USA > Massachusetts > Massachusetts : a guide to its places and people > Part 56
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77
Captain Asa Eldridge of Yarmouth, one of the famous Cape skippers, made a memorable racing voyage across the Atlantic in the clipper 'Red Jacket.'
At the Center on US 6 the Thacher House (open as antique shop), bears the date 1680 on its large square chimney.
BARNSTABLE, 19.8 m. (town, alt. 40, pop. 8037, sett. 1637, incorp. 1639), was settled by the Rev. Joseph Hull and Thomas Dimmock, with their band of followers. The pioneers were undoubtedly attracted .
497
From Orleans to Providence, R.I.
by the great marshes that yielded an abundance of salt hay for their cattle.
A trading establishment set up in 1700 developed into a commercial exchange dealing in codfish caught on the Grand Banks and rum and molasses made in the West Indies. By 1800 Barnstable was prospering from a general coasting trade and the Northwest fur trade. The town, now a popular summer resort, is the county seat for all Cape Cod.
The Sturgis Library (1645), on US 6, a good example of the old Cape Cod style house, is one of the oldest library buildings in the United States.
On a small triangular Green at the Junction of US 6 and Rendezvous Lane is the Site of the Liberty Pole, erected in Revolutionary days. When the pole disappeared, Aunt 'Nabby' Freeman, a defiant Tory who had publicly threatened 'straightway to heave that dead tree up,' was tarred and feathered and ridden from town astride a wooden rail.
At 21.1 m. is Sacrament Rock, a large boulder with bronze tablet, in- scribed: 'Here the settlers received their first sacrament in 1639, and held their first town meeting.'
The Coach House (1640) at 21.2 m., is a good example of the salt-box type house; this inn, gay with Cape Cod blue trim, has never been structurally altered.
At 22.2 m. is the junction with Oak St.
Left on this road to the summit of Shoot Flying Hill, 0.7 m., from which there is a clear view of Sandy Neck (N.), 7 m., of marshes and sand, one of the Cape's most beautiful dune formations.
At 24 m. is WEST BARNSTABLE (alt. 42).
Left from West Barnstable on State 49 at 0.8 m. is a white Congregational Church (1717), believed to be the oldest structure in the country belonging to this denomi- nation.
At 27.4 m, is the junction with a side road.
Left on this road to the State Game Farm, where pheasants are propagated.
At 28 m. is the junction with a side road.
Left on this road to 1.3 m. to the State Fish Hatchery, a swamp and marsh area utilized especially for the propagation of trout.
SANDWICH, 31.2 m. (town, alt. 15, pop. 1516, sett. 1637, incorp. 1639), named for the town in England, was the first place on the Cape to be settled. From 1825 to 1888 it was famous for its beautifully colored glass made from a secret formula, now lost. The first pressed and the first lace glass in America were made here. At present cranberry culture is the chief occupation.
The Sandwich Historical Museum (open Wed. 2-5; adm. free), corner of Grove and Canal Sts., a two-and-a-half-story building, houses relics related to the early history of the town, including a notable collection of Sandwich glass.
-
498
High Roads and Low Roads
The Congregational Church, corner of Grove and Main Sts., with its beautiful spire, is a favorite subject for painters.
The Hoxie House (open; adm. 25g), in a lane near Shawme Lake, at the head of School St., is of the salt-box type, with thick hand-hewn timbers and recessed windows. A brick in the original chimney was dated 1637, establishing the house as one of the first erected by the 'ten men of Saugus.'
The Daniel Webster Inn on Main St. is a rambling old building with several ells. It contains the room regularly occupied by Daniel Webster when he stopped here on fishing and hunting trips.
Left from Sandwich on Grove St. to a rustic gateway at the entrance to the gooo- acre Shawme State Forest Reservation (tenting, picnicking).
At SAGAMORE, 33.6 m. (alt. 18, town of Bourne), US 6 crosses Sagamore Bridge, spanning the Cape Cod Canal. It is the longer twin of the Bourne Bridge (see Tour 19).
