On January 29, 2016 Disney will release the blockbuster film, The Finest Hours, which is a true story of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Most Daring Sea Rescue. It took place off of Chatham on Cape Cod in 1952. Four Coast Guard crewmen set out in a small vessel in Chatham to rescue 33 men stranded aboard the SS Pendeleton after the ship split in half during a legendary nor’easter.
We had the privilege a couple of months ago to attend a book presentation and signing, sponsored by the Eastham Library, of The Finest Hours author, Michael J. Tougias. It was spellbinding as he related his research and writing of his book.
I will post photographs of the actual boat tomorrow that is docked at Rock Harbor in Orleans on Cape Cod during the summer months. It is a must to see if you come to visit Cape Cod and unbelievable that 33 men plus crew fit on this small vessel.
On January 18, 1903, the first public two-way wireless communication between Europe and America occurred. Communiques between President Theodore Roosevelt and King Edward VII were translated into international Morse Code at the South Wellfleet and English stations and were broadcast.
For fifteen years the South Wellfleet spark-gap transmitter continued in commercial use. Skilled telegraphers sent out messages at the rate of 17 words a minute and station CC (Cape Cod) served , in effect, as the first “Voice of America.” Because of the sea cliff was eroding at the rate of 3 feet per year, the South Wellfleet Station closed in 1917.
You can still go to the Marconi Station in South Wellfleet and see the original wireless. And you can go out on the cliff on a cold winter day and reflect on the event that sparked the birth of global wireless communication.
If you have never been to the National Seashore Visitors Center in South Wellfleet, it is well worth the trip for the whole family. What a piece of history!
Atlantic White Cedar Swamp Trail in Wellfleet on Cape Cod is a mostly shaded 1.2 mile loop which explores one of the Cape’s few remaining stands of Atlantic White Cedar, located on the former site of Camp Wellfleet, a U.S. Army base.
Early settlers split White Cedar into boards for houses and farm buildings as well as joists, frames, doors, rafters, floors, fence posts and even organ pipes. Being so easy to shape it was very versatile.
This is a great hike for the whole family any time of the year, but make sure you bring bug repellent if you hike it in the summer as there can be many mosquitoes on the boardwalk over the swamp.
It seems like every holiday meal we have Brussel Sprouts. They are delicious and everyone loves them. But how do they grow?
As I was walking through the grocery store the other day I saw these in the produce department. As I looked closer, I realized they were Brussel Sprouts. They grow on a huge stalk. I had no idea…
Phil and I were taking a walk on the beach on Christmas Day when we looked up in the sky and we saw the sun with distinct spots on either side of it.
In posting it on our Enjoying Cape Cod Facebook page, one of our friends wrote and told us they were Sundogs. These Sundogs are also known as mock suns or “parhelia”, with a pair of brightly colored spots, one on either side of the sun.
Very cool, don’t you think? Have you ever seen a Sundog?
I had to resurrect this photograph of an Advent Calendar that I made for my 3 granddaughters a few years ago.
I had such fun creating and planning all of the little ornaments, each one having its own meaning to the girls. And they look forward to putting their ornaments on the tree day by day during the month of December.
I love it because it is timeless… and a treasure for them to look forward to year after year.
Cape Cod is known for its plentiful cranberry bogs. Bogs are an area of soft, marshy ground with acid peat soil, usually near wetlands, where the cranberries grow on long-running vines.
We happend to see this sign for Ocean Spray Cranberries and stopped to take this photograph of the bogs in the background.
Welcome to the Christmas Village…a little bit of Eastham Then and Now at the Eastham Historical Society.
Over 80 structures and hundreds of figures adorn the beautiful Christmas Village put together by Curator, Terri Rae Smith from her own collection. You can see the Eastham Windmill, the Cove Burying Ground, the Eastham Schoolhouse, 3 Sisters Lighthouses and Nauset Light, sledding, ice skating, maple syrup tapping and so much more.
What a wonderful event for the whole family. Stop by on Fridays & Saturdays from 2:00pm to 5:00pm & 6:00pm to 8:00pm and Sundays from 2:00pm to 5:00pm,
Don’t miss this wonderful holiday event which is right near the National Seashore Visitor’s Center in Eastham.
Cape Cod daily articles and photography on places to hike, experience and enjoy. A Cape Cod Outdoor Adventure Series.
