Bear on Cape Cod?

When I first heard that there was a bear on Cape Cod, I was stunned. The last bear sighting on the Cape was 300 years ago. This past Wednesday he was sighted in Brewster on his way eastward. As I rode my bike near Nickerson State Park on the same day in early morning, I couldn't help but think that he might cross my path in some of the heavily forested areas.

 According to officials, our very own ursus americanus swam across the canal from central Massachusetts to get to vacation-land. He was simply roaming and looking for a mate.

 After reaching the tip of Provincetown at the end of the week, he turned around and headed back. This photo was taken by Lezl Rowell on the bear's return trip near Gull Pond in Wellfleet.  It was also where they eventually caught him.

 Here's a link to the whole story from CapeCast -

Cape Cod Bear Video!

This image was taken by 13 year old Liam Crivellaro of Wellfleet.

This photo was taken by Michael Struna and it was about as close as we came to a wild animal. Our lonely nighttime raccoon was looking for a late night snack as it crawled up and over our car in the driveway.

Footnote to the Cape Cod Bear!  After state officials tranquilized our unexpected visitor, they drove the bear to an undisclosed area in Central Mass. Here's hoping he'll find someone to love, raise a family and plan a vacation somewhere other than Cape Cod.

Shells, Shards and Hidden Treasures - Cape Cod

As I walk the sandy beaches and wooded pathways of Cape Cod, I'm on the hunt for interesting finds. I never go home empty handed, there's always something that peaks my curiosity.

 I found this little beauty dating from the late 18th or early 19th century and probably from a dinner plate, on one of the bay side beaches over 20 years ago.  On that summer day, I walked a little further across the open tidal flats of Brewster and with each step I took, inspiration for my novel began to weave itself into my thoughts.  Since then, this little pottery shard with its smooth, chalk-like surface and dainty flowers has taken me and my imagination along a journey of reading, researching and writing the legend of Sam Bellamy, Maria Hallett and other myths of Cape Cod. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about it.

Over the last five years of my 24 on this sandy spit, my collection of shells, shards and treasures has grown so much that I'm forced to become more particular in what I bring home. Beach glass, too numerous to count, fills a small four-drawer dresser in my closet; plastic baggies separate them into hues of blue, red, brown, turquoise, lavender and white. It takes from 50 -100 years or longer in the ocean for sea glass to cure or obtain that milky glaze and smooth surface. These transparent treasures must be 'well-done' to become part of my collection. I always step over the shiny beach glass, saving them for future beachcombers.

Decorative or colorful patterned shards are my most prized. It's such a treat to find them with handles, ornamentation or words on the pieces. I have several with 'England' on them.  The scallop edge was a popular style on dishes in 1700 England and continued through the early 1800s. By the 1850s, this pattern developed into a painted symmetrical shell edge, then progressed even further into impressed lines that replicated the painted scallop edge. The piece top left has an impressed shell edge on it.

The large shard above shows a painted scallop edge. The green circular marks are from small clams or oysters that were living on its surface when I found it wedged in between two rocks at low tide. The green floral patterned shard was discovered the same day.  The clay pipe stems, based on the size of the hole in the stem, are circa 1700-1800. They were found by Tim in Provincetown Harbor - a real find!

A few years ago on a day excursion with Anna and Michael, we visited and searched Plymouth Harbor at low tide. The items shown are in their natural state. It only took us about an hour to find our treasures.

Anna did well. She found a pair of glasses from 1900.

This clam with its barnacles and seaweed make an artistic statement - perfect for a still life painting.

It's been over a year since my son, Scotty, married his beautiful Carly at our home. At their wedding reception, they invited their guests to write a one year anniversary message on a card, whereupon the cards would be kept unopened for one year. A week ago they opened them. Scott called to tell us that the messages were heartwarming, funny and all wished the wedded couple more happiness for the coming years. He added that one card was intriguing, its sender wrote that he had left the happy couple something under the rock wall behind our house on the Cape.  Scott then sent me on a mission. "Mom, would you go and look? He said it was under the third rock from the porch door."
 I went outside with phone in hand.
 I could hear Scott over the phone telling me, "I'll skype you when Carly gets home, mom. Don't touch anything till then. " 

Of course, I checked to see if it was a joke or if something was really there and it was... and under rock number three! I replaced the rock and waited for Scott's return call.

