USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > Falmouth > Falmouth on Cape Cod : picturesque, romantic, historic > Part 2
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MARINE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY AND PIERS A seat of the United States Government fisheries and the home of perhaps the world's greatest laboratory for marine research.
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FALMOUTH ON CAPE COD
of the company had their lodging. Today Penzance is a spot of lovely summer homes; and what once was a bare, and probably odorous place, is now a district where no money has been spared to enhance its somewhat rugged beauty.
Falmouth Heights, one mile cast of Falmouth center, is the largest summer resort in the town- ship; yet this section, years ago, was considered absolute waste land, where the grass was so poor as to be worthless for grazing even sheep. Today almost every house has its lawn and garden, while in the center is a ball field whose sur- One of the most beautiful of Falmouth's summer resort sections. Here are PENZANCE many of the most charming residences. face is almost that of a putting green. Directly across the road from the diamond is the Cottage Club building and pier facing out on the sound, and here really is the center of life of the community. Here is the post office, and here also are held every Friday evening the Cottage Club dances. Below, on a level with the wharf, are the bathhouses used by the majority of the swimmers, and on the left of the pier is a sandy beach where those unable to swim are taught by Professor Stone, who for more than twenty years has supervised the water sports at the Heights. Professor Stone has, since 1902, appointed one day out of each year as a day of races and fancy diving, and in years past, well-known swimmers have participated. Today the races draw entries, not only from Falmouth, but from the ranks of our best school and college swimmers all over New England.
Directly overlooking the roadstead of the Sound, where the coastal traffic continually passes, is the Hotel Terrace Gables, which originated as the Draper home, but which today has developed into one of the best hotels on Cape Cod. From this bluff one clearly sees the shores of Marthas Vineyard extending far to the east. A bit to the left, and thirty miles away, lies the island of Nantucket. The Heights is fortunate in its hotels. There is the Vineyard Sound House, set well back from the drive and com- manding a glorious view of the Sound; the Oak Crest, on the high- est point of the vicinity, where the southwest wind is always felt; the Tower House with its putting greens, facing the south and Mar- thas Vineyard. Following the drive that leads to the northeast up the outside of the Cape, one passes through a country that probably will soon develop as a new section of Falmouth, for the shore line is all that could be de- sired and the many inlets speak of vast possibilities. Beyond is
A BIT OF WOODS HOLE To the right is Vineyard Sound and Marthas Vineyard, and in the imme- diate foreground Woods Hole Harbour.
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Menauhant, a happy, congenial little community in a quiet, restful setting; it is really Falmouth's eastern extremity on the water- front.
Falmouth township in the in- terior is an entirely different coun- try; for back through the hills, that look so lonely and deserted from the seaboard, there lies a district which embodies almost every ele- ment of pastoral beauty. Davis- ville, where the old Cape Cod story-and-a-half houses have been, for the most part, bought from the THE OLD CANDLE HOUSE original owners by summer people, Ilere, in the days of whaling, candles were made from whale oil, for Woods Hole was one of the whaling ports of the Cape. is a section whose greatest charm lies in these same old homes. It is a village whose extent is limited almost to one street; yet the one street, quiet and shaded, holds real beauty in its atmosphere of early days. East Falmouth and Teaticket are two other of the inland centers, and as in Davisville one finds in both the pure architec- ture of the Colonial farmhouse. These two villages are inhabited today almost entirely by the Portuguese, who through their diligence and industry have won for themselves the unstinted praise of those who know them. Where today there extend in ever-increas- ing dimensions whole fields given over to strawberries and turnips, there existed only
OYSTER POND A spot of sheer beauty, where the waters of the pond and sea are separated by a tiny strip of land.
