Cape Cod National Seashore ⓘ

People have lived on the outer part of the hook of land that forms Cape Cod for thousands of years. Cape Cod and the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket were formed as massive terminal moraines at the end of the last glacial period in North America about 15,000 years ago. Ancient artifacts, such as Paleoindian projectile points found at several locations on Cape Cod indicate that humans have occupied this land, or at least traversed it for the last 10,000 years. Thousands of archeological sites exist throughout the Cape. A number of these sites have been scientifically studied and some can be visited. The interpretation of ancient and historic activities at these sites provides a view of human uses of the Cape Cod coastline from earliest times.

The archeology of Cape Cod has been of interest to inhabitants and visitors for hundreds of years. In his travel narrative about the region, Cape Cod, Henry David Thoreau observed that Cape Cod was once "thickly settled" by Indians and that traces of their occupation, in the form of "arrow-heads," and piles of shell, ashes, and deer bones, could be seen around the marsh edges and inlets throughout the Cape. More systematic and concerted archeological studies on the outer Cape by National Park Service archeologists in the 1980s showed concentrations of ancient villages and activities around Nauset Harbor and Wellfleet Harbor, as well as in the High Head area. Other researchers have found concentrations of sites in Truro near the mouth of the Pamet River and in many locations in the western portion of the Cape.

By 5000 years ago, the human presence on Cape Cod was quite extensive. Artifacts, projectile points in particular, dating from this period are found throughout the Cape; however, sites are rare. During this early period of settlement, human groups may have moved seasonally from one part of the Cape to another without establishing permanent settlements. It may also be that the remains of such settlements are buried deeply and are rarely found and investigated by archeologists. By 3000 years ago, people left dense deposits of ancient trash, including discarded stone tools, stone flakes used as tools or from tool sharpening, shell from intensive gathering of shellfish for food, fish and animal bone, and ash and stone from fires for cooking and heat. These are found at sites in the Nauset area and probably exist in other areas where settlement was concentrated. Permanent settlement was probably the norm by this time, with parties of men and women traveling out from the villages to hunt or gather food and raw material for making tools, clothing, and shelter.

Francis P. McManamon is recently retired as Chief Archeologist for the National Park Service, Department of the Interior, in Washington D.C. His Cape Cod National Seashore Archeological Survey conducted between 1979 and 1981 resulted in a three-volume report entitled "Chapters in the Archeology of Cape Cod", published between 1984 and 1985, and "The Indian Neck Ossuary" published in 1986.

The Dune Shacks of Peaked Hill Bars Historic District occupies approximately 1,960 acres within Cape Cod National Seashore at the northern end of the park. The historic district includes both historic buildings, known as dune shacks, and the dune landscape. According to the 2011 National Register of Historic Places documentation, the historic district is significant for its role in the development of American art, literature and recreation; for its association with the life of American poet, Harry Kemp; for its collection of dune shacks which represent a regional waterfront expression of a rare and fragile architectural type of shelters; and for its potential to yield further archeological information about prehistory or history. Eighteen of the 19 dune shacks within the historic district are owned by the National Park Service and are currently occupied by different groups and individuals and used for a variety of purposes. The dune shacks are small, weathered, and often built on pilings to adjust for the ever-moving sand dunes surrounding these properties. The houses are remote, with no paved roads leading to them. Access is required by foot or by 4x4 vehicle along the park’s Oversand corridor. There is limited running water, plumbing, and electrical fixtures in most of the shacks. Most shacks are operated seasonally.

The shacks themselves have their roots in the lifesaving huts of the maritime era in the mid-19th century. The first lifesaving station in the area was built in 1872 and was known as the Peaked Hill Bars Lifesaving Station. In 1914, the first recorded transition from a lifesaving structure to a private residence took place. The 1920s through the 1950s saw the construction of the shacks that exist today, and of several that no longer exist. In 1961, when Cape Cod National Seashore was created, dune dwellers continued to live in the shacks.

In 1989, the district was found eligible for the National Register of Historic Places because of efforts by long-term dune dwellers, long-term dune shack users, and other advocates, some of whom formed non-profit groups to support dune shack use, as well as the Town of Provincetown and the Massachusetts Historical Commission. In the 1990s, a few locally based non-profit organizations began to offer programs and maintain some shacks in the district. In 2009, the National Park Service obtained funds to initiate an Environmental Assessment (EA) for developing a long-term management plan for the district, to conduct several studies, and to reestablish a Dune Shack Subcommittee of the Advisory Commission, which convened in November 2009.

Following several years of significant input from all stakeholders and guided by the findings of the Dune Shack Subcommittee, the park completed the Dune Shack Preservation and Use Plan in 2012. The plan established the roadmap for how the buildings and the adjacent landscape would be protected and interpreted and how residents and visitors would use the district in the future, consistent with the qualities for which the district was determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. Emphasis was placed on preserving the contemplative solitude of the district, supporting the long-term relationships in the district, minimizing interference with natural dune processes, providing educational opportunities for the public and partners and establishing preservation maintenance processes. In May 2023, the park announced the Request for Proposals for leasing of eight dune shacks, including the Jones Shack, the Kemp Shack, the Fleurant Shack, the Adams Shack and Guest Shack, the Fearing-Bessay Shack, the Braaten Shack and the Watson Shack. The Request for Proposal period ended July 1, 2023.

