PLACES I REMEMBER - 6

“And thou saidst , I will surely do thee good , and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.” (Genesis 32:12)

“And because the haven was not commodious to winter in, the more part advised to depart thence also, if by any means they might attain to Phenice, and there to winter; which is an haven of Crete, and lieth toward the south west and north west.” (Acts 27:12)

I chose to call this piece “Places I Remember - 6” to keep the theme of “Places I Remember” that I have been writing over this summer. Otherwise, I would have called this, “Old Cape Cod”. Patti Page had a big hit in 1957 with the beautiful song, “Old Cape Cod”. In fact, a street in the municipality of Barnstable (the Centerville section of Barnstable, to be exact) has been named “Patti Page Way” in honor of the singer and that song.

Those of us who are “Old New Englanders” (and I guess being 55 and born in Boston, MA qualifies me as such) know that Cape Cod is not QUITE as nice as it used to be. The population of Cape Cod has EXPLODED over the past sixty years. I don’t have the hard figures, but I suspect the Cape now has three times as many full time residents as it did in 1950. Along with that is around three times as many houses, apartment buildings and “year round cottages” as there were in 1950- AND more shopping centers, gas stations and restaurants, as well. The “upper cape” (the area closest to the Cape Cod canal and only 20-30 miles or so from Boston’s southeastern most suburbs and only maybe 60 miles or so from downtown Boston) has become the most developed and, frankly “overbuilt” part of Cape Cod.

That’s the problem with a GREAT place of outstanding beaches and scenery, not to mention loads of history, some fine seafood restaurants, and many COOL attractions. Everybody wants to travel there and everybody wants to live there. I’m not writing this to KNOCK Cape Cod...I just wish you could have seen the Cape Cod that existed when I was a little kid, because it was nicer. Despite that, Cape Cod is STILL a very nice place to vacation. The traffic IS really heavy during the summer months...especially from July 1 through about August 25. IF you are able to do it, September (after Labor Day) is a wonderful time to vacation on Cape Cod. The tourists decrease by about 70% as compared to August, and the weather is usually still warm enough for the beach.

Of course, Cape Cod is famous for the Kennedys. When JFK was President and was at the Kennedy compound, you couldn’t get NEAR the place! One summer day in the early ‘60s my Dad tried. The whole area was crawling with cops, and I think the closest we got was maybe within a quarter mile of the Kennedy compound. Many Republicans (like me) often ask, “What GOOD did the Kennedys do?!” Actually, JFK and Bobby, especially JFK did do some good things. JFK saw the Cape being rapidly developed and commercialized and was instrumental in establishing the Cape Cod National Seashore...insuring that the bulk of the “lower” Cape would stay much as it was in 1961- preserving beautiful beaches, sand dunes, salt marshes, etc.

My sister and I remember our summer vacations at Dennisport as a highlight of our childhood. We’d rent a cottage each year at Chase’s Ocean Grove, off Old Wharf Road in Dennisport. It was just a step above “camping” in that you had a shower (actually an OUTDOOR shower) and an indoor toilet and sink, plus a refrigerator, stove, and kitchen sink. It was pretty tiny and Spartan. NO A/C. Well, prior to 1970, most New Englanders never gave A/C a thought. No television. Crowded. Sand seemed to be EVERYWHERE. But it was a place to sleep and during the day we’d walk down to the beach (MAYBE 2/10 of a mile away) and spend most of the day there. On rainy days, we’d go for rides...maybe to Provincetown or Falmouth or Hyannis. Most of the families at Chase’s Ocean Grove were blue collar and from either the Boston area or the Worcester area. OH, there were not only no cell phones, but no phones. Actually, there was ONE phone...at the “office”. Mrs. Chase, an “Old Yankee” who ran the place would get on a big loudspeaker and announce when someone had a call. In a VERY rural New England accent she’s say something like, “Attention please; Attention please; Tom Smith, WANTED ...on the phone....HOLDING THE LINE for Mr. Tom Smith!”

My father loved to do impersonations of Mrs. Chase’s announcements. Mrs. Chase died in 1965. Our final Cape Cod family vacation was 1966, and THAT year her son did the phone announcements... and it just WASN’T the same!