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NOBSKA LIGHT
Guarding the narrows of Vineyard Sound, the light has shoton the proper course to as many as three thousand ships in a single month.
a few years ago a waste of scrub pine and oak. Due also to the industry of the Portu- guese, Falmouth has taken its place as one of the foremost strawberry-growing centers in the entire country, since the production in the last few years has approximated a yield of one and one-half million quarts of berries each year. The fields that extend to each side of the state road through the East Falmouth district are models for well-cultivated farms. Row after row of plants is seen, yet a tract of land as large so free from weeds would be most difficult to find elsewhere. A short time ago an association was formed of the strawberry growers to facili- tate the marketing of their prod- uct, as previously a deal of trouble had been met by persons who, unaccustomed to correct pro- cedure in packing, shipping, and billing, had suffered, consequently, a decided loss of income. Today the association is giving every possible help to the individual, for- warding boxes and crates for pack- ing, which are paid for out of the return on the product; it also instructs in correct growing and BREAKWATER HOTEL It stands between Woods Hole and Penzance, where it overlooks the narrow waterway between Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound. shipping, so that every member
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today benefits by the knowledge, experience, and power of the heads of the organization. A special instance is mentioned, in regard to the strawberry crop this last year, which certainly shows the earnestness and will to succeed of the Portuguese. One grower who had two and one-half acres of land given over to strawberries was able to export thirty- six thousand quarts, or nearly three times the yield estimated. People who can accomplish such things are decidedly of the most desirable sort, reflecting credit not only on them- selves but on their co-workers.
.Cape Cod is the real home of the cranberry, for it was in North Dennis between the years 1810 and 1820 that the first attempts were made to cultivate the plant, though it was thirty or forty years before sufficient experience was acquired to produce a paying crop. After 1850, however, the acreage given over to the industry and the number of growers greatly increased, until today the section holds first place in quantity and quality production throughout the world. The yearly crop of Falmouth forms a large part of the Cape's yield, for from seventy-five to one hundred thousand barrels are raised within its boundaries annually. The town is constantly developing the industry which circulates so much money among Falmouth merchants, and today many swamps have been transformed into extensive "bogs," as the soil found in these districts is the sort demanded for successful operations; and the value assigned to these formerly worth- less properties approximates $200,000. The growers learned during their hundred odd years of experience how to combat their insect enemies; how to protect their crop from frosts; in short, how to produce successfully; but since their product was a perishable commodity, it remained for them to evolve an efficient method of distribu- tion. The Cape Cod Cranberry Growers Co-operative Association was organized to over- come the existing difficulty; and while many of the berries are still sold through com- mission merchants and to buyers who personally visit the fields, the bulk of the crop is
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A BIT OF FALMOUTH SHORE This sweep of sandy beach faces Vineyard Sound. Its curving line makes a pleasing perspective.
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A BASEBALL GAME AT FALMOUTH HEIGHTS
Here, throughout the summer season, the Falmouth Heights team, composed of players from the leading colleges, meets other teams representing various Cape Cod communities.
moved through the efforts of the association, whose agents are active in all the principal cities of the country.
Along the northern boundary of Falmouth township there lies an area known as Hatchville, though to attempt to find any sort of center would be futile, for the district is one of large farms extending over a broad, well-cultivated country and overlooking the beauties of Coonamesset Pond. The first child born in Falmouth was a Hatch, to whom tradition has ascribed various births; but the most accepted seems to be that on the first night in 1660, when the earliest settlers landed on the marsh land between Fresh and Salt Ponds, the wife of Jonathan Hatch unexpectedly gave birth to a son, and when asked what name it should bear, she replied, "He was born among the flags and his name shall be Moses." Today the remaining Hatches in the neighborhood named in their honor claim descent from Moses, and it was really this family that first developed the land which at the present time is under cultivation to such a tremendous extent.
The Coonamesset Ranch Corporation today is the realization of an idea conceived in 1915 by Mr. C. R. Crane, his son, Mr. J. O. Crane, and Mr. Wilfrid Wheeler. By these three men it was realized that a farm of proper size was needed on the Cape, if only to supply the needs of the summer inhabitants; and since none existed, various experiments were made to test the so-called waste land of the interior. The experiments showed most satisfactory results; so that in 1917, the originators, together with others they had interested in the scheme, formed the corporation. During the years that followed, years of war and confusion, much of the extended area controlled by the Ranch was cleared of its scrub woods and planted. For years tractors were at work preparing the soil for proper development, hothouses were built, and commodious farm buildings erected, so that the whole now stands the realization of an idea. Two stores have been opened by the corporation, one at North Falmouth and one in Falmouth itself, where a part of the produce of the Ranch is sold. Canning was undertaken several years ago to utilize the waste products of the farm; that is, all the vegetables that are not sold wholesale or at the two retail stores are in this way preserved.
