cape Cod, BSU ha ...
, which opened a satellite campus in
South Yarmouth in January 2015. The school will provide 40 undergraduate and graduate courses leading to the completion of bachelor's degree and master's degree programs in Early Childhood Education, Educational Leadership, Secondary Education, Reading, and Special Education. The campus will also offer Certificate Programs in Business and Social Work. Beginning in the Summer 2015, the campus will begin to offer undergraduate credit courses in History.
In popular culture and art
Celebrated naturalist and philosopher
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading Transcendentalism, transcendentalist, he is best known for his book ''Walden'', a reflection upon simple living in natural su ...
wrote about an 1849 trip along the Cape. His book ''Cape Cod'' was published posthumously in 1865.
The
Cape Codder cocktail is named after the peninsula; both are notable for
cranberry. Cape Cod also generated a distinctive
Cape style house and
Cape lighthouse.
![Cape Cod Auto Map (62797)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Cape_Cod_Auto_Map_%2862797%29.jpg)
The virtues of Cape Cod are extolled in the song "
Old Cape Cod".
Artist
Edward Hopper owned a summer house in Truro, and painted numerous Cape scenes including ''Corn Hill'' (1930), ''Highland Light, North Truro'' (1930), ''Rich's House'' (1930), ''High Road'' (1931), ''House on Dune Edge'' (1931), ''Cold Storage Plant'' (1933), and ''Cottages at North Truro'' (1936).
According to
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway and in film.
Born to ...
's song "
Let's Do It," "cold Cape Cod clams 'gainst their wish do it."
The band
Vampire Weekend's self-titled LP contains two songs mentioning Cape Cod, "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" and "Walcott".
In 1996, Massachusetts began issuing a "Cape & Islands" specialty
registration plate
A vehicle registration plate, also known as a number plate (British English), license plate (American English), or licence plate ( Canadian English), is a metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identificat ...
.
See also
* ''
Mayflower
''Mayflower'' was an English ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After a grueling 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, r ...
''
*
Wildfire history of Cape Cod
References
Notes
Sources
*
Geologic History of Cape Cod, Massachusetts by the
United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...
(USGS)
Further reading
* Cumbler, John T. ''Cape Cod: An Environmental History of a Fragile Ecosystem.'' Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 2014.
* Freeman, Frederick. (1860)
''The History of Cape Cod: The Annals of Barnstable County and of Its Several Towns (Vol. 1)'' Harvard University.
* Freeman, Frederick. (1862)
''The History of Cape Cod: The Annals of Barnstable County and of Its Several Towns (Vol. 2)'' Harvard University.
* LeBlanc, D.R. (1986). ''Ground-water resources of Cape Cod, Massachusetts''
ydrologic Investigations Atlas HA-692 Reston, Va.: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey.
* Massey, A.J., C.S. Carlson, and D.R. LeBlanc. (2006). ''Ground-water levels near the top of the water-table mound, western Cape Cod, Massachusetts, 2002–04''
cientific Investigations Report 2006-5054 Reston, VA: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey.
* Masterson, J.P. and J.W. Portnoy. (2005). ''Potential changes in ground-water flow and their effects on the ecology and water resources of the Cape Cod National Seashore, Massachusetts''
eneral Information Product 13 Reston, VA: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey.
* Walter, D.A. and A.T. Whealan. (2005). ''Simulated water sources and effects of pumping on surface and ground water, Sagamore and Monomoy flow lenses, Cape Cod, Massachusetts''
cientific Investigations Report 2004-5181 Reston, VA: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey.
*
External links
Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce"Geologic History of Cape Cod, Massachusetts" U.S. Geological Survey
*
{{Authority control
Barrier islands of Massachusetts
Cape Cod and the Islands
Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...
Geology of Massachusetts
Cod, Cape
Islands of Barnstable County, Massachusetts
Moraines of the United States
New England
Peninsulas of Massachusetts
Regions of Massachusetts