By Martha Hyams The highway cuts through Eastham like a gash made by a surgeon who gave no thought to cosmetic results or pain inflicted. Restaurants, shops, gas stations, and other businesses line the sides like stitches, hiding the natural treasures and historical significance that lie within. Thirty miles of protected beachfront begin at the Visitor Center. From April until November the Center provides movies about Cape Cod’s history and natural gifts, information about hikes, lectures, displays, biking trails, walking trails and a guided nature walk for sight impaired guests. The museum has whaling artifacts, exhibits of the old salt works, scrimshaw and other items of local interest.
There are many beautiful trails for walking and biking. Three trails fan out from the main one, which begins at the Visitor Center, goes to Coast Guard Beach and loops back, providing a variety of choices and lengths, all of which have extraordinary scenery. Along the major walking and bike trail, you will cross a wooden bridge, see the Salt Marsh and Nauset Bay as well as Coast Guard Beach. The trail has a different beauty in every season. In the early spring, for example, we watch honeysuckle beginning to flower and a few weeks later enjoy the wonderful scent. In the fall small white and purple asters abound. We’ve also seen wild turkeys and foxes in all seasons. In addition to the Nauset Bike Trail, the Cape Cod Rail Trail travels the length of Eastham. The Bike Path, as it is also known, is a work in progress. It follows railroad tracks laid by the Old Colony Railroad Company, which, by 1848, connected Boston and Sandwich. When the tracks were completed in 1873, they went as far as Provincetown. Hopefully the bike trail will be completely restored by this summer.
Eastham has many other picturesque nature trails. The Fort Hill trail passes Indian Rock, a huge rock which shows evidence of years of use by Native Americans grinding, polishing and sharpening tools, the Red Maple Swamp and the Captain Penniman House (see sidebar). Through the summer maritime beach pea and Saint Johnswort bloom in the field. Pink and purple loosestrife grow in the Red Maple Swamp, and other freshwater ponds and swamps throughout the Cape. To see rich colors, go back to the Red Maple Swamp in the fall.
If you’re headed to the beach, stickers and daily rates apply. Most bay beaches for example, First Encounter, can be paid on site, at fifteen dollars a day. The ocean beaches, such as Coast Guard and Nauset Light require a taxpayer or visitor fee. The stickers can be obtained at the Beach Sticker office at 555 Old Orchard Road.
Eastham does not lack drama or dramatic names. First Encounter Beach is the stage. On December 8th, 1620, the Pilgrims, on an exploratory hike led by Myles Standish, encountered Nauset Indians. The Pilgrims were attacked with bows and arrows and returned the welcome with musket fire. There were no fatalities. The Pilgrims left but eventually returned to Eastham to settle in 1644.
Of course it’s impossible to drive through Eastham and not notice the windmill at the park on Samoset Road. It’s the oldest windmill on Cape Cod. It was built in Plymouth in 1680 and was moved to Truro in approximately 1770, then was moved in 1773 to a location that overlooked Salt Pond. In 1880 it was moved to its present site and was working until 1896. The town of Eastham now owns the windmill. Every year, on the weekend after Labor Day, the town celebrates Windmill Weekend.
Every lighthouse has a story and the stories are similar. Erosion is the enemy. Like Highland Light in Truro, Nauset Light also had to be moved due to beach erosion. In 1838 the lighthouse consisted of three lights on the top of three fifteen-foot high brick towers. These three towers became known as the three sisters. The towers, or sisters, stood east of where the present lighthouse is and sported sixth order Fresnel lenses. Erosion continued to be a threat and, as the cliff had moved to eight feet from the lighthouses, two of the lighthouses were sold and one remained, having been moved farther back from the cliff and equipped with a flashing light, flashing three times in ten seconds as a tribute to its lost sisters.
Today the three sisters have been reunited and moved to approximately one thousand feet away from the present Nauset Light. In 1996, just as in Truro, the lighthouse had to be moved again. It now stands three hundred feet west of its original location.
Like the other Cape Cod towns, Eastham has a Land Bank to protect against development and commercialization of our natural and historic resources. In addition, the Eastham Arboretum is attempting to revitalize a portion of land in Wiley Park, a town-owned park. Like all the towns on the lower Cape, Eastham was once alive with oak and pine trees as well as many other plants and trees which are now rare. Pilgrims harvested the oak and pine in order to build ships and houses when they moved to Plymouth. Ironically, a large group of Pilgrims came back to Eastham forty-four years after they left because they found it easier to grow many of their crops here on the Cape. The Eastham Arboretum plans to replace the trees and shrubs that are indigenous, but have disappeared.
Not many towns can boast a turnip festival. Eastham turnips are like no others. Eastham natives will tell you that their turnips are not those big, round yellow things that you’ll find elsewhere. They are smaller than most, white as opposed to yellowish and much sweeter than the average turnip. They are one of the four crops that Thoreau planted in his garden at Walden Pond, along with beans, peas and potatoes.
Eastham turnips can be planted after the fourth of July, and harvested in November. The Turnip festival usually takes place the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Activities include a turnip cook-off, a prize for the biggest turnip, turnip bowling, a turnip trot and a Mr. Turnip Head contest.
The turnip festival is typical of free, family oriented activities hosted by the town of Eastham year round. For example, the Elks Club sponsors a yearly Easter egg hunt for children. The Easter Bunny arrives in a police car and to the surprise of the children he’s gigantic! The Elks club is decorated for the holiday and great prizes are given to the children who find the most eggs.
Eastham is unpretentious. It doesn’t have as much of the upscale, arty summer population as the other three towns. You will find more “regular folk” here, not as “out there” in various ways. An increasing number of artists, however, are beginning to find their place in Eastham due to more affordable housing and studio space and of course, the subtle beauty. Annie Garton, an Eastham painter, describes the beauty as she does the atmosphere of the town: “sublime, calm, and totally restful.” Her rich, gorgeous oil paintings reflect that atmosphere.
Eastham is unlike Provincetown, Truro and Wellfleet in that it has a solid year-round population with many working families as well as retirees. Shawn Krum, owner of The Yarn Basket, a knitting store in Eastham, is representative of a working member of the Eastham community. She moved here full time in 1991. Her store is open year-round, like most of the stores along Route 6 in Eastham. Shawn grew up in Southeastern Pennsylvania, a member of the Pennsylvania Dutch community. “There were a thousand people in my hometown,” she says. “ I knew all of them, plus the cows Eastham has more than enough people, even in winter, but I like being exposed to so many different kinds of people, all kinds of people are in Eastham …educated, uneducated, difficult, wonderful people. What I can’t get over is people fertilizing their land. The earth is so rich in Pennsylvania. But I do miss those cows.”