Seven of the eighteen National Park Service-owned dune shacks are managed by park partners to host artist-in-residence lotteries and educational programs (Cohen Shack, Euphoria Shack, Malkin Shack, Margo-Gelb Shack, Fowler Shack, Thalassa Shack, and Wells Shack). Click the links below for more information on each program.

The lifesaver's motto was, "You have to go, but you don't have to come back." Likewise, their work earned them the title, "Guardians of the Ocean Graveyard" while they were stationed on Cape Cod between 1872 and 1915. The lonely form of Cape Cod stretches its fist-clenched forearm 25 miles into the ocean. Thoreau described it as "...boxing with northeast storms...and heaving up her Atlantic adversary from the lap of the earth." To the mariner, the Cape represents both a hazard and a haven, as all shipping between Boston and New York must either pass into its sheltered bay, or ground on its treacherous shoals. Combined with the forces of countless "nor'easters" and its precarious location, the Cape has been the site of more than 3,000 shipwrecks in 300 years of recorded history. It is the shallow sand bars several hundred yards off the beach that present the greatest danger. Here is where storm driven ships ground, break into pieces under the pressure of tons of raging water, and spill their fragile contents and occupants into the bone chilling surf.

From the onset, Native Americans and succeeding generations of Cape Codders offered aid to shipwreck victims. In 1785, the Massachusetts Humane Society initiated the world's first organized lifesaving service in Boston Harbor with shelters and food for shipwreck survivors. While their methods and equipment were well intended, the Humane Society members were unpaid volunteers and could not provide continuous or adequate services.

In the early 1800s, there was an average of two wrecks every month during the winter. The loss of life seemed especially sad when a sailor managed to get ashore on a winter night only to freeze to death after he got there. In 1797, the Massachusetts Humane Society started putting up huts along the most dangerous sections of the Massachusetts coast in the hope that stranded sailors would find them and take shelter. It was not, however, until 1872, that a really efficient lifesaving service was put into operation by the United States government. In 1845, Congress took the first step toward meeting the nationwide sea rescue problem by funding private organizations like the Humane Society. Finally, in 1872, the first federally constructed and staffed lifesaving stations emerged as part of the Department of Treasury. They became the U. S. Life Saving Service. In the 1870s, nine stations were built on Cape Cod: Race Point, Highlands, Peaked Hill Bars, Pamet, Cahoon's Hollow, Nauset, Orleans, Chatham, and Monomoy Point. Six or seven surfmen and a keeper lived in each station and kept a continuous lookout. At night, two men from each station walked the beach on patrol, met at a small half-way shelter between stations, and then returned on their same route. As soon as a ship in distress was sighted, a flare was fired from ashore to let the crew at sea know they'd been seen. Then the lifesaving crew went into action. If the sea permitted, they launched surfboats--some equipped with air chambers to help keep them afloat, cork fenders to keep them from being smashed against the sinking ship, and righting lines to use in case they capsized. If they could not get out by boat and if the shipwreck was near enough to shore, the lifesaving team stayed on the beach and used a small, cannon-like gun to fire a line out to the sinking ship. The crew on shore and the sailors on the wreck tied off lines, and using a clothes line-type method called the beach apparatus, men from the wreck were pulled in one-by-one in a piece of rescue equipment called the breeches buoy. The buoy was then pulled back out to the ship to haul the next man in.

Life at these stations was a mixture of danger, glory, excitement and boredom. Usually manned by a crew of six surfmen and a keeper (or captain), the rank and responsibility of each man was carefully structured. Endless hours of patrol were critical, especially at night and during storms when wrecks were most likely to occur. They were sometimes monotonous, but during foul weather the patrols were exhausting; surfmen often had to hold a wooden shingle in front of their faces to keep the sand out of their eyes as they patrolled. Patrols would meet at small halfway houses between stations and exchange metal tags, or punch time clocks to verify completion. In the summer months, the surfmen were released, leaving only the keeper on duty. At the station, a strict schedule was followed, requiring different drills on specific days. However, when a wreck was sighted, the surfman on patrol would ignite a coston's flare to signal the stranded ship and alert the station crew. "Ship Ashore!" was the verbal alarm. After laboriously carrying rescue equipment by hand or horsecart to the beach, the keeper would determine where and when to launch the specially designed surfboats. Given the names "Race Point" and "Monomoy" types, these buoyant, sturdy, and relatively lightweight boats (at 800 to 1,000 lbs. each) carried five oarsmen and the keeper at the helm. Only five victims could be safely rescued at a time, thus often many perilous return trips had to be made. Whereas hundreds of victims were rescued in this manner, only on two tragic occasions did Cape Cod lifesaving crews lose their own lives.

When weather and surf were too violent to launch the surf boat, the alternate method of rescue was the breeches buoy. The buoy consisted of a pair of canvas breeches fastened inside a life ring and suspended from a life line and pulley system between the stranded ship and shore. The Lyle gun (a small cannon) was used to shoot a lightweight line to the ship, which in turn was pulled on board by the ship's crew. Along with it came an instruction paddle, block and pulley, the heavier hawser line, and continuous whip lines. Simultaneously, the surfmen erected a twelve-foot wooden crotch to suspend the hawser line and breeches buoy above the surf and buried an anchor in the sand. In practice, the whole operation had to be done within five minutes. Only after all this was accomplished could one victim at a time be rescued as the breeches buoy was tediously pulled back and forth from shore. Time and effort made this less popular than using the surf boat.

