Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer months. The name Cape Cod, coined in 1602 by Bartholomew Gosnold, is the ninth oldest English place-name in the U.S.
The Cape Cod National Seashore (CCNS) encompasses 43,607 acres on Cape Cod, in Massachusetts. CCNS was created on August 7, 1961, by President John F. Kennedy, when he signed a bill enacting the legislation he first co-sponsored as a Senator a few years prior. It includes ponds, woods and beachfront of the Atlantic coastal pine barrens ecoregion. The CCNS includes nearly 40 miles (64 km) of seashore along the Atlantic-facing eastern shore of Cape Cod, in the towns of Provincetown, Truro, Wellfleet, Eastham, Orleans and Chatham. It is administered by the National Park Service.
Wellfleet is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, and is located halfway between the "tip" and "elbow" of Cape Cod. The town had a population of 3,566 at the 2020 census, which swells nearly sixfold during the summer. A total of 70% of the town's land area is under protection, and nearly half of it is part of the Cape Cod National Seashore. Wellfleet is famous for its oysters, which are celebrated in the annual October Wellfleet OysterFest.
Eastham is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, Barnstable County being coextensive with Cape Cod. The population was 5,752 at the 2020 census.
Brewster is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, Barnstable County being coextensive with Cape Cod. The population of Brewster was 10,318 at the 2020 census.
Nauset Light, officially Nauset Beach Light, is a restored lighthouse on the Cape Cod National Seashore near Eastham, Massachusetts, erected in 1923 using the 1877 tower that was moved here from the Chatham Light. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The tower is a cast-iron plate shell lined with brick and stands 48 feet (15 m) high. The adjacent oil house is made of brick and has also been restored. Fully automated, the beacon is a private aid to navigation. Tours of the tower and oil house are available in summer from the Nauset Light Preservation Society which operates, maintains and interprets the site. The tower is located adjacent to Nauset Light Beach.
The Cape Cod Rail Trail (CCRT) is a 25.5-mile (41.0 km) paved rail trail located on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. The trail route passes through the towns of Yarmouth, Dennis, Harwich, Brewster, Orleans, Eastham, and Wellfleet. It connects to the 6-plus mile (10 km) Old Colony Rail Trail leading to Chatham, the 2 mile Yarmouth multi-use trail, and 8 miles (13 km) of trails within Nickerson State Park. Short side trips on roads lead to national seashore beaches including Coast Guard Beach at the end of the Nauset Bike Trail in Cape Cod National Seashore. The trail is part of the Claire Saltonstall Bikeway.
The Ahearn House and Summer House are a pair of houses at 450 Pamet Point Road in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. The smaller "summer house" is an early 19th-century cottage, while the main house is a subsequent construction; both are important examples of period architecture in the community. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
The Atwood–Higgins Historic District encompasses a historic property with deep colonial roots in Cape Cod National Seashore. Located on Bound Brook Island on the west side of Wellfleet, Massachusetts, the centerpiece of the district is the Thomas Atwood House, built c. 1730. The property is emblematic of Cape Cod's colonial origins and its later transformation into a summer resort area. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976; the district was listed in 2010. The property is open for guided tours by the National Park Service on a seasonal basis.
Barnstable's Old Gaol is a historic colonial jail in Barnstable, Massachusetts. Built c.1690, it is the oldest wooden jail in the United States of America.
The Marconi Wireless Station Site in South Wellfleet, Massachusetts, USA is the site of the first transatlantic wireless communication between the United States of America and Europe, on January 18, 1903. At this location, now part of the Cape Cod National Seashore, inventor Guglielmo Marconi erected a large antenna array on four 210-foot (64 m) wooden towers, and established a transmitting station powered by kerosene engines that produced the 25,000 volts of electricity needed to send signals to a similar station in Poldhu, Cornwall, United Kingdom. The first transmission received on the continent of North America by Marconi was at Signal Hill, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador in 1901; Glace Bay, Nova Scotia was the site of the first such two-way transmission, in 1902.
The Samuel Smith Tavern Site is a historic archeological site in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, United States. It encompasses the remains of a late 17th-century tavern operated by Samuel Smith, owner of Great Island, which shelters Wellfleet Harbor. The tavern site is located within the Cape Cod National Seashore, and is accessible via the Great Island Trail. The site was excavated in 1969–70, recovering thousands of artifacts, including clay pipes, drinking artifacts, a harpoon, and a chopping block fashioned from whale vertebrae.