The Cape Cod Canal is an 8-mile-long cut connecting Cape Cod Bay and Buzzards Bay, and providing a shorter and safer passage from Boston to Long Island Sound. When present work on the channel is completed, it will be 32 feet deep and 500 feet wide. Because of the tidal current, which runs 4-7 miles an hour, it was previously a one- way canal. This route was used as a waterway by the Indians who portaged from Scusset Creek to Manomet River. In 1627 Governor Bradford and the Plymouth Colony established a trading-post at the mouth of the Scusset Creek, where they exchanged commodities with the Dutch traders from New York. In 1697 the General Court of Massa- chusetts ordered a report made on the possibilities of a canal.
In 1914, the canal, started in 1909 and built by the Boston, Cape Cod, and New York Canal Company, was opened. In 1927, it was purchased by the Federal Government for $11,500,000. Over 10,000,000 tons, gross, of shipping pass through the canal annually.
At 38 m. US 6 passes under the Bourne Bridge (see Tour 19), similar to the one at Sagamore but shorter.
At 38.2 m. is the junction with State 28 (see Tour 19).
At 39.6 m. US 6 crosses the Buttermilk Bay Bridge.
At 40 m. is the junction with Onset Rd.
Left on this road, which crosses Onset Bay Bridge, in ONSET, 1.9 m. (alt. 23 town of Wareham), a delightful summer resort attracting a summer colony and. several thousand visitors every season. Here 50 years ago was one of the first Spiritualist colonies on the Atlantic Coast.
At 42.7 m. is the junction with the White Island Rd.
Right on this dirt road to a Massachusetts Experimental Station, 0.4 m., concerned chiefly with the cultivation of cranberries.
At 42.8 m. US 6 crosses the Agawam River, up which herring annually fight their way (see Tour 19).
At 42.9 m. State 28 (see Tour 19) branches right.
-
--
499
From Orleans to Providence, R.I.
WAREHAM, 45 m. (town, alt. 8, pop. 6047, sett. 1678, incorp. 1739), engaged first in whaling, then, following the Revolution, in shipbuilding, of which the Cape Cod Shipbuilding Corporation on the Wareham River is the only remnant; it is now the center of the cranberry industry. Nail manufacturing and the shellfish business - particularly the oyster - are important additional sources of income.
During the War of 1812 Wareham was attacked, some ships were burned, and a cotton factory at Wankinko Dam was partly destroyed.
The Benjamin Fearing House (private), Main St., part of it 300 years old, is a weather-beaten two-and-a-half-story dwelling.
The Tremont Nail Factory (visited by permission), 14 m. northwest of the house, more than a century old, is still in operation.
At 49.3 m. is the junction with State 105 and Front St.
I. Right on State 105 is ROCHESTER, 3.2 m. (town, alt. 140, pop. 1229, sett. about 1638, incorp. 1686). First known as Sepecan, the town was named Rochester for the English home of some of its settlers. At that time, it included the harbors on Buzzards Bay now belonging to the towns of Mattapoisett and Marion, and had a thriving coastal trade.
The Congregational Church at the Center was erected in 1837. It is of wood, painted white, with a graceful spire.
2. Left on Front St. is MARION, 0.6 m. (town, alt. 29, pop. 1867, sett. 1679, in- corp. 1852). Marion was set off from Rochester and named for General Francis Marion, southern Revolutionary hero. The usual small industries developed here, replacing agriculture, but these in turn were overshadowed by marine activities. Ships were built for 150 years, the last vessel leaving the ways in 1878.
Tabor Academy (1877), Front St., ranks high among the smaller private prepara- tory schools that contribute to the educational prestige of Massachusetts.
The Radio Corporation of America's giant Wireless Station at 49.5 m. receives and transmits messages to ships in coastal and transatlantic shipping services.
At 50 m. is the Holmes Memorial Woods (free camp sites), an unusually attractive place, maintained by the town.
At 50.3 m. is junction with Converse Rd.
At 53.6 m. is a junction with an improved road.