Eventually, there was change. During the early 20th century, sturdier self-propelled steel ships began replacing sail-powered wooden vessels. Likewise, telegraphy, radio, and improved weather forecasting dramatically reduced the number of shipwrecks on Cape Cod. However, it was the opening of the Cape Cod Canal in 1914 that reduced navigation dangers and ended the colorful era of the lifesavers on Cape Cod. Once as popular as the U. S. Cavalry, the lifesavers gradually disappeared as the stations were abandoned. Finally, in 1915, the U. S. Life Saving Service was incorporated into the newly formed U. S. Coast Guard, and the days of the Life Saving Service were over. Read more about the US Life-Saving Service.

Old Harbor Life-Saving Station was built in Chatham in 1897. The station was operated by the U.S. Coast Guard, and its precurser the U.S. Life-Saving Service, until it was decommissioned in July 1944. In the early 1970s, the building was obtained by the National Park Service. By then, it was in a precarious position on an eroding beach. In November 1977, it was moved by barge to Race Point Beach in Provincetown, where it stands today.

The station has been furnished as it would have been around 1900. The site serves as a museum, where the stories of wrecks, rescues, and the heroic life-savers are brought to life by volunteers each summer during open houses. Additionally, breeches buoy rescue re-enactments are conducted on the grounds on Thursday evenings during July and August.

The next thing that happened was very important indeed. Since Cape Cod was outside the area they were supposed to settle in, the group agreed to write a "compact" or "self-governing" agreement. This agreement became known as the Mayflower Compact. It called for the election of a governor from amongst the members of their group (something they were already comfortable with from their church practices). This was the first act of European self-government in the New World. After signing the Mayflower Compact, the Pilgrims decided to look over Cape Cod as a place to settle. They sent out three separate "discovery" expeditions to see what the area had to offer. During these "discoveries" they found their first fresh water, took some Indian corn, and almost had a battle (called the First Encounter) with some Native Americans. Cape Cod had many good features, but after a month of searching, it was decided to finally settle in Plymouth.

In the Name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign Lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the faith, etc.Having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian Faith and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God, and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid: and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony: unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.

In witness where we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape Cod the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our sovereign Lord, King James of England, France and Ireland the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, Ano. Dom. 1620

An 1836 petition by Eastham residents concerned about loved ones at sea caused the Boston Marine Society to recommend to the United States Congress the construction of the Nauset Lights. Congress granted $10,000, and the contract was awarded to Winslow Lewis, the lowest bidder at $6549.

Three 15-foot high masonry towers were built. The lights soon gained the nickname “The Three Sisters” because from sea they looked like women in white dresses with black hats.

Cape Cod shores change quickly. The National Lighthouse Board ordered three new moveable wooden towers to be built thirty feet inland from the original masonry ones. The new towers stood twenty-two feet tall; the lantern housing added an additional seven feet. The old towers were allowed to fall into the Atlantic.

Advances in technology, the continuing erosion of Nauset cliffs, and the cost of maintaining three lights, prompted a major change at the Nauset Light station.

In 1911, the center tower was moved away from the cliff edge and attached to the 1875 keeper’s house. The other two towers were set aside until a decision could be reached about their future.

The fourth-order Fresnel lens in the remaining tower was now mounted on a ball bearing revolver, making the light flash three times every ten seconds.

The decommissioned two sisters were sold at a public auction to Helen M. Cummings for $3.50! The Cummings family first moved them to a site near the old French Cable station, before making some repairs.

In 1920, the towers were moved onto Cable Road, and adjoined with a room. The “Twin Lights Cottage” was subsequently used as a summer cottage and a dance studio, until the towers were sold to the National Park Service in 1965.

After many years of service, the center tower fell into disrepair. The Lighthouse Bureau decided to replace it with one of the former Chatham “twin lights” that was no longer in use. This iron and brick tower was moved, repainted and stands today as the latest in a lineage of Nauset Lights.

Once decommissioned, the last of the Three Sisters towers was sold to Albert Hall, who turned it into a cottage.

The National Park Service purchased the center tower in 1975 with a plan to reunite it with the other two towers. The three are placed in their original orientation on a plot of land on Cable Road.

Restoration took place through the 1980s, and the site opened for its first public tour in 1989.

Today one can visit the Sisters and marvel at the remarkable journey that brought them their location on Cable Road in Eastham.

Located on the Lower/Outer Cape in North Truro, the Truro Highlands Historic District overlooks the Atlantic Ocean and extends across 85 acres of a windswept landscape known as the Highlands Plain. The area includes Highland (Cape Cod) Light, Highland House, and Highland Golf Links.The Wampanoag, First People, inhabited the Cape Cod region for thousands of years prior to the arrival of European settlers in the 1600s. They gathered native plants for food and medicine, harvested fin fish and shellfish, hunted, grew crops, and practiced cultural traditions that recognized and respected nature’s bounty.