The Cape Cod Modern House Trust is a non-profit historic preservation organization working to preserve and interpret Modern period houses built on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. The organization describes its mission to ''promote the documentation and preservation of significant examples of Modernist architecture on the Outer Cape."
Newcomb House may refer to:
The Ruth and Robert Hatch Jr. House is a historic house at 309 Bound Brook Way in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. It is one of a modest number of surviving houses in Wellfleet that combine elements of Modern architecture with traditional Cape Cod architecture. This single story wood-frame house was built in 1961 on Bound Brook Island to a design by local architect Jack Hall. Extremely rustic in appearance, its exterior is sheathed in vertical boards and its windows have working shutters but no glass, resulting in a sharply vertical appearance. The structure consists of three rectangular sections of different sizes that are based on modular 7' by 7' squares; the main public living space is 35' by 49', the master bedroom is 7' by 21', and the guest bedrooms are in a block that is 7' by 14'. The house, which is within the bounds of the Cape Cod National Seashore, was sold by the Hatches to the National Park Service, but they retain occupancy rights.
The Samuel and Minette Kuhn House is a historic house in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. It is one of a modest number of surviving houses in Wellfleet that combine elements of Modern architecture with traditional Cape Cod architecture. The single-story wood-frame house was built in 1960 to a design by Nathaniel Saltonstall, founder of Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art. The Kuhns were exposed to Saltonstall's work when they stayed at The Colony, another property he designed that is located nearby on Griffins Island. The house incorporates Bauhaus design principles of simplicity and economy, and is based around the idea of square modules, which are repeated on small, medium and large scales, affecting the room shapes and sizes, windows, and interior furnishings and decorations. The house, which is within the bounds of the Cape Cod National Seashore, was sold by the Kuhns to the National Park Service in 1973, but they retained right of occupancy for 25 years. The Park Service began using the property for employee housing in 2003.
The Peter Kugel House, also known as the Kugel-Gips House, is a historic house at 188 Way 626, Wellfleet, Massachusetts, in Cape Cod National Seashore. It is one of a modest number of surviving houses in Wellfleet that combine elements of Modern architecture with traditional Cape Cod architecture. This house was built in 1970 to a design by architect Charlie Zehnder, who took his design inspiration for it from the Fallingwater estate designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
The Anthony and Allison Sirna Studio is a historic artist's studio at 60 Way #4 in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. It is one of a modest number of surviving buildings in Wellfleet that combine elements of Modern architecture with traditional Cape Cod architecture. The studio was built in 1960 to a design by Victor Civkin; it has a trapezoidal plan with nine large vertical window bays. The building is within the bounds of the Cape Cod National Seashore, and is owned by the National Park Service.
The Paul and Madeleine Weidlinger House, also known simply as the Weidlinger House, is a historic house at 54 Valley Road in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. It is one of a modest number of surviving houses in Wellfleet that combine elements of Modern architecture with traditional Cape Cod architecture. The single story wood-frame house was built in 1954 by designer Paul Weidlinger for his family's use. It is located on a steep grade overlooking Higgins Pond, with one end projecting over the grade. A deck wraps around three sides of the house, and large glass doors give views of the surrounding landscape. The house, which is within the bounds of the Cape Cod National Seashore, was donated to the National Park Service in 1973 by Madeleine Weidlinger. The house is the subject of a 2012 lease agreement between the Park Service and the Cape Cod Modern House Trust.
The Vera and Laszlo Tisza House is a historic house at 2 Deer Trail in the remote northeastern part of Wellfleet, Massachusetts, within the Cape Cod National Seashore. It is one of a number of surviving houses in Wellfleet that combine elements of Modern architecture with traditional Cape Cod architecture. The house was designed by Olav Hammarstrom, a protégé of Eero Saarinen, for Vera and László Tisza. The house is a T-shaped one-story structure with a central breezeway that provides views of the surrounding woodlands to much of the house. The main block, which is divided by the breezeway, measures 41 by 25 feet, with a 31 by 14 foot section added perpendicular to its north end. A flat roof, covered with rolled asphalt, extends for two feet beyond the edges of the house, and has exposed rafters that are visible both inside and outside the house. There is a recessed porch on the south side of the main block.
