Historic Cape Cod Tips

Three Mayflower passengers lie in Eastham's Old Cove Cemetery located about a mile north of the Orleans-Eastham rotary on U.S. Route 6. The graveyard is on the right just after Shore Road. Here you can see legible gravestones dating from the 1700s. Gravestone rubbing is not permitted without permission of the Eastham Historical Society. Call (508) 255-8725.

During the War of 1812, a British ship of war, the Nimrod, fired on Falmouth leaving cannonball holes in some of the houses. One of these holes can be seen at the Nimrod Restaurant on Dillingham Avenue.

From 1872-1914, 13 Life-Saving Stations were built approximately every 8 miles along Cape Cod's eastern shore. They provided rescue and shelter for shipwrecked victims. Today, you can visit the Beachcomber Restaurant in Cahoon's Hollow, Wellfleet, a converted lifesaving station on the bluffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

The Pilgrims were actually headed for the northern Virginia territory, which at that time stretched up to near the Hudson River, before they were forced to steer northward by ocean storms.

The thin pieces of wood used in overlapping rows which form the sides and roofs of Cape Cod houses are white cedar shingles. Favored by most Cape Codders, white cedar is preferred over red cedar because it takes on a handsome, silvery sheen, while red cedar, eventually turns brown. It is also lighter, softer, and easier to split and shave.

The town of Mashpee was originally set aside by the Plymouth Colony as an Indian village and designated as a Plantation for the Wampanoag Indians displaced by the settlers building towns on their ancestral lands. Today, you can visit the Archives Building, home of the Mashpee Historical Commission. For more information contact the Mashpee Chamber of Commerce (508) 477-0792.

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