Left on Converse Rd. is the Nye Homestead (private), built between 1750 and 1760 and since then slightly altered, with the original old doors with hand-wrought latches; its hand-hewn timbers and framework are still fastened together with treenails and hand-forged nails.
Left on this road is MATTAPOISETT (Indian, 'Place of Rest'), 1.3 m. (town, alt. 9, pop. 1682, sett. 1750, incorp. 1857), now a summer resort, but once busy with shipbuilding, salt-manufacture, and whaling.
The post-office, corner of Cannon and Main Sts., bears a plaque inscribed: 'Francis Davis Millet, born Mattapoisett - Nov. 3, 1846. Drummer Boy - War Corres- pondent - Author - Illustrator. Went down on the Titanic April 15, 1912.' The building was Millet's birthplace.
Shipyard Park is the site of Jonathan Holmes's shipyard, where, in 1878, the last whaler of Mattapoisett, the 'Wanderer,' was built. The mizzenmast of this ship serves as a flagpole in the park. Many of the whalers flying pennants from New Bedford were built here.
-
-
500
High Roads and Low Roads
Mattapoisett Harbor, south of the Center, is a rendezvous for the New York Yacht Club and the Eastern Yacht Club; upon their arrival and during their an- nual cruise (Aug. 10-18), special events are planned in the town.
At 55.8 m. on the Mattapoisett River is the Mattapoisett Herring Weir. Thousands of visitors come to this spot each spring to watch the annual run. (See AGAWAM RIVER, Tour 19.)
FAIRHAVEN, 60 m. (town, alt. 45, pop. 11,005, sett. 1670, incorp. 1812), was originally known as Sconticut, the name of the Indian tribe formerly living here, and was in the town of New Bedford until 1812. Whaling was important and, in 1858, 48 whaling vessels were owned locally. Shipbuilding and allied industries were also pursued; and there are still four boatyards actively engaged in the overhauling, repairing, and refitting of pleasure craft.
William Bradford (1823-92), marine artist and descendant of the first Pilgrim governor of Plymouth, was born here. A member of the Na- tional Academy of Design, his paintings have hung in the private apart- ments of Queen Victoria of England and in the London Royal Academy. He twice accompanied Arctic exploration expeditions.
The group of buildings comprising the Unitarian Memorial Church was dedicated in 1904. The church proper is an adaptation of the then preva- lent Early English perpendicular Gothic, while the Parish House and Parsonage are imitations of a later phase of the style.
The Millicent Library, completed in 1893, was designed by Charles Brigham of Boston. A not too masterful adaptation of the Italian Renais- sance, its style was obviously influenced by the already famous, but not yet completed, Boston Public Library building. The library was given to Fairhaven in memory of Millicent Rogers, whose likeness is memorialized in the entrance hall window.
The Fairhaven Academy (open by appointment), on Main St., built 1798, has a beautiful old fanlight over the front door, and old wide pine floor boards in the bottom story. One of the schoolrooms, in its original state, has the old benches and desks for pupils, a raised platform at the side for the teacher, and a hand-made school bell.
The Coggeshall Memorial Building (open weekdays 9-5, Sun. 2-5), at 6 Cherry St., was given to the Colonial Club in 1916. The museum contains etchings, engravings, and Colonial furnishings.
At 60.6 m. US 6 crosses Acushnet River.
NEW BEDFORD, 61.2 m. (see NEW BEDFORD), is at the junction with State 140 (see Tour 23B).
At 63.7 m. is the junction with Slocum Rd.
Left on Slocum Rd. at 2.3 m. is the junction with Elm St .; left on this road is PADANARAM, 4 m. (town of Dartmouth, alt. 240, pop. 9424, sett. 1650, incorp. 1664), named for Dartmouth, England, to which the 'Mayflower' went for repairs after having set sail from Southampton.
During King Philip's War the town was practically annihilated. It was rebuilt, and received an influx of tradesmen and mechanics when whaling developed in
50I
From Orleans to Providence, R.I.
Bedford village; Portuguese arriving about 1870 on a whale ship were the nucleus of a Portuguese colony. Though the town, near the end of the 19th century, became temporarily popular as a summer resort, it is now largely dependent on farming and dairying.