In the 1700s the Small family settled in the Truro Highlands area. Isaac Small and his family raised corn, livestock, and hay, and built a wind-powered gristmill for use in grinding corn into meal. In the late 1700s the US Government purchased 10 acres of land from the Smalls for construction of Highland Light Station. The location was ideal due to the prominent bluff, soils conducive for building, and for its ability to support livestock and a garden for the light keeper. Isaac Small was appointed first keeper of the light. Following his death in 1816, Isaac Small’s land was divided between his oldest sons. James Small continued to farm the land, operate the gristmill, and in 1835 he built a large farmhouse on the property. During this time, writer/philosopher Henry David Thoreau began making visits to the area, frequently staying in the light keeper’s cottage. Thoreau’s writings captured the character of the area in the mid-1800s, prior to the site’s development as a tourist destination in the late 19 th and early 20 th century. Following the extension of the railroad into Provincetown in 1873, tourists were drawn to the Highland area. The railroad made Truro an easily accessible destination for people wishing to leave cities for recreation, rejuvenation, and fresh air. The Smalls took advantage of this growing tourism trend by adding a two-story wing to the farmhouse and using it for many years as a hotel. Guests were met at the train station and shuttled by wagon to the Highlands. Family members served as unofficial guides of the property for interested tourists. In the late 1880s, several cottages were built to capture the growing tourist market. The Highland Golf Links was constructed during this time, and several other amenities were added, including a pool room, skating rink, indoor bowling alley, and informal ball field. In the early 1900s the Smalls embarked on their greatest venture—construction of a large new hotel, the Highland House. Upon completion of the new accommodations, the resort could hold just over 100 guests at one time. They held the property until the 1940s. The property changed hands a few times, maintaining its status as a resort area. It was sold to the National Park Service in 1964. Today the Highland House is maintained and operated as a museum by the Truro Historical Society and is open to the public during the summer months. In 2021 the historical society completed a $1 million dollar rehabilitation of the Highland House. Highland House Museum (trurohistoricalsociety.org)

The traditional golf links is the earliest type of golf course. The term “links” was originally derived from the course’s location, the natural terrain of the Scottish linksland. A linksland commonly refers to a native sandy, hilly landform located next to the sea. Early links courses relied solely on the natural environment for their form and difficulty of play. Natural landforms determined the layout, design, and course routing. There were no manicured tees, fairways, or greens. Changing winds and extreme weather conditions contributed to the challenge of the game. Courses had little or no maintenance, and grazing sheep or other livestock kept the minimal turf in check. Golf began to increase in popularity in America in the mid-1800s. Between 1896 and 1900, over 900 courses were constructed. The original design of the 1898 Highland Golf Links recalled the ancestral courses of the Scottish Highlands. Rolling landforms, views to the ocean, and naturally occurring hazards influenced the siting of holes. The use of native materials, namely sand and gravel, and the planting of native vegetation also indicate the links influence. The Highland Links is an important surviving example of early links style golf course design in this country. The Highland Golf Links is maintained and operated by Johnson Golf Management, Inc. and is open to the public. | Truro, Massachusetts (highlandlinkscapecod.com)

Highland Light Station, also known as Cape Cod Light, was commissioned by George Washington, and established in 1797 as the 20th light station in the United States. The original 45-foot-tall wooden tower and keeper's dwelling were built more than 500 feet from the edge of a 125-foot-tall clay cliff. A new brick lighthouse was erected near the original tower in 1831. The present 66-foot-tall brick light tower, keeper's house, and generator shed replaced the previous structures in 1857. An enclosed walkway connects the tower and the one-and-one-half-story, L-shaped, Queen-Anne-style keeper's dwelling. Erosion of the steep cliff throughout the years brought the present light station around 100 feet from the cliff's edge by the early 1990s. Using funds raised by the Truro Historical Society combined with state and Federal grants, Highland Light Station was successfully moved 450 feet back to safer ground. After the 18-day move, the light was relit on November 3, 1996, and is an active aid to navigation. While the tower is owned by the National Park Service, the optics are maintained by the US Coast Guard. In 2021 the National Park Service completed a $2 m rehabilitation of the tower. Eastern National provides tours of the tower and a retail store in the former keeper’s house [link to HOME | highlandlighthouse ] The Truro Highlands Historic District showcases the power of partnerships between the National Park Service and preservation and education partners to maintain historic properties and share their stories with the public.

The Nauset Archaeological District, within the southern portion of Cape Cod National Seashore was one focus of substantial ancient settlement since at least 4,000 BC. Indians at Nauset Harbor practiced farming and fishing. Farming was simple, using stone hoes and fire-hardened wood tools to work the soil, but rewarding. French explorers and the early English settlers report crop surpluses. In fact, the early Pilgrim settlers purchased corn and other crop foods from the Nauset Indians during the early years of their settlement at Plymouth, just across Cape Cod Bay. One of the means of fishing can be seen in the upper right corner of the map of Nauset by Champlain (Figure 1), which shows a conical weir constructed of saplings and grass rope, designed to capture fish swimming from the marsh into a pond. Radiocarbon dating and information indicating the season in which different species were collected or hunted, based on studies of the shellfish and other faunal remains from ancient shell middens, indicate that people lived here year-round.

The first written account of the area was by Samuel de Champlain, who sailed in on July 21, 1605, and saw a bay with wigwams bordering it all around. He went ashore with some of the crew: “before reaching [the Indians’] wigwams, [we] entered a field planted with Indian corn…[which] was in flower, and some five and a half feet in height. ... We saw Brazilian beans, many edible squashes…tobacco, and roots which they cultivate … .” He also described the round wigwams, covered by a thatch made of reeds, and the people’s clothing, woven from grasses, hemp, and animal skins. As the expedition cartographer, Champlain has left us an informative map of the Nauset Harbor area (Figure 1). Unfortunately, the visit to Nauset ended after four days with a fight between the French and the Indians in which one Frenchman was killed.

When he returned the next year, Champlain recorded in his journal that about 150 people were living around Nauset Harbor and about 500-600 were living around Stage Harbor to the south in the area of present day Chatham. After 1620, English colonists from the settlement at Plymouth visited Nauset many times to buy food and trade. Unfortunately, along with the trade goods, European diseases for which the Indians had no immunity were spread by these contacts. Many of the Nauset Indians died and the population declined drastically. In 1639 about half the English from Plymouth relocated to the Nauset area, settling the town that is now Eastham.

