C A P E   C O D

Massachusetts

Here is the leading edge of the eroding bluff. Too bad, I wanted to get a look at the eroding face, but I can't wonder off the beaten path to get there.

Here's the ocean in all its majesty. I can hear its pounding waves, actively eat the bluff, one clump and clod at a time, with each hurling wave.

I make an about-face and head back to the lighthouse. I'm limping at this point, my foot is really hurting me from all the abuse I heaped upon it yesterday while touring Boston on foot. As attested to by my photo, I'm not very happy at this point. Plus, the wind is blowing hard and I'm cold. This sucks!

Back in the van again, I make good progress. Nearing the tip of Cape Cod I encounter Pilgrim Lake. Just over the distant sand dunes you'll find the ocean, just one half a mile of it, from distant lakeshore to seashore. I'm now at the narrowest point of the peninsula, which measures a little under a mile. Yikes! I wouldn't want to be here when a hurricane hits.

A little more driving takes me right into the center of Provincetown, MA. It is here the Mayflower first reached landfall in 1620. Officially incorporated in 1727, Provincetown's population was rather small, and the majority of the residents worked in the fishing industry. The population exploded after the Revolution however, and the town soon became the most important settlement on Cape Cod in terms of its economic contribution.