Scraggy Neck is a peninsula in
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 ...
south of 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 ...
, in
Cataumet,
,
USA
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
. It is south of
Wings Neck
Wings Neck is a peninsula that juts out into Buzzards Bay on the south side of the Cape Cod Canal, in Bourne, Massachusetts, USA.
The southwestern tip of the neck is the site of the Wing's Neck Light
The Wing's Neck Light is a historic lightho ...
and southeast of
Bassetts Island
Bassetts Island is a "Y"-shaped island within Pocasset Harbor and Red Brook Harbor, in Bourne, Massachusetts, USA. 41-40’48” North x 070-38’13” West
Is located between two Peninsulas, Wings Neck to the North and Scraggy Neck to the South, ...
.
As with all land in the area, the ancestral people on and around Scraggy Neck were
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 ...
. In 1637, through means that are not entirely clear, Thomas Dexter acquired the land that is now Scraggy Neck from the Wampanoag. Around 1667, he transferred the land to the Town of Sandwich and it became "parsonage property" of the
First Church, Sandwich Massachusetts
First Church UCC (or "First Church," or "First Church Sandwich," or "First Church of Christ") is a Congregational church, Congregational church in Sandwich, Massachusetts, Sandwich, Massachusetts founded in 1638 under Plymouth Colony Charter and th ...
.
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On 9 February 1847 the "First Parish in Sandwich County of Barnstable" transferred title to Martin Ellis for $1,350.
In 1866, Ellis offered the property for sale, advertising in the Yarmouth Register "Scraggy Neck for Sale." The ad copy declared "The estate lying in Pocasset (Sandwich)... consisting of 384 acres, principally woodland, cut off in 1846, but with pasture for cattle and sheep, and unrivalled privileges for shell and other fisheries. There are on the premises a dwelling house for a small family, a good barn, and other out-buildings. Also, a thrifty young orchard of apple, pear and quince trees. Making this a very desirable place for farming, sheep raising, or shore fishing. The present proprietor is obliged to give it up on account of ill health. Price $2,000. For further particulars apply to JOSHUA HANDY, near the premises. MARTIN ELLIS"
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On 3 March 1870, Joshua Handy, on behalf of Ellis, sold the land for $1,000 to Charles W. Parker and George P. Ellis. They subsequently, on 13 May 1870, sold to Washington Allen for $1,600.
On 21 April 1892, through a series of transactions between Allen, Francis H. Learned, and Edith H. Eustis, William Ellery Channing ("W.E.C.") Eustis
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"bought the entire three-hundred-acre, flounder-shaped peninsula" and began developing property on the neck.
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The total purchase price of the land seems to have been $50,000.
[Barnstable County Registry of Deeds, book 199, pages 525-529]
In 1937,
Edward C. Johnson II and his wife Elsie L. Johnson bought a house on the neck
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and began a long family association with the area. The Johnson and Eustis families converted the central 75 acres of the island to a protected forest.
Current residents of the neck are members of the Scraggy Neck Recreation Association
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References
External links
*Map:
*{{cite web
, url ={{GNIS 3, 615562
, title =Scraggy Neck
, work =Geographic Names Information System
, publisher =United States Geological Survey
, access-date =2021-08-02
Bourne, Massachusetts
Peninsulas of Massachusetts
Landforms of Barnstable County, Massachusetts