Around the Cape

A Cape Cod stay is an opportunity to drive around and explore the peninsula. At the end of this visit, I spent a night in Provincetown. On the way back, I stopped at the Highland Lighthouse, in North Truro, on the Atlantic coast. A plein air outdoor painting class was in progress and canvases and boards were taking shape. The artist instructor was showing how to block in areas before working on details.

As with most lighthouses along that rugged coast, always subject to the battering of incessant waves breaking down rock to form sand, and steadily creeping inland with the constant movement of the oceans and shorelines, the Highland Lighthouse was moved several times to secure a stable place on land. I met a older couple there who remembered coming to the Highland Beach with their young family when it was still located in its former spot. And a stop for groceries in Truro.

Further south, the red and white Nauset Lighthouse was deluged with visitors from a bus tour. The adjoining structure had been under restoration when I saw it last, so I walked in close to see the completed building, then went back across the street for a photo without the crowd, pleased to see two artists painting from a similar point of view. Plein air painters were out that pretty fall day! The Nauset Light was also moved inland, and the current one tower replaced the Three Sisters Lighthouses; their original site was now under the sea.

Cranberries aren’t harvested until mid-October, but the town of Harwich has their festival in September. On the cape, many businesses close and tourists leave after October 15^th, so I imagine they want to showcase their local artisans and musicians while they still have an audience. Besides, once harvesting begins, they are probably too busy bringing in the cranberries. In the community center building was an exhibit about the history of cranberry cultivation featuring local farmers.

The Whydah was a slave ship, named for the African town most of the enslaved people were taken from. The vessel, built in London, was captured by pirates in 1717. Whydah sunk off the coast of Cape Cod in a storm later that same year, and is the only pirate ship ever recovered from the bottom of the sea. The ship itself is inside the Whydah Pirate Museum, the artifacts found by divers on display.

Most interesting are the stories of the pirates themselves. Samuel Bellamy, the captain of the Whydah, was a colorful character. When he and his crew captured the vessel, they kept it, putting off the captain and crew onto their pirate ship, without violence (although many captures were horribly violent). Many of the enslaved people aboard chose to join the pirates. The culture of the pirates was egalitarian; lootings were split between all. The Spanish gold coins were divided into eight pieces, hence the term “pieces of eight.” The museum also teaches about the recovery team and their efforts, and the meticulous process of identifying and cleaning the artifacts.

Seeking another lighthouse on the southern coast near Hyannis, I gave up after driving in circles around restricted residential roads. Nearby Sea Gull Beach was a welcome alternate destination on that cloudy day. There was no mystery about the derivation of the site’s name.

The Parnassus bookstore in Yarmouth Port, a crowded, narrow-aisled shop of mostly old hardbacks and books of local interest was featured in a 2022 movie. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, based on a book by the same name by Gabrielle Zevin, takes place on an island and is about a bookstore and its crotchety owner. It was filmed in Hyannis, but the indoor store scenes were done at Parnassus. I browsed the few paperback shelves for something to read as I continued my journey. One shelf said “Non-fiction and Fiction”—why bother to separate? Another section, a category I’ve never seen anywhere else, was labeled “Beat”—perhaps harkening back to the family’s original bookstore era started in the 1950s.

My last night on the Cape, I treated myself to the stately Old Yarmouth Inn, just down the road, with an elegant three-course dinner: pear and arugula salad, salmon with a dollop of cranberry over asparagus and potatoes, and peach cobbler.

I took a couple of road trips during my time on the Cape. Wandering Cape Cod Again, Around the Cape, Provincetown Again, Into the Mystic, and Sailing on the Mystic.

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