The water on the south side of the Cape (Dennisport, West Dennis, Harwichport, etc.) is relatively calm and warm. It’s part of Nantucket Sound. The water is warmer due to the Gulf stream; and Nantucket Sound is sort of an inlet, so the water is USUALLY not so rough. Probably the biggest waves and roughest waters on Cape Cod are on the EASTERN facing beaches in places like Eastham or Truro or even Chatham. Incidentally, Chatham Lighthouse and the nearby beach is a cool place to visit and take pictures. Chatham Light is near the “elbow” of Cape Cod. The north side of communities such as Dennis has much COLDER water because it’s NOT on the Gulf stream. There are also far more sand dunes in that area. If you want to find a BEAUTIFUL place to watch a sunset, it’s Chapin Beach in Dennis on the north side. (It’s a couple of miles north of Route 6A.)
Chapin Beach is NOT a big “swimming beach” although some people do go there to swim. It’s the kind of beach that when the tide goes out, it’s OUT! I mean WAY OUT! It’s a cool kind of beach to walk around looking for shells and enjoying scenery...stuff like that.

Mary Ann and I took a whale watch trip out of Barnstable Harbor (north side) once or twice. It’s CALLED “Hyannis Whale Watch” but all REAL New Englanders know Hyannis is NOT on the north side but on the south side. (In fact, Hyannis is one of about a dozen villages of the municipality of Barnstable.) I guess since Hyannis and the Barnstable Harbor are in the same municipality, the owner figures he can get away with calling it “Hyannis Whale Watch”. I USUALLY don’t have trouble with getting seasick, but the water was rough going out on one of these trips. I was fine going out, but coming back Mary Ann said I turned GREEN. The boat was bouncing around like a yo-yo. People were actually up ordering hot dogs, cokes, etc. I couldn't have so much as eaten one M&M candy! We did see a few whales, but I WILL say you see FAR more whales when you take a whale watch boat out of Gloucester Harbor in the NORTHERN part of Massachusetts.

I have always been fascinated with the Cape Cod Canal. It was built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers around a hundred years ago. Many people don’t consider that you’re actually on Cape Cod until you go OVER one of the bridges (built in the 1930s) over the Canal, but in fact, Cape Cod is Barnstable County, and so the land on the “Boston side” of the canal for probably at least a mile stretching off the canal IS technically “Cape Cod”. You can take a GREAT Canal cruise out of Wareham, MA (again, on the “Boston side” of the canal). I had always wanted to do that, and we finally did only a few years ago.

Provincetown at the very tip of the “lower Cape” is a gay mecca and has been for probably at least fifty years. Some very socially conservative types are thus afraid to visit Provincetown. In fact, there ARE some nice beaches in Provincetown and one interesting site is the Pilgrim Monument which towers above the Town of Provincetown. Provincetown was the site of the Pilgrims' first landing in Massachusetts in 1620. They quickly concluded it was NOT a suitable place to settle (hence my Acts 27 reference above) and went on to what we now know as Plymouth. When I was a kid, I climbed the stairs up to the top of the Pilgrim Monument and down again. Now, at age 55, I’m not sure I’d do it! I DO remember that there are stone blocks on the INSIDE of the Monument with the names of EVERY City and Town in Massachusetts written on them. It was exciting to see the “CANTON” block when I was a kid.

I had my first ice cream on Cape Cod as a very little kid in the 1950s. It was always traditional that we went to the Kreme ‘n Kone in Dennisport. The Kreme ‘n Kone opened in 1953 and was there for over 40 years until it was destroyed by fire. The Kreme ‘n Kone relocated to South Dennis shortly after the fire and they’re still there doing business. I miss the original location, but I can’t go to that part of the Cape without visiting the Kreme ‘n Kone. It’s soft serve ice cream and greasy onion rings and hamburgers...VERY 1950s style. If that’s not quite your cup of tea, a fancy ice cream place is Sundae School in Dennisport.

You can tell I could go on and on about Cape Cod. Maybe I should work for their Chamber of Commerce. No, it’s NOT quite as nice as it was in the 1950s and 1960s but it’s still well worth visiting!