Today the corporation has achieved its purpose. It has shown clearly that the land so long considered worthless is of real value. In January of 1924, the leaders of the organi- zation inaugurated a new policy, namely to colonize the Ranch, and it is now desired that individuals rent from the corporation such sections of the land as they are able to utilize; for it is well known that an individual working for himself is able to accomplish
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PUBLIC BATHHOUSE AND BATHING BEACH
A long stretch of sandy beach and a sanitary, well-appointed bathhouse within convenient walking distance of the center of the town. The water at Falmouth is always at an even, pleasant temperature in the summer.
far greater results, in proportion, than many individuals working disinterestedly as parts in the mechanism of big business. Thus the tenants have the advantage of the clearing done in former years by the corporation; they have the privilege of using the extensive modern farming equipment owned by the company; so in reality the Coonamesset Ranch has deviated from the usual course of procedure and has offered its employees a real, co-operative opportunity.
Along the same line of recent development are the Atamannsit Farms, between Hatch- ville and East Falmouth, which were originally purchased and intended for a shooting camp and place for nature study by Mr. George W. St. Amant of Boston. Mr. St. Amant has always been a lover of nature and animals, and after acquiring the property he realized the opportunities open to him for satisfying a desire that had been for many years repressed-to own and operate a model stock farm. It is evident today that the chief interest in the farm to its owner is the herd of Guernsey cattle which he has, during the past several years, developed carefully and of necessity slowly, for only the best animals of the class have ever become members of the Atamannsit herd. Into this. department, time, thought, and expenditure have been poured, and today one finds, in the modern attractive barns, a herd which, seen as a whole and with numbers amounting to one hun- dred and fifteen head taken into consideration, comprises what thoughtful observers declare an unbeatable combination. In the carefully considered opinion of experts, there is no herd of equal number that may successfully challenge its claim to supremacy in all- round excellence. Nearly every big herd has some "good ones," but Atamannsit boasts some of the most famous Guernseys in the country, and dozens of "tops." Atamannsit is not a rich man's hobby, nor is it in any sense a plaything; it is strictly a business enter- prise, and is so regarded by Mr. St. Amant. It is, however, exactly the sort of place that one would expect a stock-breeder and nature-lover to have; for along the shore of the lake, shooting blinds have been erected, and on a knoll overlooking a scene of wild, natural beauty, is the home with its faultless grounds, while back from the pond are the pastures that feed the thoroughbred herd.
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HISTORIC FALMOUTH
T is today an established fact that in the tenth century this continent was visited by Norsemen, but to mark their landings or route definitely is almost an impossibility. A free use of the imagination is a dangerous thing in the compilation of history, yet at times this very practice would seem to commend itself, for through it we often strike upon some entirely plausible interpretation of previously obscure elements. Many books have been written on places and their names, so that those versed in such works are able to trace the migration of various peoples by the names that still cling to the more promi- nent natural landmarks of the country traversed. It is recorded in the sagas of the Norsemen that boat-loads of grapes were taken from the lands about Vineyard Sound, or at least what we judge might have been Vineyard Sound. Does it not seem perfectly plausible, therefore, that friendly relations should be established with the natives of the district who, in the paucity of their own language, might have adopted some of the more simple descriptive words of the Norse?
Chief among the words thus possibly taken is the noun "holl," which in the language of the sea kings means "hill," yet which today is spelled "hole" and means something quite different. Webster's Dictionary places the following definition sixth, in the mean- ings of "hole": Local U. S. (a) A small bay; a cove. (b) A narrow waterway. So we find that the usage is not English, but distinctly American; and since this is so, how may we account for it? We have a slight similarity in the spelling of the two words and also in the meaning, for both are descriptive of natural objects. Let us therefore consider the various elements composing the "Holes" of our coast.