The area can be visited via the Fort Hill area, off Route 6, Eastham, where the Fort Hill and Red Maple Swamp trails wind from the top of the hill to the marsh and beyond. Visitors can view interpretive displays of the area at the Salt Pond Visitor Center at the corner of Route 6 and Nauset Road, Eastham. Additional trails from the visitor center to Coast Guard Beach pass by other ancient archaeological sites. The sites around Nauset Marsh, like most archaeological sites in the eastern part of the country, are hidden from view by soil and vegetation. This protects the sites, but it also makes it difficult for visitors to envision ancient settlements. At Nauset, the Champlain map (Figure 1) suggests how houses and cultivated fields must have filled the margins of land around the marsh in pre-European times. The view from the top of Fort Hill overlooking the modern marsh takes in all of Nauset Harbor, with its steep shorelines and extensive marsh divided by natural channels. Beyond the harbor are the breakers of the Atlantic Ocean. Nauset Beach, a barrier beach with a narrow entrance, protects the tidal lagoon.

Historic period archaeological sites, mainly small farmsteads widely spaced and linearly arranged along small, east-west running valleys, exist throughout the outer Cape. The initial European settlement of the outer Cape occurred about 1644 when colonists from Plymouth relocated in Eastham. Historical research tells us that fishing, whaling, trading, and farming all were important for these new inhabitants of the outer Cape. One unique site that can be visited is the Wellfleet Tavern site (also known as Samuel Smith Tavern Site and Great Island Tavern site) on Great Island, part of the headland that now forms an outer boundary of Wellfleet Harbor. The site was excavated in 1969 and 1970 by archeologists Erik Ekholm and James Deetz. Analysis of the artifacts collected by Ekholm and Deetz indicate activity at the site between 1690 and 1740. The artifact types found at the site relate to its designation as a tavern, including high percentages of drinking vessels, pipe stems, and other kinds of glassware.

The park's Great Island Trail passes by the Wellfleet Tavern site. Interpretive displays describing and illustrating ancient and historic inhabitants and ways of life on Cape Cod can be found at the National Park Service Salt Pond Visitor Center, at the corner of Route 6 and Nauset Road, Eastham.

Another concentration of ancient sites is located at High Head in Truro. There are many archaeological sites in this area, however, most of them lack the dense deposits of trash that archeologists associate with permanent settlements. Ancient inhabitants were using the High Head area regularly from at least 5,000 years ago, but the activities seem to have been relatively short-term, perhaps specialized hunting or gathering of material or food that grew naturally in the area. Camps probably were set up to carry out these specialized activities and briefly occupied for short periods of a few days or weeks. The ancient archaeological sites in this area are relatively small and covered by soil and vegetation. Archaeological deposits consist mainly of discarded stone tools, stone fragments broken off when tools were resharpened or maintained in other ways, and stone used for heating in cooking or campfires. The area can be visited via the Small's Swamp and Pilgrim Spring trails beginning at the Pilgrim Spring parking area, off Route 6, North Truro.

Another concentration of ancient activity and settlement was the area around Wellfleet Harbor on the bay side of the Cape. One of the most interesting sites in this area is the Indian Neck Ossuary, a burial dating to about AD 1100. “Ossuary” refers to a secondary burial that contains the remains of multiple individuals. The burials are referred to as “secondary” because the remains gathered together in an ossuary typically have been buried or exposed elsewhere first. During the original temporary burials the flesh and soft parts of the bodies have decomposed, so by the time the individual remains are collected for the ossuary, only the bones remain. In North America, the ossuary form of burial is well known from the periods just before European colonization in the Chesapeake region and northwestern New York and adjacent Ontario. The Indian Neck ossuary is the best known and most completely reported in New England.

The site was discovered accidentally in 1979 when a backhoe digging a trench for a home improvement project on private land uncovered human bones. After ascertaining that the human remains were not related to a homicide or other recent event, archeologists from the National Park Service conducted an archaeological salvage excavation to recover the remains and information about them before they were destroyed by the modern development. The ossuary burial is quite concentrated with all the human bone packed together tightly and covering a roughly oval area, with maximum dimensions of approximately 1.5 meters by 3 meters. The portion of the site that was excavated consisted of the half of the ossuary that was not destroyed by the backhoe digging, and contained the remains of at least 56 individuals. Most age groups and both sexes were represented in proportion to their expected occurrence in a typical human population, except for an absence of very young infants. Judging from the condition of the bone, the community represented by this burial population was relatively healthy. There was little evidence of any dental decay, infectious disease, or malnutrition. The absence of tooth decay suggests that the diet did not at this time include substantial amounts of ground maize, so intensive horticulture probably was not practiced at this time in the area. The ossuary suggests a centralized and communal burial practices which in turn indicates a sedentary settlement pattern. This site, plus other evidence from sites in the Nauset area support the existence of settled village life by inhabitants of Cape Cod by at least 1000 years ago.

In November 1990, the Archeology Branch of the Cultural Resources Center (CRC), National Park Service (NPS) was contacted to assess an eroding feature at Coast Guard Beach within the Cape Cod National Seashore. The feature was determined to be undisturbed and of Native origin. Additional exploratory excavation was recommended and revealed a deeply buried ground surface and the likelihood of additional significant deposits. Over the next 16 months, 5 episodes of fieldwork were conducted on portions of the Carns site exposing more than 300 square meters of site area.

