Cape Break #2

Cape trivia was fun.  Tonight (Monday as I write this) it is 14 degrees and heading for below zero.  Just 17 days before Spring.  And even though the sun showed its face in Syracuse today, my blueness continues.  That may come to be a topic for more than one post down the road.  But for now, I need more Cape Trivia, for there is no end to this winter. 

Provincetown’s Pilgrim Monument, at 252 ft., is the tallest all granite structure in America.  And yes, I have climbed to the top. Worth the view.

Pilgrim Monument

Coast Guard Beach in Eastham is regularly named to Conde Nast Traveler’s top Ten Beaches in the U.S.

Cape Cod makes, for the world to enjoy – Cape Cod Potato Chips!  Some say they are the world’s best….and I’m one of them.  Kettle Chips w/ 40% less fat.  Hmmmm. You can tour their factory in Hyannis.

 

Wellfleet, MA

You reading this MG?  Wellfleet Oysters are prized by chefs the world over for their delicacy and sweetness.  This town has been famous for oysters ever since the explorer Champlain found them in 1606.  There is a Wellfleet Oyster Weekend in October each year.  Personally, well, steamed clams are about as close as I’m ever going to get to an oyster. I tried.  Succeeded once, caught in the midst of a nice buzz. One and done.

Can you say oysters?

On your way into Wellfleet, stop at the First Congregational Church, a handsome 1850 Greek Revival edifice, replete with the only town clock which rings ship’s time in lieu of regular time.  It takes too long to explain, so look it up and check it out as it is really neat.  Or confusing, depending on whether or not you know about the ship’s time thing.  It's in Ripley's Believe It or Not.  Believe it or not.  

 

First Congretational Church

Cape Playhouse in Dennis is America’s oldest professional theatre.  It has seen the likes of Jessica Tandy, Bette Davis (she ushered there too), Gregory Peck and Basil Rathbone.

Cape Playhouse

Cape Cinema, the 92 seat theater on the grounds of the Cape Playhouse, with its 6,400 square-foot Art Deco ceiling mural of Prometheus, opened July 1, 1930, world-premiering The Wizard of Oz.  The mural is the largest in North America.

The Mayflower Compact was drafted in Cape Cod Bay by the Pilgrims (probably eating Wellfleet oysters and drinking a pint or two) during their 5 week stay here.  It was the first written "constitution,"  an agreement whereby a free people would self govern.  It was the birth of our history. 

That’s enough for now.  Depending on the weather and/or the mood, we’ll be back.  Or perhaps we’ll tour another magic spot, this one much further south than the Cape.  I'm beginning to smell the sea. 

Mark Twain Quote: “Foreigners cannot enjoy our food, I suppose, any more than we can enjoy theirs.  It is not strange; for tastes are made, not born.  I might glorify my bill of fare until I was tired; but after all, the Scotchman would shake his head, and say, “Where’s your haggis?” and the Fijan would sigh and say, “Where’s your missionary?”