Holmes Hole was what today is known as Vineyard Haven, directly under the lee of Oak Bluffs and the highlands of Marthas Vineyard. Powder Hole was a land-locked anchor- age overlooked by Monomy Point, a high sandy hill and the southeastern extremity of Cape Cod. Woods Hole, where a narrow waterway of strong tides connects Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound, is the southwestern extremity of the Cape, where the land meets the sea in bold yet gracefully rounded hills. So the other Holes may be described, Robinsons Hole, Quicks Hole, Butlers Hole-each the name of a body of water near what is today or what was in years past a well-defined hill. It would there- fore appear that the word origi- nated with the Norsemen but, since their expedition one thousand years ago, its meaning and spell- ing have been corrupted. There is hardiy information enough on the subject to state dogmatically that the conjecture is true or false. The word "Holl" was used in re- gard to Woods Hole until quite recently, for at the celebration of the two-hundredth anniversary THE EAST END MEETING-HOUSE The old Congregational Church of East Falmouth is one of the oldest churches today on Cape Cod. of the town of Falmouth in 1886 we find special reference to this
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matter. It seems that in 1791, Professor James Winthrop of Har- vard College rode to Falmouth in a chaise, and sometime later wrote a letter descriptive of his trip in which he mentions Woods Hole. General John L. Swift, orator of the anniversary celebration, called attention to the spelling, which provoked quite a bit of surprise. "The Professor spells it," he said, "with one 'l' and a final 'e'." The Honorable Joseph Story Fay, a highly respected townsman, always insisted on the Norse theory, and it is possible that the general use of Holl is traceable to his Many years ago a hotel for sailors, which, during the Revolution, was struck THE BREWER HOMESTEAD by a cannon ball from an English warship. influence only. Right or wrong, the idea is fascinating that about five centuries before Christopher Columbus amazed the civilized world by his discovery of a new continent, that hundreds of years before Bartholomew Gosnold sighted and named Cape Cod, the blond sea kings of the North crossed the unknown seas and landed somewhere in the vicinity of Falmouth.
Bartholomew Gosnold will always hold a romantic place in, the history of Massa- chusetts, for to him honor is due for being the first Englishman to touch the shores of the Bay State. As a member of one of Sir Walter Raleigh's expeditions to Virginia, which at that time extended far enough north to include the New England of today, he became impressed with the fact that a shorter route existed, between the old and new worlds, than the one habitually travelled by way of the Canary Islands and the West Indies. Consequently, in 1602, with a crew of adventurers, he set sail from Falmouth, England, in an attempt to confirm his conviction regarding the shorter course, and fifty days later land was sighted which Gosnold called Cape Cod, because of the quantity of codfish caught in the waters adjoining its shores. Some time was spent in examining the new country, and it is known that the sites of both Falmouth and New Bedford were considered as possible locations for colonization. On the island of Cuttyhunk, which Gosnold named Elizabeth Island after his queen, the explorers dis- covered a pond two miles in cir- cumference with an island in the middle, and on this island-within- an-island Gosnold commenced the construction of his fort, to be the backbone of the colony planned. Certainly its location offered all the natural protection possible.
THE SHORE OF FALMOUTH HEIGHTS Looking from the shore, south and west along the waterfront.
The idea has long been held that Falmouth on Cape Cod was named in honor of Gosnold's home port, yet a confirmation of this explanation is not forthcom- ing, as it was many years after the settlement that the name
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was applied; and today no record remains of the date or reason of the change from the Indian name Succanessett. When the first settlement of Succanessett was made in 1660, the Indian tribes that made the southwestern tip of Cape Cod their home were small and few. Smallpox had worked its ravages, and the once flourishing community, which Gosnold referred to as one of "strut and lusty men," had been reduced by the time of the white man's colonization to two small tribes, one located at Mashpee and the other at Red Brook, in Pocasset. Large burying-grounds at West Falmouth stand as mute testimony to the tragedy enacted by the scourge. Arrowheads by the hundreds, and various other Indian relics, have been turned up in the course of years by the farmers of Falmouth town. By 1660 the red man's hold on his land was rapidly loosening, so that the first white settlers met with little or no opposition.