Right from Padanaram at the traffic light on Bridge St., over the Apponaganset River is the junction with Smith's Neck Rd. at 4.4 m .; left on this road which par- allels Apponaganset Bay, where yachts ride at anchor. At 7.3 m. (traffic lights) is the entrance to the Colonel E. H. R. Green Estate (open), on whose beach is the old whaler 'Charles W. Morgan,' embedded in the sand and protected by a cement wall; this ship is said to have sailed more miles and taken more whales than did any other of its kind.
At 7.7 m. is the junction with Little River Rd .; (R) on this road is RUSSELL'S MILLS (town of Dartmouth). Here is (R) the Puppet Theater, oldest marionette theater in the United States.
Right on Russell's Mills Rd. is the Friends' Meeting House, 13.3 m., on the bank of the Paskamansett River. This large, square, unpainted two-and-a-half-story build- ing, erected 1790, has records of meetings of the local society as early as Aug., 1699. Meetings are still held here in summer.
At 15.6 m. is the junction with Elm St. (see above).
WESTPORT MILLS, 67.6 m. (alt. 60, town of Westport), a small village, is built around the textile-manufacturing company from which it derives its name. The first mill was built in 1812.
Left from the village on an improved road is CENTRAL VILLAGE, 7.6 m. (town of Westport, alt. 140, pop. 4335, sett. 1670, incorp. 1787). In 1652 the land here, then in the town of Dartmouth, was purchased from the Indians by Miles Standish and several others. The first settlement was made 18 years later, many settlers being members of the Society of Friends. They established their right to their own religious forms and beliefs, but when the town was devastated during King Philip's War the Plymouth Court declared this was 'an evidence of the wrath of the Almighty against the people for their neglect to worship in the Puritan faith.'
Clifford Ashley, the marine artist, lives near Westport Point on Drift Rd.
The Friends' Meeting House at the Center was moved to its present site in 1840. In the meeting house yard stands a granite Memorial to Captain Paul Cuffee (1759- 1817), son of a freed Negro slave; Captain Cuffee, a Friend, amassed a fortune at sea and won important civil rights for his race when he successfully refused to pay the personal property tax, basing his refusal on his lack of citizenship rights; he was the first Negro to be granted all privileges enjoyed by white men in Massachusetts. At one time he attempted to form a colony for Negro slaves in Sierra Leone.
Straight ahead from Central Village on West Beach Rd. to Horseneck Beach, 6.4 m. (sections privately owned, but open for small fee), a hard sandy beach extending for about 1.5 m. along Horseneck Beach Rd. to East Beach, a part of Horseneck. From this drive the Elizabeth Islands and the gay-hued cliffs of Gay Head are visible.
At 75 m. is FALL RIVER (see FALL RIVER), which is at the junction with State 138 (see Tour 25).
At 76.5 m. US 6 crosses Taunton River and continues through open country.
At 78.8 m. is the junction with Gardner's Neck Rd., a tarred highway.
Right on this road at 0.4 m. is the junction with Main St .; (R) on Main St. is SWANSEA, 0.7 m. (town, alt. 120, pop. 4327, sett. 1632, incorp. 1668), a part of Old Rehoboth until the Baptists in 1667 under Obadiah Holmes, who had settled in Rehoboth 1649, created a separate town. It is memorable as the place where the first blood was shed (1675) in King Philip's War, during the course of which the town was a place of assembly for the Massachusetts troops. At one time, ship-
502
High Roads and Low Roads
building played an important part in its growth. The town is now essentially agricultural.
The Cape Codder, a house at Swansea Village near Gray's corner, is said to be about 250 years old. Although considerably modernized, it still retains its original mam- moth central chimney and traces of its early architectural lines. Used at one time as the Town Hall, it is now the property of Christ Church (Episcopal).
Abram's Rock is reached through the land at the rear of the house. The legend is that an Indian, called Abram by the white people, deserted his tribe and sought refuge in the town. Captured by the Indians, he was given the choice of 'death at the stake or three leaps from the top of the rock to the ground below.' The first and second leaps were safely made, but the third proved fatal.
