Scenes from Cape Cod Pt. IV (Landmarks)
" I was glad to have got out of the towns, where I am wont to feel unspeakably mean and disgraced, to have left behind me for a season the bar rooms of Massachusetts, where the full grown are not weaned from savage and filthy habits, still sucking a cigar. My spirits rose in proportion to the outward dreariness. The towns need to ventilated. The gods would be pleased to see some pure flames from their altars. They are not to be appeased with cigar smoke." Henry David Thoreau from Cape Cod p.47-48
Hyannis. After leaving Dennis we decided to continue travelling on the scenic route 6A to Hyannis. I had previously heard of Hyannis from reading about the Kennedy family. We decided that we would travel to the JFK memorial in downtown Hyannis. I was not impressed with Hyannis at all. It seemed like any other beach town on a busy commercial road in New Jersey. The roads were littered with hundreds of department stores, eateries,car dealerships, malls, and fast food restaurants. This place did not even possess a tenth of the charm that we found everywhere else on the cape. Even the Kennedy memorial itself looked humdrum. It sort of reminded me of a Smaller Tienanmen Square on the beach without the obvious Communist symbols, or screeching tanks.
Highland Light House, North Truro. On our last day on the Cape we decided that we wanted to visit the Highland Light House. I had previously discovered this landmark through my reading of Cape Cod. The most striking memory that we had was right when we walked out our cars. The ocean was omnipotent, we heard it everywhere. I had never heard an ocean roar before with such rugged intensity. We both struggled to hear our voices. Even the gulls that flew and yelled with all their power in the distance were consumed by the roar of the ocean. This mix of danger and beauty is what makes the cape so captivating. I looked to that Ocean as a metaphor of God. God is all powerful, capable of loving and tender mercy, but also fierce and untamed. (Notice the light glowing in the lighthouse.)
Near Yarmouth. As we were driving down the historic route 6 A we discovered this charming house. This house best personifies the salt box style construction of the houses on the Cape. We especially enjoyed the striking contrasts of the marine blue shutters, white trimmings, on the gray, cedar shingles.
Provincetown. During the entire trip I wanted to take a picture of the Pilgrims Tower. We were thwarted largely because of the in climate weather, but finally when the weather briefly let up we were able to snap this shot of this historic landmark. Thoreau speaks describes the nature of the Pilgrims that first landed here as he writes,
"It must be confessed that the Pilgrims possessed but few of the qualities of the modern pioneer. They were not the ancestors of the American backwoodsmen. They did not got at once into the woods with their axes. They were more anxious to keep together, though it were on the sand, than to explore and colonize a New World." from Cape Cod p. 299
As you can tell by the top of the tower it was a somber and foggy day.
Highland Light House, North Truro. On our last day on the Cape we decided that we wanted to visit the Highland Light House. I had previously discovered this landmark through my reading of Cape Cod. The most striking memory that we had was right when we walked out our cars. The ocean was omnipotent, we heard it everywhere. I had never heard an ocean roar before with such rugged intensity. We both struggled to hear our voices. Even the gulls that flew and yelled with all their power in the distance were consumed by the roar of the ocean. This mix of danger and beauty is what makes the cape so captivating. I looked to that Ocean as a metaphor of God. God is all powerful, capable of loving and tender mercy, but also fierce and untamed. (Notice the light glowing in the lighthouse.)
"It must be confessed that the Pilgrims possessed but few of the qualities of the modern pioneer. They were not the ancestors of the American backwoodsmen. They did not got at once into the woods with their axes. They were more anxious to keep together, though it were on the sand, than to explore and colonize a New World." from Cape Cod p. 299
As you can tell by the top of the tower it was a somber and foggy day.
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