Days 19 & 20

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Happy First Day of Fall from Chatham, Cape Cod, Massachusetts,

We woke to a howling, cold North Wind: a gift from Hurricane Igor. So, it was a perfect day for returning to Plymouth and a visit to Pilgrim Hall. I appreciated the effort that Pilgrim Hall has put into correcting the stereotypes started by Longfellow and perpetuated through the Colonialist Revival era of a white-washed history palpable to the white middle class of the 1950's. Pilgrim Hall is the oldest standing museum in the US and houses the few remaining personal belongings that the Separatists brought with them to what they hoped would be Virginia. They didn't quite make it south and settled on Plymouth as they became ship-weary, illness spread, and under the urging of the captain of the Mayflower. Captain Christopher Jones is, in my opinion, one of the heroes of American History: had he dumped the Pilgrims off and headed home, Plymouth would probably have perished. Instead, despite the clamor of his crew, he remained with his passengers until late winter.

We spent the rest of the afternoon following "The Path of the Pilgrims" and seeing the actual sites of the first steet, the first and second churches, Burial Hill, so many that I can't remember them all--luckily I bought a guide book. We returned to Yarmouth again on History Overload ready to make the move to Chatham, where we are now. John can now breathe and we feel comfortable sitting on the furniture--we even have an indoor table. This is important because it has been quite chilly here. We ended Monday by searching out the famous Chatham Fish Pier and to us, now, the famous Chatham Fish Pier Market where John went into spasms of joy buying a fresh Big Eye Tuna steak. Need I say it was another fabulous dinner Chez John?


Day 20: Chatham, The Monomoy Wildlife Refuge, and Sandwich, Massachusetts

Today, Tuesday, we started off a bit lazy. It is so nice to make your own coffee and peanut butter and bananas on toast breakfast--really. Searching beach, sun, and sand, we went out to the Monomoy Wildlife Refuge. It is still surprising to me when I see forest colliding with salt marsh, sand, and ocean and this is a perfect example. The forest rolls right down to the beach. We left the forest and walked for a mile or two along the dunes and salt marshes in an almost perfectly silent strip of sand and ocean which serves as a refuge for a number of endangered birds. A really lovely morning.

Having worked up an appetite, we returned to Chatham--I am going to miss seafood lunches--and then headed back to the Chatham Fish Pier to forage for dinner: halibut this evening. I love the slogan of the fish market there; " If you find fish any fresher, it's swimming." With a bit of time left of our afternoon, we headed to East Sandwich for the Wing Family 1641 Old Fort House. The house has stayed in the possession of the Wing Family since it was built; the last Wing to live there was Cora who refused to modernize the house with electricity: she lived with kerosene lanterns and wood and coal heat until 1942 when she sold it to the family to restore it back to its almost original condition. Our tour guide was the self-proclaimed "caretaker" but actually an archaeologist who has been working on the house and grounds for 23 years. He was the best tour guide ever!! He assumed we were intelligent and had a basic understanding of American History and took off from there. What a delight and a great way to end our time in Massachusetts. Tomorrow we head off for Connecticut and a bird watching river tour.

Good Night to you all.

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