At 83.4 m. is the First Baptist Church (L) established 1663 when John Myles, a Welsh Baptist and one of Cromwell's Tryers, fleeing the intol- erance of Charles II's reign, took his congregation to Rehoboth. Here they were allowed to remain on condition that they establish their meeting place at a considerable distance from that of the standing order. At 86.9 m. is a junction with a paved road.
Right on this road is SEEKONK, 1 m. (town, alt. 140, pop. 5011, sett. 1636, in- corp. 1812). The name (Indian, 'Black Goose') indicates an abundance of these birds prior to the coming of the white men. In 1862 a part of the town was set aside as East Providence, reducing the area and leaving a population of but 800. There is now one factory, making tennis racquets and croquet sets.
At 87.6 m. US 6 crosses the Rhode Island Line about 5 m. southeast of Providence, R.I.
TOUR 6 A : From ORLEANS to PROVINCETOWN, 28.4 m., US 6.
Via Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro.
Cape Cod Division of Old Colony R.R. parallels route.
Hard-surfaced road, but curves make fast driving unsafe; open except during heavy blizzards in January and February.
NORTH of Orleans, US 6 is shaded by locust trees; all along the route are views of far-reaching yellow dunes freckled with patches of coarse grass and clumps of bayberry; of exquisite small lakes cupped in piney hollows; of hamlets still retaining much of their ancient charm.
At 2.1 m. is the junction with a packed sand road.
Right on this road at its end, 0.2 m., is an Old Indian Burying Ground, on a knoll overlooking Nauset Inlet. The skeletons of seven Indians were discovered here in 1935-
At 3.2 m. is EASTHAM (town, alt. 36, pop. 606, sett. 1644, incorp. 1651), explored in 1606 by Champlain, who anchored his ship off Chatham ..
503
From Orleans to Provincetown
Hostile Indians kept the French from settling here, just as they deterred the Pilgrims 14 years later. In 1644, however, 49 persons from Plymouth returned and formed the village of Nawsett.
The worst foes were not Indians, but crows and blackbirds. These pests caused so much damage to crops that a 1667 ordinance demanded that each householder kill 12 blackbirds or three crows a year, and one of 1695 ordered that no bachelor be allowed to marry who had failed to kill his quota.
After the Revolution fishing and coastwise trading flourished. Whales and blackfish (members of the whale family) were sometimes driven ashore by storms and captured. In 1662 the town agreed that part of the proceeds from the sale of each whale should go to the support of the clergy. Thoreau, remarking that the support of the clergy was thus left to Providence, added, 'For my part, if I were a minister, I would rather trust to the bowels of the billows, on the back side of the Cape, to cast up a whale for me, than the generosity of many a country parish I know.'
After the middle of the 19th century fishing and shipping were of less importance than agriculture. A feature of this period was the Methodist camp-meeting. On a Io-acre tract set aside for this purpose, more than 5000 listeners congregated, some of them coming from as far as Boston.
On Samoset Rd. 0.1 m. west of the Center is an Old Windmill (1793), one of few remaining on the Cape, and restored by a Works Progress Adminis- tration Project in 1936. On Saturday afternoons, if there is a 'likely' breeze, Miller John G. Fulcher, who operated the mill 40 years ago as a regular business enterprise, still grinds a couple of bags of corn for the entertainment of visitors. The mill is an octagonal, gray-shingled tower, tapering as it rises, and topped by a conical cap out of which the drive shaft extends, bearing the great fan of four arms. Originally a long tim- ber went from the cap down to a large cartwheel, which rolled in a path around the mill site, pulled by a yoke of oxen - or when oxen were not available the neighbors were called to give the miller a hand. This part of Eastham Mill is missing, and Miller John now calls in the assistance of a motor car to 'swing her head into the wind' by a cable.
The Prince Hurd House (private), also on Samoset Rd., built about 1750, was formerly known as Tom Crosby's Tavern. It has a taproom where 23 men of the British frigate 'Spencer' were taken prisoner during the War of 1812.