Within minutes, he called back. Our youngest son, Michael, offered his IPhone to skype. As the anniversary couple watched us unearth the mysterious message via Wi-Fi, anticipation filled the air both on Cape Cod and in California.
Due to a small hole in the plastic baggie, the card was wet and half eaten but the secret message from his friend was clear. It read, "Happy Anniversary!"

Like I always say, mystery and history surround us in our daily lives, but only if we look for it.

Historical Cape Cod - Facts and Fictions

  Sam Bellamy, aka 'Black Sam' and 'Prince of Pirates', was a real pirate from the 1700s.  Born in England, his life has been documented through official records and ships logs.  A National Geographic special, entitled, Real Pirates was produced in the spring of 1990 featuring Barry Clifford's 1986 discovery of the wreck of Bellamy's ship, the Whydah, off the coast of Cape Cod.  Always a mystery, the unearthing of the Whydahs’ bell by Clifford was the key to prove the legend to be true. It also increased the aura that surrounded this handsome rogue and added another piece to the puzzle of Sam Bellamy. This past April 26 marked 295 years since the sinking of the Whydah.

 

The Whydah, photo courtesy of the Exhibition Whydah website. Here is a link:

http://whydah.com/whydah-museum/

This video is interesting.

/http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/national-geographic-channel/all-videos/av-5991-6255/ngc-the-whydah-bell/

This is fun to explore!

National Geographic's link:

http://www.piratesexhibit.com/

Marconi Beach in Wellfleet, near where the wreck was discovered, is a beautiful and scenic vista. Erosion has eaten away at the cliffs but gives you a glimpse into the desolation and danger of running afoul in a 1717 nor'easter. This picture was taken April 26, 2012.

A high dune at Marconi resembles the one that Maria Hallett watched from, as she waited for her Sam. According to one of the legends about her, she cursed all sailors that sailed by the coast because her lover never came back for her.

Maria Hallett, allegedly the mistress of Sam Bellamy, has never been proven to actually exist. But for over 295 years, she has lived in the minds and superstitions of all Cape Codders.  According to legend, when Bellamy had enough gold and booty after years of plundering along the Atlantic coast and the West Indies, he and his fleet headed to the coast of Maine. No one knows why he turned off course towards the tumultuous coast of Cape Cod that fateful night of April 26, 1717. It might have been that he wanted something that was his…or could it have been for the love of a woman named Maria Hallett.

To some Cape Codders Maria Hallett is a myth; to others she was very real. Here is a street in Eastham named for her. Either it was for fun or they wanted to make a statement, further perpetuating her myth. Besides being called Maria Hallett, she was also known as 'Goody Hallett' and the 'Witch of Billingsgate', an island that disappeared off Wellfleet.

In my historical novel, I take Maria's legend and tell her story the way I think it could have happened using the true facts of Sam Bellamy. No one knows for sure what ever became of Maria, for all I know, maybe my story is what really happened.

Historical Treasures Uncovered by Nature - Cape Cod #2

Since the 1600s to present, the Cape coastline has been the graveyard for over 3500 shipwrecks.  In March of 1927, the Montclair broke apart in a spring storm on the sandy shoals of the treacherous coast of Cape Cod.  Some of the skeletal remains from this wooden three masted schooner appeared last week in the sands of Nauset Beach - Orleans.

Tim and I read about it in our local paper and couldn't resist our curious natures, so we ventured out across the sands in search of the infamous Montclair. We came across the relic after walking only a short distance on the beach.

