Leslie and David's Wanderings: 24 August 2022 Cape Cod

We headed out finally to visit the iconic Cape Cod. The signs said it was only 15 miles to the Cape from our campground. We headed out trying to take the back roads so that we could see some of the sea coast. But the roads are far enough back that you rarely see the ocean through the trees and houses. It turns out that most of Cape Cod is privately owned and there are very few public beach access locations. If you go to one of those, you have to pay a special beach access fee. We weaved our way through quaint little towns until eventually we had to jump on the main road. We stopped at the Cape Cod National Seashore visitor center where we got our passport stamp and watched the park movie. After talking with the ranger, we headed to Nauset Beach Lighthouse just down from the visitor center. At the lighthouse we got our first real look at the ocean. The Nauset Beach Lighthouse is the third lighthouse in this location. The first was three masonry light houses in the early 1800s. The three lights signal to mariners that this was the center of three lighthouses on the outer coast of the cape. There was another lighthouse at the southern end that contain two lights and one to the north that contained one light. But erosion caused the three lighthouses to fall into the ocean (the outer cap erodes 3 feet per year). They were replaced by three wooden towers in the late 1800s. When the coast guard went to flashing lights, the three wooden towers were replace by a single cast iron tower. That tower had to be moved back 400 feet in 1997 due to the coast eroding. Next we drove up to the site where in 1903, Marconi sent the first wireless message across the Atlantic. Unfortunately, all the historic structures at the Marconi site have fallen into the sea and washed away years ago. But there were great views of the coast in each direction. The next lighthouse was called Highland Lighthouse. Another cast iron tower light. Interesting it is surrounded by a private golf resort that has been in operation since the 1800s. Our last stop was the visitor center on the very end of Cape Code with some beautiful views from the observation tower. There we learned this was where the Pilgrim’s originally landed in 1620 and spent five weeks here while they explored the area before deciding to build the settlement at Plymouth. We dropped down into Provincetown and drove through the tiny streets before heading back home. We stopped at the Lost Dog Pub on the way back for dinner. While it does not look big on the map, we ended up driving 175 miles out to Provincetown and back!