Right from Eastham on Nauset Rd. is the Nauset Coast Guard Station, 2 m. From the dunes here is a beautiful view of the ocean and long stretches of fine sandy beach. The spot has a long history of stranded vessels, heroic rescues, and tragic drownings.
At 4.2 m. is the Grave of Freeman Hatch (1820-89) with the confident epitaph: 'In 1852 he became famous making the astonishing passage in the clipper ship Northern Light from Frisco to Boston in 76 days, 6 hours, an achievement won by no other mortal before or since.'
504
High Roads and Low Roads
US 6 continues through a region of low, widespread salt-water marshes, high cliffs, beaches, sand dunes, and forests of scrub pine.
SOUTH WELLFLEET, 9.5 m. (alt. 26), is a small village.
I. Right 0.8 m. from the village on a hard sand road are concrete foundations, the mass of rotting timbers, and half-buried cables that are the Remains of the First Transatlantic Wireless Station in the United States, which was put into operation by Marconi, Jan. 19, 1901. This point offers one of the finest views of the outer shore of the Cape.
2. Left from the village on a hard sand road is PLEASANT POINT, 1 m., a cluster of cottages on Blackfish Creek. Across the Creek, about 0.5 m., is the barren mound of Lieutenant's Island, a favorite haunt of duck-hunters that was visited every season by Grover Cleveland.
At 11.1 m. (L) is an Observation Tower (open 9-5, April-Oct.). At 12.8 m. is the junction with a hard-surfaced road.
Right 2.4 m. on this delightful winding road to Cahoon's Hollow Coast Guard Station, featured in certain works of fiction. A cluster of small buildings houses the life-saving boats, breeches buoy, equipment, and crew. A beautiful sandy beach stretches for miles in both directions; the vast sweep of the ocean is broken only by the occasional smoke of liners, the squat rig of a fisherman or a yacht's sails.
According to a local story, a young girl, Goodie Hallet, was stoned out of early Eastham, having borne an illegitimate child to Black Sam Bellamy, a notorious pirate, and taken possession of a shack on Wellfleet Beach. Goodie, it is said, bartered her soul to the Devil in exchange for her lover's drowned body. The Devil apparently kept his bargain, for in April, 1717, Bellamy and his crew were shipwrecked off the Back Shore near Goodie's Hut.
WELLFLEET, 13.2 m. (town, alt. 5, pop. 948, sett. before 1724, incorp. 1763), was formerly in the Billingsgate section of Eastham. Whaling and oystering were the principal sources of wealth until the British blockade of Revolutionary days brought all industry to a standstill. Although the community became destitute, it was revealed through court records that Colonel Elisha Doane, the town's wealthiest man, reaped a fortune by trafficking with the enemy.
After the Revolution, Wellfleet traders regained prosperity by barter with England and France, until the Embargo Act of 1807 again interrupted business. In 1850 Wellfleet, with a fleet of 30 vessels, was second only to Gloucester as a cod and mackerel port. From 1830 to 1870 the town en- joyed a virtual monopoly of oystering in New England. The town still derives some income from fishing, but the main source is the tourist trade.
Memorial Hall, a good example of the simple early 19th century New England church, has an open octagonal cupola. Directly in front of the hall, on a granite boulder, is the Pilgrim Memorial Tablet, commemorating the expedition of a group of Pilgrims who on Dec. 6 and 7, 1620, explored Wellfleet Harbor in the 'Mayflower's' shallop before going on to Ply- mouth.
Also at the Center is Belvernon, the home of Captain Lorenzo Dow Baker, modestly engaged for several years in coastwise shipping trade in his 85- ton schooner the 'Telegraph.' While loading bamboo in the West Indies he decided to take a few bananas back to the States. The new fruit
=
505
From Orleans to Provincetown
caused a sensation. This exploit was the nucleus out of which the United Fruit Company (est. 1899) was to grow. Captain Baker became manag- ing director of the Jamaica division of the firm. It was a decided case of 'local boy makes good.' 'Cap'n Baker' in his palmy days continued to take an interest in the town of his birth.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.