The curved timbers of one of its sides almost looks like it wants to bury itself again into the sand and I'm sure it undoubtedly will. Sightings of its ribs were recorded back in 1957 and 2010.

 This image of the wreckage from Shipwrecks around Cape Cod by local Orleans author William Quinn shows only part of the schooner.

 Here's another picture from the Boston Globe March 5 1927. It came ashore in pieces.

 These wooden pegs show the craftsmanship of the ship builders and the strength of the schooner.  It sailed out of Nova Scotia and was bound for New York. The cargo hold contained over 2,000,000 wooden slats or laths for future building throughout New England.

The author Henry Beston was living on the coast of Eastham in 1927. He saw the wreck from the deck of his “Fo’castle,” a 20×16 shack in the dunes.  Later, he walked across the beach to see it up close. Then chronicled what he saw in Chapter 6 of his famous Outermost House.

“There has just been a great wreck, the fifth this winter and the worst. On Monday morning last, shortly after five o’clock, the big three-masted schooner Montclair stranded at Orleans and went to pieces in an hour, drowning five of her crew.”

One final passage from Henry Beston:


“A week after the wreck, a man walking the Orleans shore came to a lonely place, and there he saw ahead of him a hand thrust up out of the great sands. Beneath he found the buried body of one of the Montclair’s crew.”

Hopefully I'll never come across a dead body.

Historical Treasures Uncovered by Nature-Cape Cod

Nauset Beach in Orleans and Nauset Light Beach in Eastham have always held secrets of how Cape Codders once lived.  After a Nor'easter, a hard rain or just a blustery wind, unique artifacts will appear.

A few years ago, Tim and I went for a winter walk on Nauset Beach in Orleans. The sun felt warm but the wind blew 10' cooler across our bare faces. There had been a big storm the prior weekend, perfect for finding treasure.  We saw a dark object up ahead on the sand and thought it was a dead seal but as we got closer, we discovered it was a rubber boot.

This was not just any ordinary boot but one from over 100 years ago. Its sole and heel were made of wood (a dead giveaway that's it's old) with a rubber label that read: "Goodyear - patent pending 1890". You could see teeth marks from a shark or some other nasty fish all across the upper portion of the boot. Tim was brave enough to put his hand inside to the bottom of it. Thankfully there were no skeletal human bones down inside. Later I researched Goodyear.  Charles Goodyear discovered a process to vulcanize rubber in 1839 and sold the rights to it for various manufacturers throughout the next 40 years. The Goodyear Rubber Company of Akron, Ohio that we know today never made rubber boots. They started in 1898 making tires and inner tubes using the Goodyear patent.
So according to my calculations, these rubber boots were made before 1898 and bears the name of Goodyear.  In fact, there are actual bills of sales from stores ordering Charles Goodyear rubber boots in Connecticut as far back as 1868.

We brought the boot home and hung it on our treasure wall. It's still comparatively flexible and reminds us that there's always something out there waiting to be found.

Even though I have dug in this little garden by our driveway for years, I found this gun after a particularly heavy rain storm.  Its handle was exposed enough for me to spot it as I got into our car. Frightened at first, I soon realized that it was only a toy.

This 1940 or 1950s child's toy was probably left and forgotten outside as the children, who lived in the house, played a game of cowboys and Indians or cops and robbers.  In my novel, I placed a similar toy gun in the remains of an old root cellar that my contemporary character finds in her  backyard. Not only does she find the gun but gold coins, a skull and evidence that links her property to an old Cape Cod legend - Maria Hallett and the infamous pirate Sam Bellamy.

I'm always scanning the beach and horizon for interesting finds or maybe someday... treasure.

Historical Locations - Cape Cod

Fort Hill in Eastham is one of the most beautiful and tranquil sites on Cape Cod. It overlooks the Atlantic Ocean and is part of the great Nauset Marsh. It's a special place for shell fishing, canoeing, kayaking, birdwatching or greeting the day with a cup of coffee as you watch the sun rise.