Two factors were responsible for converting an exploratory investigation into a full-scale data recovery. First was the active, ongoing threat to the site from erosion. During the course of the project, several severe storms did scour the area, removing a significant percentage of the site. The second factor was a belief that the Carns site contained cultural components of great antiquity. This premise was based on the recovery of artifact forms similar to those from the Early and Middle Archaic periods. Broader consultation early in the process, especially with the Massachusetts SHPO and professional colleagues outside the NPS, would have provided other interpretations. Preliminary analysis of the excavation data confirms that the Carns site did contain significant archeological resources and that these features and artifacts date primarily from the end of the Early Woodland Period through the Middle Woodland Period, or approximately 2,100 to 1,100 years ago. This period is poorly understood and the Carns site represents an important contribution to our knowledge of Cape Cod’s history. No evidence of earlier occupations was found.

An additional consequence of the greatly expanded fieldwork was the creation of a very large laboratory component. To date, all the artifacts from the site have been catalogued and most have received at least a preliminary level of analysis. However, after ten years, more than 200 boxes of feature fill and soil samples have yet to be processed. Much of the processed material remains to be analyzed. Based on the results obtained from the limited analysis done to date, significant information most likely remains buried away in these samples.

The Carns site has several lessons to teach, given the project’s extent and high level of public visibility. This report summarizes what has been learned so far through excavation and initial analysis. Recommendations are also made for the ongoing issues of collections management and site management as well as public education and interpretation.

Excerpt from Management Summary, Archeological Investigations at the Carns Site report James W. Bradley

JAMES W. BRADLEY, Ph.D., is the founder and president of ArchLink, an independent, individually owned business Linking Archeology with Education and Preservation. He received his Ph.D. from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University in 1979. Dr. Bradley served on the staff of the Massachusetts Historical Commission from 1979 to 1990 and was director of the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archeology in Andover, MA from 1990 to 2001. Occasional Publications in Field Archeology Number 3 James W. Bradley Northeast Region Archeology Program, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 2005

Archeolgical Investigations at the Carns Site, Coast Guard Beach, Cape Cod National Seashore, Massachusetts

The Outer Cape Artists in Residence Consortium (OCARC) was founded in 1995 in response to a request by the Cape Cod National Seashore (CCNS) to establish a residency program in one of its historic dune shacks at the edge of the Atlantic “back shore” in Provincetown. It offers the artist the creative stimulation that isolation and solitude provide. In the summer of 1995, OCARC was awarded the Margo-Gelb shack by the Seashore, with the first residencies being held in 1996.

OCARC is made up of four non-profit organizations - three arts organizations [the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown (FAWC), Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM), Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill (Castle Hill)] and a dune shack advocacy group, Peaked Hill Trust (PHT). PHT oversees the maintenance of the Margo-Gelb shack as well as provides the transportation to/from the shack on Saturdays.

Six residencies are awarded each year during the season of mid-May – mid-October. Writers and Artists (painters, sculptors, photographers, printmakers, musicians) may apply for a two-week residency. Any practicing artist may apply; however priority consideration will be given to applicants who are a Former Fellow or member of FAWC, a member of PAAM, or a member of Castle Hill. Those who have never participated in the program will have priority over those who have already had this opportunity.

Those who are awarded residencies will receive a two-week stay in the dunes. The dates and shack fees are updated annually.

Applications are due by February 15 and are reviewed by a jury with representatives from all non-profit partners. The residencies will be awarded by March 15. User fees are due in full by April 30. Fees range seasonally from $200 - $375 per week depending on the month. Scholarships: For residents who have financial hardship, one, two-week residency will be awarded in full as an OCARC scholarship. If applicable, please indicate on your residency application. Presentation of Work (time TBD): As an element of OCARC’s agreement with the National Park Service, participants are requested to develop a means of sharing their dune shack experience with a broader audience, such as through an exhibition, reading, publication, workshop, demonstration, or exhibit. Participants should discuss their ideas for programs and venues with OCARC.

The Margo-Gelb shack, which was once owned by painter Boris Margo and his wife, printmaker Jan Gelb, sits on a high dune overlooking the ocean. It has views in all directions. The one room shack is about 14 feet by 12 feet in size, with an environmentally friendly, composting outhouse nearby. The shack has one full bed with a folding cot, a work-dining table, sink, gas burners, a solar refrigerator and solar panels for charging devices, as well as cooking/eating utensils.There is no wood stove or other source of heat. A hand pump for water is located about 100 feet from the shack (NOTE: this is good drinking water and is tested every year.) There is a clothesline near the shack for hanging wash.

Mattresses, pillows and blankets are provided. Residents must supply towels, sheets, sleeping bags (if desired), and whatever food, art supplies and clothing they need. The National Park Service doesn't allow pets, ever. PHT maintains the shack and provides transportation in and out of the dunes at the beginning and end of the stay. The town of Provincetown is within walking distance, about two miles away. Because of severe erosion along the shore, the path down to the beach is somewhat longer and less direct than previously. Signs directing foot traffic are posted.

The applicants need not be a Fellow or member of FAWC or a member of PAAM or Castle Hill, but those who fit one of these categories will be given priority, all things being equal. Also given priority are those who have never before received this residency.

