Scenes from Cape Cod Pt. II

"There I had got the Cape under me, as much as if I were riding it bare backed.  It was not as on a map, or seen from the stagecoach; but there I found it all out of doors, huge and real Cape Cod! as it cannot be represented on a map, color it as you will; the thing itself, than which there is nothing more like it, no truer picture or account; which you cannot go farther and see.  I cannot remember what I thought before that it was.  They commonly celebrate those beaches only which have a hotel on them, not those which have a Humane house alone.  But I wished to see that seashore where man's works are wrecks; to put up at the true Atlantic House, where the ocean is land lord as well as sea lord, and comes ashore without a wharf for the landing; where the crumbling land is the only invalid, or at best is but dry land, and that is all you can say of it."  -Henry David Thoreau, from Cape Cod, p. 74

Provincetown. Down the narrow and charming Commercial Street we saw this Trolley.  For a brief second I thought that I was in San Francisco. Notice the biblical references on the right and left sides of the Trolley.  What makes Commercial Street so interesting is that little has changed throughout the years. I believe that all great towns and cities have this timelessness about them. It is this successful intermingling of the old and new that gives Provincetown its everlasting charm. The streets and town's many alleyways are the same as when Henry David Thoreau visited the town. One of my favorite aspects of this quiet, rugged, fishing town are the numberless art galleries that surround the entire town.

Truro: We travelled down the historic Pamet roads.  We were both amazed by the inherent paradox of the rough, unforgiving terrain, mixed with simple timeless beauty of this home.  I read that the shape of Cape Cod has always changed throughout the centuries.  This is attributed to the fact that the ocean erodes consistently, taking and giving land to the different parts of the cape.  I wonder if we still see this house standing 5 years from now. 




Hoxie House in Sandwich. This is the oldest salt box home on the cape. It is said that these houses were constructed this way to as a way of protecting them from the battering winds of the Cape.  Henry David Thoreau spoke about these types of houses which are indigenous to the cape as he said,

"Generally, the old fashioned and unpainted houses on the Cape looked more comfortable, as well as picturesque, than the modern and more pretending ones, which were less in harmony with the scenery, and less firmly planted." from Cape Cod, p. 92

Despite it raining the entire day, I was astounded by the elegance of the green grasses that seemed to shine brightly, contradicting the gray, overcast day.

Dennis. While we were traveling down the scenic 6A we stopped in the historic town of Dennis for some coffee.  As we made our way out of our car I saw chickens grazing all over the field.  I was instantaneously taken back to my childhood when I would spend the entire summer at my grandma's in Slovakia.  She also had many chickens. I remember the full, hearty taste of those chickens.  My grandma was Eco conscious before that term was in vogue.  Yes her chickens were free range, so free that the wolves in the wintertime would come to devour them!

Dennis. After we left the coffeehouse, we embarked on visiting this tower in Dennis.  To my surprise the tower was open.  So I climbed the stairs, excited but frightened at the same time because I did not know if some strange person, or neo satanist was hanging out there killing a chicken or waiting for his unsuspected prey (me) to greet him up top. Fortunately I did not meet a neo satanist,  instead I was treated to a beautiful panoramic view of the ocean on top of this tower.