According to local historians Fort Hill never had a real physical fort.  When England directed the early colonists to protect themselves from attacks by sea, strategic hills were designated as unique vantage points and one of these natural geological formations became known as Fort Hill. It's name became part of the colonists vocabulary.

Before you reach the top parking lot of Fort Hill, in an open field on your left, you will see a stone marker with a carved 'T' on its face.

This 'T' represents the northern boundary of Reverend Samuel Treats property. In my last blog entry I talk about Reverend Treat and his ministry from 1676-1716 for the early settlers and the Native Americans or 'Praying Indians' of Eastham.




If you follow the trails along the edges of the marshes north and into the woods towards Skiff Hill, there is a pavilion highlighting the famous Indian Rock or 'sharpening rock'. Besides giving you a majestic view all the way to Coast Guard Beach, you can touch a piece of history from the 1600s.

On the surface of this 20 ton boulder are grooves and long marks that the Native Americans used to make tools, sharpen them and also smooth their beads for decoration.

  
 This huge boulder was actually found below on the beach and was brought up to this viewing place in 1965.

As you leave Fort Hill, drive one more street east on Route 6. Here you will find Hemenway Landing. It's a close-up view of the Nauset marsh and offers a nice walk on the beach beneath the overlook and the sharpening rock.

Fort Hill and the sharpening rock was of particular interest to me as I developed the character Minda, an Indian Pow Wah or medicine woman, in my historical novel The Old Cape House.  When Minda travels to the shoreline in search of clams and sea lettuce, she walks around Reverend Treat's property and past her village's sharpening stone. At the water's edge beneath the high hill, she sees the young girl Maria Hallett.  It was here that Maria tells her good friend that she may be with child.

Historical Characters - Cape Cod

 By 1700, the population of Cape Cod Native American tribes had been decimated.  New diseases brought to America by the early settlers created killing epidemics.  The King Phillips War (1675-1676) or sometimes called the first Indian war brought even more death and destruction. A small Wampanoag tribe referred to as 'praying Indians' were the Nausets. They did not join in with the first war and maintained good relations with the English, prompting Indians from across the Cape to travel east to the peaceful Nausets. They lived within a large area, which at that time was called Eastham. Today that land is divided into Orleans, Eastham and Wellfleet.

Before the first Indian war, many of the Native Americans had already been converted to Christianity. In 1672 the Reverend Samuel Treat was asked to instruct and convert the general population of Eastham and did so until his death in 1716.  He was known to preach with hell-fire and damnation but a good man.  The Reverend made every effort to reach the Indians within their own culture, even translating the Confession of Faith into the Nauset language. Successful in his mission of Christianizing many Indians, most respected him even if they did not convert.

 Just past the Orleans rotary and driving on Route 6 is the Cove Burying Ground where Reverend Samuel Treat is buried. It's on the right if you're heading east and his grave is to the left under the cedar trees.

In reference to Reverend Treat:
"His voice was so loud that it could be heard at a great distance from the meeting house even admidst the shrieks of women and the winds that howled over the plains of Nauset."
                                                       The Thoreau Reader-annotated works of Henry David Thoreau

  Reverend Treat died of a stroke of palsy after a memorable storm known as the Great Snow. The Indians wanted to show their respect. The story is recalled by Thoreau.
"...the storm left the ground around the house bare but heaped up the snow in the wood to uncommon height. Through this an arched way was dug by which the Indians bore his body to the grave."

In my novel THE OLD CAPE HOUSE, I used Reverend Treat's name and character to preside over the trial of mythical Maria Hallett in December 1715.   As I crafted my story, I manipulated the date of the trial to coincide with his factual death. Maria is accused of fornication and murder. I gave  the Reverend a cold, thus delivering an unfavorable verdict for Maria because he's not feeling well and on the verge of pneumonia. I assumed he never fully recovered from this winter ailment, given the lack of modern medicine and difficult living conditions.  He died within 4 months of the trial on March 18, 1716.