The applicant must be a practicing writer or artist who demonstrates through their resume and letter why they wish to receive this residency and how the experience will be beneficial to them and the overall program by means of the public presentation. The applicant should give an outline of that program, but may change the outline with approval of OCARC and the Seashore before the event, as long as time is allowed for proper advertising. The application may also include three references and any other material, such as reviews, that the applicant feels will help in the selection process. OCARC does not discriminate regarding age, religion, race, disability, etc., but a disabled person must demonstrate that he/she/they can negotiate a steep sand hill to the shack and any other obstacles related to primitive, isolated, living. An applicant with physical disabilities should specify needs in the application, due to the isolation and terrain of the location. The shack is available from mid-May to mid-October. Please indicate in your application the first and second choices for residency dates, two weeks, starting with a Saturday date. Applications will be processed by a committee. A resident may have a guest or guests visiting the shack, but only one at a time. The prime intent of this experience is considered to be its isolation and how solitude may affect and enhance the creative process.

Equal Opportunity: The Peaked Hill Trust do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, reproductive health decisions, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or age.

Residencies in PHT’s Arts and Sciences Program consist of one to two week stays in the dune shacks of Cape Cod National Seashore. In addition to supporting projects in the visual arts, the residency program is designed to encourage a broad sweep of creative projects in the arts and sciences.

Architecture; Healing arts; Environmental (engineering); Environmental (naturalist, nature writing); Junior naturalist; Acting/playwriting; Dance; Music; Journalism; Science (marine, terrestrial); Cultural/historic (history, literature, fiction, poetry, visual arts)

In addition to examples of your work and a resume, the application requires a written description of your project and how working in the dunes will enhance your project and its value to PHT’s program. Applications are reviewed by a jury for their relevancy to shack life, diversity of disciplines, and impact on the local community. All awardees will display their work in a group show (date tbd). If you are selected, you are agreeing to send work either made during the residency or inspired by it for inclusion in the exhibition (and arranging and paying for its transport and delivery back to you). It is therefore very important that you clearly explain how your work will be presented/displayed. Applications are due by February 15 and are reviewed by a jury. The residencies will be awarded by March 15. User fees are due in full by April 30 . Fees range seasonally from $250 - $425 per week depending on the month. Please note: applicants who have never participated in this program will have priority over past Arts and Sciences residents. Prior residents are encouraged to become members of Peaked Hill Trust and to enter the yearly community lottery for a shack. For information about residencies, visit our website.

In your plans and preparations, remember that you will be bringing all your project supplies, belongings, food, in and out of the shack, on your own. A volunteer caretaker will escort you in the PHT truck and transport your gear. Their primary job as shack caretaker is to introduce you to what you need to know to live lightly in the dunes. Note that there is no public transportation in and out of the dunes. You will get much more detailed information prior to going out to the shack, including what to bring, and what not to bring (the shacks are rather well equipped with kitchen supplies, blankets, etc). By accepting an offered week, you are agreeing to be responsible for the shack for that period of time. That means that when you, leave, the shack needs to be left in as good or better shape than when you got there.

Shacks, Schedules, and User Fees are updated annually on the website. For residents who have financial hardship, one two-week residency scholarship at the Ray Wells shack will be awarded in full. If applicable, please indicate on your residency application. Application Link Equal Opportunity: The Peaked Hill Trust does not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, reproductive health decisions, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or age.

Birds are perhaps the most conspicuous and easily observed of the Cape Cod National Seashore’s wildlife. The fascinating diversity, behaviors, and life cycles of birds have inspired awe for generations and often put birds at the forefront of conservation efforts. Although some birds are nocturnal, secretive, or well camouflaged, many species are active and out in the open during daylight hours, visible to even the most casual observer. The seashore’s 46,000 acres of fresh water, marine, and uplands provide a wide range of critical habitat for the roughly 370 species of birds that occur here. About 80 of these birds nest and raise their young during the spring and summer months. The remaining, non-breeding birds use the seashore during migration and to overwinter.

With implemented habitat protections, future generations of shorebirds can continue to utilize Cape Cod National Seashore as a place for breeding and staging. NPS Photos/Joey Negreann

Source: NPS DataStore Collection 9710 . To search for additional information, visit the NPS DataStore .

Shorebird protection in the seashore uses four primary activities: research and monitoring, fencing and signage, pet restrictions and non-lethal and lethal predator management.

Staff conduct regular monitoring efforts to measure the population sizes, reproductive behaviors, and habitat use during the breeding season every year.

On most beaches the park uses symbolic fencing (string attached to wooden stakes along the beach), nest exclosures, and beach usage restrictions to protect birds and their nests from people who walk, drive, explore, or bring their pets to the beaches.

Finally, the park has the option to use non-lethal methods (e.g., electrified perimeter around nest exclosures) and lethal methods (hunting, poisoning) to reduce predation. The park has not implemented lethal predator control measures yet.

A species of particular management concern is the piping plover. The piping plover is small, sandy-colored shorebird that was once abundant on Cape Cod beaches and throughout their range. The adults, eggs and chicks blend into the pale background of open, sandy habitat on outer beaches where they feed and nest. By the 1940’s, habitat loss and an increase in recreational use on beaches cause the population to decline dramatically. Because of this, it was listed as a protected species under the Endangered Species Act in 1986. Although the population has increased since its listing, presently there are less than 2000 pairs along the Atlantic Coast and it is designated as threatened, which means that the population would be likely to decline if not protected. In 2022, Cape Cod National Seashore supported 116 breeding pairs which was an increase from 2021 (113 pairs) and the most breeding pairs observed in the park in over two decades. The percentage of eggs that successfully hatched and fledged in 2022 exceeded the recovery threshold of 1.5 chicks per nest and an increase from 2021 when 1.28 chicks fledged per nest. While we have seen local success here on Cape Cod and elsewhere in New England the productivity numbers are not consistent across the Atlantic Coast breeding range where productivity often falls short of the target goal.

