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Cape Cod
KNOWLEDGE OF Cape Cod
"The time must come when this coast will be a place of resort of those New-Englanders who really wish to visit the sea-side. At present it is wholly unknown to the fashionable world, and probably it will never be agreeable to them."—Henry David Thoreau (1855)
The Cape Cod peninsula was created by glaciers that dumped their accumulated till some 18,000 years ago and then began their retreat northward, scooping out Cape Cod Bay. Glaciers are also responsible for the deep ponds that dot the Cape. At least 5,000 years ago, the first Native Americans settled on Cape Cod. These were the Wampanoag Indians, part of the Algonquin Indian Nation. As they settled the Cape, they split into five tribes. There are some stories of Viking explorations in the area about 1,000 years ago, but many experts do not accept these claims. However, it is well established that, in the early 1600s, Europeans started making their way onto the Cape.
One of the most famous explorers was Bartholomew Gasnold, who sailed from England with a small crew. During their journey, they anchored in Cape Cod Bay and caught so much codfish that Gasnold named the area Cape Cod. Despite attempts by later explorers and settlers to change it, the name stuck. Other explorers passed through as well, but the most famous visitors to the Cape were the Pilgrims who arrived on November 20, 1620.
Although every American schoolchild learns about Plymouth Plantation, the Pilgrims actually first stopped at Provincetown, on the end of Cape Cod. Having missed their intended destination of Virginia, they were struggling to reach land safely before winter caught them in the treacherous waters just to the east of Cape Cod. They finally found Provincetown Harbor, anchored, and sent a team out to explore the Cape. The scouts found a stash of Wampanoag corn at a place still known as Corn Hill , in Truro and proceeded to "borrow" it from them. They also found some fresh water in the ponds of that area, but decided they weren't a sufficiently reliable source, so they left the Cape and went on to Plymouth. However, while they were anchored off the Cape, they accomplished a remarkable feat: they wrote the Mayflower Compact, which established a fairly democratic form of government and ensured the social stability of what would be a very difficult colonization. Their history here is commemorated in the Pilgrim Tower in Provincetown, the tallest all-granite structure in the U.S., as well as in the adjoining Provincetown Museum.
Once in Plymouth, the Pilgrims remained the dominant European influence on the Cape and as their colony grew, they began expanding onto the Cape. The numbers of Native Americans predictably waned due to a story of epidemics and territorial loss familiar from other American settlements. The Pilgrims founded the Cape Cod towns of Sandwich, Barnstable and Yarmouth in the 1630s and a significant portion of their congregation relocated to Eastham in 1645 where they engaged in farming and fishing.
The Cape Cod peninsula was created by glaciers that dumped their accumulated till some 18,000 years ago and then began their retreat northward, scooping out Cape Cod Bay. Glaciers are also responsible for the deep ponds that dot the Cape. At least 5,000 years ago, the first Native Americans settled on Cape Cod. These were the Wampanoag Indians, part of the Algonquin Indian Nation. As they settled the Cape, they split into five tribes. There are some stories of Viking explorations in the area about 1,000 years ago, but many experts do not accept these claims. However, it is well established that, in the early 1600s, Europeans started making their way onto the Cape.
One of the most famous explorers was Bartholomew Gasnold, who sailed from England with a small crew. During their journey, they anchored in Cape Cod Bay and caught so much codfish that Gasnold named the area Cape Cod. Despite attempts by later explorers and settlers to change it, the name stuck. Other explorers passed through as well, but the most famous visitors to the Cape were the Pilgrims who arrived on November 20, 1620.
Although every American schoolchild learns about Plymouth Plantation, the Pilgrims actually first stopped at Provincetown, on the end of Cape Cod. Having missed their intended destination of Virginia, they were struggling to reach land safely before winter caught them in the treacherous waters just to the east of Cape Cod. They finally found Provincetown Harbor, anchored, and sent a team out to explore the Cape. The scouts found a stash of Wampanoag corn at a place still known as Corn Hill , in Truro and proceeded to "borrow" it from them. They also found some fresh water in the ponds of that area, but decided they weren't a sufficiently reliable source, so they left the Cape and went on to Plymouth. However, while they were anchored off the Cape, they accomplished a remarkable feat: they wrote the Mayflower Compact, which established a fairly democratic form of government and ensured the social stability of what would be a very difficult colonization. Their history here is commemorated in the Pilgrim Tower in Provincetown, the tallest all-granite structure in the U.S., as well as in the adjoining Provincetown Museum.
Once in Plymouth, the Pilgrims remained the dominant European influence on the Cape and as their colony grew, they began expanding onto the Cape. The numbers of Native Americans predictably waned due to a story of epidemics and territorial loss familiar from other American settlements. The Pilgrims founded the Cape Cod towns of Sandwich, Barnstable and Yarmouth in the 1630s and a significant portion of their congregation relocated to Eastham in 1645 where they engaged in farming and fishing.
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