2018 June - Rockin' Plymouth

That's us, Cape Cod.  We don't look like much from up there, but just try telling that to the millions of people who visit each year and the locals who wouldn't want to live anywhere else.  We Codders like the lazy pace of winter, but once the Nor'easters settle down, it's all about the business of restoring the beaches and access to them.  The National Seashore staff has been super busy all Spring dealing with toppled trees, erosion, moving endangered structures away from the shoreline, replanting sea grass on the dunes and getting ready to welcome annual visitors.   So, WELCOME to Summer 2018!       

Coast Guard Beach in Eastham

Considering the beating taken by our coastline over the winter, it was exciting for us to learn that Eastham's Coast Guard Beach actually moved up from #6 to #5 on the U.S. Top 10 Beach list, according to Dr. Stephen Leatherman AKA "Dr. Beach".  Click on this "Dr. Beach"  link if you'd like to read about the stringent criteria he uses to pick the top ten U.S. beaches each year.  #1 is in Maui, Hawaii, so we're in pretty good company.  

I'm almost a little chagrined to divulge that after passing through Plymouth numerous times for one thing or another, not to mention living just across Cape Cod Bay from the historic town, I'd never paid homage to the infamous Plymouth rock until last month.  We were on a mission to have our espresso machine repaired and it turned out that Plymouth was the closest place to have it done.  It was a sunny day, and well, when in Plymouth...

     

I'd already been warned that I was likely to be underwhelmed by this national treasure, so we parked, I took my picture, we headed home and I checked it off my mental bucket list.  Done.  Better late than never.  Except I couldn't stop thinking about how precisely the date was carved into the stone and wondering about the circumstances of how that might have happened.  My curiosity finally got the better of me as it usually does, and I googled, "Who carved the date in Plymouth Rock?" and found "The Real Story Behind Plymouth Rock" published in 2012 by Christopher Klein.  The history of this boulder turned out to be a lot more entertaining than actually seeing the rock, as follows from Klein's account:

• First, there is no historical evidence to confirm that the Pilgrims first made landfall at Plymouth Rock, in fact their first stop was at Provincetown in November of 1620 before sailing to safer harbor in Plymouth.
• Here's where it gets fun:  in 1741, 121 years after the arrival of the Mayflower, Plymouth resident, 94 year old Thomas Faunce claimed that his father, who arrived in Plymouth in 1623, and several of the original Mayflower passengers assured him that the stone was the specific landing spot of the Pilgrims.  A wharf was about to be built over the rock and the elderly Faunce arranged to be carried in a chair 3 miles from his house to the harbor to give the rock a tearful goodbye.
• As revolutionary fever swept through Plymouth in 1774, some of the town's most zealous patriots enlisted the rock in their cause, attempting to move the boulder with 20 teams of oxen from the harbor to a liberty pole in front of the town meetinghouse.  This was only the first time that the rock broke in two, and some of the townsfolk interpreted the rupture as a providential sign that America should sever itself from Great Britain.  Only the top half was moved to the town square and the bottom was left embedded on the shoreline.
• The second break in the rock came on July 4, 1834, when it was moved a few blocks to the front lawn of the Pilgrim Hall Museum and ensconced inside a small iron fence.  This did little to discourage souvenir seekers from chiseling pieces, which have turned up in places like the Smithsonian Institution and the Plymouth Church in Brooklyn.
• In the 1860's a Victorian-style canopy was constructed to better cover the remaining piece of rock, still embedded in the shoreline, however, in order to fit in the new monument, it had to be given a trim.  
• Years later, it was discovered that a 400-pound slab that was carved off was being used as a doorstep on a local historic house, and a piece of it was donated to the Pilgrim Hall Museum, where visitors are actually encouraged to touch it.
• Finally, in 1880, the top of Plymouth Rock was returned to the harbor and reunited with its base.  The date '1620' was carved on the stone's surface, replacing painted numerals.  With all the accidents and souvenir-taking, it's estimated to be only 1/3-1/2 its original size.
• About one million people now visit the rock each year at its new home, which was constructed for the 300th anniversary of the Pilgrims arrival and resembles a Roman temple.  Only a third of it is visible, with the rest buried under the sand, five feet below street level, with a visible scar from one of the breaks.  Make that one million visitors plus two.

A cranberry bog in the town of Harwich on Cape Cod

When you hear the word 'cranberry' you probably think of neatly stacked cans of tart jelly that go home from the market once a year for Thanksgiving dinner.  In many homes,  a Thanksgiving dinner without cranberries would be considered sacrilegious.  But, before  they get stuffed into cans, the amazing, tiny cranberry starts life growing in wet bogs all summer, which turn bright red in the Fall just before they're flooded for harvest.  Many of these are on Cape Cod.  According to a 2015 report by the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers Association, cranberries are the largest agricultural food product in Massachusetts, and the industry provides 6900 jobs.  So, it was with great relief here that the European Union officials agreed to delay imposing tariffs on some cranberry products in retaliation to the new tariffs recently imposed on steel and aluminum products by our country's President.  The European Union is the largest market for Massachusetts cranberries, taking 55 percent of our state's product.  [Information from the Cape Cod Times and the Associated Press.]

With the arrival of High Season, here's a typical recent weekend in June at the B&B: The guests due to arrive for the Cottage in the back pulled into the front, and Ron showed them into the Studio by mistake.  I greeted them with a hearty "Welcome back!" , while thinking that they didn't look familiar at all.  They replied, "We haven't been here before..."  Putting two and two together, I said, "And, that's why you don't look familiar because you booked the Cottage, didn't you?"  As Ron explained to them how to get to the back side of the house, I went out to meet them, as a giant truck delivering our new dishwasher backed in right where they needed to enter.  The Cottage folks maneuvered into a parking spot and I showed them around while Ron dealt with the delivery.  All seemed as it should be until the next guests, who were returning for a second time, then pulled in behind the truck.  They had stayed at the Cottage last time, but booked the Studio in front this time and were confused about how to enter from the front.  We told them how to get there without having to cross the busy highway again, and I met them in front.  Meanwhile, the dishwasher had made it to the kitchen, but the deliverymen claimed they were too busy to install it, even though we'd paid extra to have it done.  Ron convinced them to hook it up, but after nearly a year without a working dishwasher and a very confusing afternoon, he forgot and hand washed the dinner dishes out of habit.  Just another day of not sweating the small stuff.  

So far this Spring at Crosswinds B&B Suites, we've had 6 guests celebrating anniversaries, one birthday, a surprise engagement party, a musicians gig, a funeral and quite a few mental health get-away weekends.  The guests who came the farthest were from Switzerland.  You can tell the season is heating up when it takes two bread makers going at once to get ready for the weekend.   

Just doing my part.