Cape Cod National Seashore's landscapes invite exploration and discovery! The seashore hosts a diverse array of terrestrial (land), wetland, aquatic, and marine plants that are uniquely adapted to life in the coastal environment. More than 800 species comprise the vascular flora of the seashore, which are associated with a number of landscape features. For example, heathlands, grasslands, dunes, woodlands, forests, vernal pools, kettle ponds, salt marshes, freshwater marshes, intertidal zones, and seagrass beds are among the different community-types that can be distinguished by their own special kinds of plant life.

Past human activities on Cape Cod have played a major role in shaping the seashore's vegetation. Land-clearing practices by early European settlers gave rise to the seashore's extensive heathlands - a habitat that has since become globally rare. Other plant communities within the seashore are being negatively impacted as a result of human pressures on the environment. Seashore scientists and researchers are studying plant communities to understand impacts that pose serious risks to plant diversity and ecological function. These include sea-level rise and other climate change impacts, acid deposition, ozone, groundwater withdrawal, nutrient enrichment, and encroachment by non-native invasive species. Monitoring plant communities to determine how they are changing in time and space will help inform decision-making and development of strategies to help protect these resources.

Over 450 species of amphibians, reptiles, fish, birds, and mammals, and a myriad of invertebrate animals, depend on the diversity of upland, wetland, and coastal ecosystems found at Cape Cod National Seashore. Depending on the species, the park may provide habitat year round, or only during nesting season, migration, or the winter time. Park wildlife includes marine mammals and turtles; the familiar gulls, terns, and waterbirds of beaches and salt marshes; and a great variety of animals that inhabit the park's woodlands, heathlands, grasslands, swamps, marshes, and vernal ponds. Twenty five federally-protected species occur in the park, most prominently the threatened piping plover. The Seashore is a significant site for this species with roughly 5% of the entire Atlantic coast population nesting here. Cape Cod National Seashore also supports 32 species that are rare or endangered in the state of Massachusetts. Some of these, such as the common tern, are conspicuous; far less noticeable is the elusive spadefoot toad which spends most its life buried in the sand, emerging only on warm nights with torrential rainfall.

From the air, outer Cape Cod appears to be a flooded landscape – a narrow arm of glacial outwash and moraine thrust 60 miles into the North Atlantic Ocean; fringed by thousands of acres of tidal marshes; peppered with over 30 freshwater ponds. Hydrologists call it "the sand pile in the ocean" because this image best describes the Cape’s permeable soils infiltrated by seawater from both Cape Cod Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.

Atop this saline groundwater floats a thin lens of freshwater sustained solely by precipitation that falls on the land surface. Fresh surface water resources, kettle ponds, dune ponds, vernal pools and the low-salinity upper reaches of estuaries, depend on fresh ground water.

For the past 18,000 years of the Cape’s post-glacial existence, the sea has dominated the local environment. Strong winds and salt spray stress even the hardy pitch pines and bear oaks, with a clear gradient of decreasing plant height and vigor as one approaches the Atlantic bluffs. The proximity and influence of the ocean is even evident in the ionic composition of the Park’s kettle ponds, essentially containing very dilute seawater.

The dominant vegetation of outer Cape Cod’s forests, mostly pitch pine and black oak, has changed little over the past 9000 years, with the very important exception of almost total deforestation by European settlers from 1650 to 1900. Surviving artifacts of the extensive deforestation include globally rare heathland plant communities. These original pine-oak forests burned frequently, creating a mosaic of open and wooded habitats. Over the past 100 years much of the upland forest has grown back, especially on National Seashore lands which are protected from housing development. However, with fire suppression, the seashore's current forests are much less diverse than the prehistoric forests. Besides early deforestation, more modern human activities have altered the environment in various ways: suppressing natural fires, restricting tidal flow into coastal salt marshes, potentially loading surface waters with polluting nutrients and, from more distant pollutant sources, even changing the chemistry of precipitation. However, water quality to date remains high in freshwater ponds, estuaries and seashore beaches. Seashore staff monitor park terrestrial and water resources intensively in an effort to understand change and avoid or mitigate human-caused damage. The Park is also active in the restoration of human-disturbed habitats.

Monitoring allows us to understand the health of the ecosystems within Cape Cod National Seashore and track any changes to make informed decisions that protect and preserve our natural and cultural resources as well as park infrastructure and surrounding communities.

As part of the National Park Service's effort to, "improve park management through greater reliance on scientific knowledge," the Cape Cod Ecosystem Monitoring (CCEM) program was established to develop and implement a long-term monitoring program that will serve to aid park managers in making sound stewardship decisions. The CCEM program utilizes a long-term approach to data collection and analysis to deepen the understanding of the ecosystems within the park. Towards this end, the CCEM program has adopted an ecosystem-based, issue-oriented approach for monitoring ecosystem integrity, and worked in close partnership with USGS-Biological Resources Division to develop a scientifically sound monitoring program. It is also one of the goals of the program to design and implement resource-specific monitoring protocols not only for Cape Cod National Seashore (CACO) but for other National Park Service lands sharing similar resources and ecological communities. Protocols are designed to be park-specific but adaptable to other parks along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. You can learn more about this unique relationship by visiting the Northeast Coastal and Barrier Network website .