It is generally believed that when first this continent was settled by Europeans, homes were built wherever fancy and convenience pointed, but in reality a far different state of affairs existed. Governor Winslow, in a letter dated from Marshfield, May I, 1676, wrote: "I think I can clearly say that the English did not possess one foot of land in this colony but what was fairly obtained by honest purchase of the Indian proprietors. We first made a law (1643) that none should purchase or receive of gift any land of the Indians without a knowledge of the Court. And lest they should be straightened, we ordered that Mount Hope, Pocasset and several other necks of the best land in the colony, because most suitable and convenient for them, should never be bought out of their hands."
In Barnstable it had been proposed that a committee of three be appointed to attend the Quaker meetings in order that the established (Congregational) church might more fully understand, and hence more easily disorganize, the institution whose beliefs were at such variance with its own. Isaac Robinson had been appointed one of this com- mittee, and his attendance at the Friends' services served only to stir in him a very deep respect for their ideals and sincerity; yet such a reaction, in the eyes of the orthodox,
SWIMMING RACES AT FALMOUTH HEIGHTS
According to a custom of over twenty years' standing, one day is set apart each season for competitive water sports.
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DAVIS HOUSE A typical Cape Cod home of the story-and-a-half style characteristic of the Colonial period.
was but the workings of rank heresy. The pressure of public opinion became so unbearable that he with thirteen sympathiz- ers set sail in 1660 with the resolve to settle on Marthas Vineyard; even as his father, the famous John Robinson of Leyden, refused to bend to the authority of the over- bearing Lord Bishops of England, so he revolted from the intoler- ance of the lord brethren of Barn- stable and sought a land where one might follow the teachings of Christ according to his own beliefs and understandings. When the party arrived in Vineyard Sound, Falmouth's gentle shores evi-
dently appealed more than the high bluffs and rugged coast of the island; for a landing was effected somewhere between Fresh and Salt Ponds, and in this location were built the first houses of Falmouth, homes of the pilgrim sons of Pilgrims.
The entire section, from the tip of the Cape at Woods Hole to Five Mile River on the east, and inland four or five miles, was doubtless bought from the Indians by the company of fourteen who first landed, and on November 29, 1661, action was taken in regard to individual land-owning and titles. Approximately eight acres were assigned to each member of the community, and it was written that "The neck of land lying by Herring Brook shall be in general." In 1677 Woods Hole was opened to those who had joined the colony since 1660, and the land which they obtained at that time was bought from the company. The following year, 1678, the lands of West Falmouth were laid out, and at different periods were known as Great Sipperwisset and Hog Island. So the com- munity started, and in the years that followed, years of peace and contentment, it developed and prospered.
In the year 1686 the town was granted by the General Court its request for incor- poration under the name Suckonesset, and it is interesting to note that just five years after this time we find reference to the present name in a deed, dated March 16, 1693, wherein Robert Harper locates land he is deeding to John Gifford as "in Suckonnesset, alias Falmouth." A vote passed in 1701 brings to light a detail of interest, for it was agreed that ". . . every house keeper should kill six old black birds or twelve young black birds, or four jay birds ... etc.," for it was found that these were the greatest enemies of the farmer; but of more interest than this is the phrase "house keeper" which refers to a law of the Colony under the head of town affairs: "That none VINEYARD SOUND HOUSE Set well back from the Drive at Falmouth Heights, it faces the east and Nantucket, across the Sound. be allowed to be house keepers or
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build any cottage or dwelling house until they have allowance from the governor, some magistrate or the selectmen of that town; and that special care be taken that no single person that is of evil conversation or that hath not arms to serve the country, be suffered to keep such house or live alone; and if upon due warning such person do not put himself into some well-governed family, it shall be in the power of the next magistrate or selectmen of the town where he lives to put him to service." Perhaps the most powerful person in the town of the early days was the constable, for his duties were to collect fines and taxes, serve the executions of the court, and "to apprehend Quakers, notice such as sleep in meet- ings and do the town's whipping." In regard to Quakers the following was written: "That if any person or persons, commonly called Quakers shall come into any town of this government the constable shall apprehend him or them and he shall whip them with rods, so it exceed not 15 stripes and to give them a pass to depart the government." He held great discretionary power, for he was authorized to apprehend without warrant per- sons guilty of Sabbath-breaking, or swearing, vagrants, night-walkers, frequenters of houses licensed to sell beer or wine, and those who had overindulged.
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