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From: Bobbie Hall <>
Subject: [MABARNST] Cape Cod Pilot, Ch. 12, part 4
Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 19:46:42 -0500
References: <200112191104.fBJB48Q10270@lists2.rootsweb.com>


======================================================================
Cape Cod Pilot, by Jeremiah Diggs, American Guide Series, published by
Modern Pilgrim Press, Provincetown, MA, 1937. This was a work
underwritten by the Federal Writers Project, Works Project
Administration (WPA) for the State of Massachusetts.
======================================================================

Chapter XII - PROVINCETOWN II [part 4]

The Pilgrim Monument, Provincetown's outstanding landmark for
travelers by land, sea and air, is thoroughly American in its makeup.
Although the Pilgrims had never been to Italy, the design is Italian;
the plans were made by an army engineer of French and Swiss descent;
it was built by the Irish and is taken care of by the Portuguese; and
annually it is climbed by several thousand "Mayflower" descendants.

The tower stands 352 feet above the sea, being on a 100-foot hill.
Built to "commemorate the arrival of the Mayflower and the signing of
the Compact," it also serves as a landmark visible many miles at sea,
as a vantage point offering a splendid view of the Cape, and as a
floodlighted beacon for aircraft.

In addition, it serves to remind the nation that Plymouth was not the
first place where the Pilgrim Fathers came, all poetry and all
advertising based on such claim to the contrary notwithstanding. The
Pilgrims spent five weeks here before they went to Plymouth; and
wherever there is a fair opportunity, Provincetown has erected a
marker to make this clear.

The cornerstone of the Monument was laid in 1907, and it was completed
two years later, at a cost of $95,000, three-fourths of which was paid
by State and Federal governments. On the south side is the doorstone
of Governor Thomas PRENCE's home, brought from Eastham; and in the
walls many commemorative stones are set.

Manuel COOK, custodian of the Monument, tells of a well dressed
gentleman who once paid admission, sat down beside him and quietly
asked, "Would you mind very much if I jumped off from the top?" Manuel
looked the man in the eye, thought rapidly, then shook his head. "No,
mister - I wouldn't mind!" The man went aloft, stayed more than an
hour, and finally, to Manuel's great relief, came down again and went
his way.

There are two "Pilgrim Monuments" on the shores of the Atlantic. At
West Quay, Southampton, England, stands a fifty-foot stone tower,
surmounted by a cupola on which is set a copper model of the
"Mayflower." From that point the vessel sailed.

The steel framework standing on the hill, near the Monument, is one of
the storm-signal towers maintained by the United States Weather
Bureau. Flags by day and lanterns by night warn mariners of "weather
of marked violence." The flags are red squares with black centers. One
flag signifies a storm on the way, two a hurricane. If the storm is
from the east, a red pennant goes up with the flag - above it for
northeast, below for southeast; if the wind is from the west, a white
pennant goes up with the flag - above it for northwest, below for
southwest. At night, two red lights with a white light between mean a
hurricane; two red lights, a northeast wind; one red light, southeast;
one white light above one red, northwest; and red above white, southwest.

On the Cape, the pronunciation is always "no'theast" (not "nor'east");
"nor'west;" "southeast," and "sou'west." "North" is said "noathe,"
like "loathe." A wind blows from the "no'thard," the "s'uthard," from
the "east'ard" or from the "west'ard."

In the old cemetery on Winthrop Street the dates go back to 1723. A
tablet has been erected here to the memory of Governor William
BRADFORD's wife, Dorothy, who was drowned while the "Mayflower" was in
Provincetown Harbor, and to three others of the company who lost their
lives at that time.

Southwest of this lot, on "Meeting House Plain," stood the Old White
Oak meeting-house, which closed in 1830 when the only way to silence a
too-zealous minister was to bring the church down around his ears.

On January 12, 1789, the town elected "John CONANT keeper of the
meetinghouse, and to swepe it every four weeks and shet and open the
winder shetters all the year round for which serves he is to receave
two dolers."

It was here, too, that "Mr. LYMAN, teacher of writing," held his
classes in the vestry. When a new pupil came to him, the first thing
he had to do was to set down for the record:

"This is a specimen of my handwriting before taking lessons of Mr.
Lyman."

And upon graduation, the pupil was asked to put down:

"This is a specimen of my handwriting after taking lessons of Mr. Lyman."

Some of the double specimens Mr. LYMAN placed on exhibit. Others he
whisked into the fireplace.

Continuing westward now on Commercial ("Front Street") from Town Hall,
you reach the Historical Museum. On display here are a whaler's log, a
collection of Sandwich glass, a fine group of ancient dolls, a ship's
Bible that was pilfered from the "Somerset," a roomful of old
documents, another of dresses, and a floor of arctic exhibits lent by
Commander MacMILLAN.

In the museum's picture collection is a rare photograph taken in 1861
of the old lighthouse on Long Point, which guided mariners from 1826
until a later structure replaced it.

The Point is building out now. If you look across the harbor, you can
see how much has been added on. Soundings taken near the present tip,
however, show an abrupt falling-off of the shelf. I would hesitate
about going into any real estate speculation based on the chance of
that sandbar building out much farther.

At a traffic dummy in the west end of town, the Front Street bends
left. Straight ahead is Tremont Street, and where Tremont intersects
with Cottage Street is located the so-called "Norse Wall Cottage," on
Chip Hill.

In 1805 Chip Hill was graded down 25 feet and a salt works built
there. When the works was abandoned, about 1850, this house was built
on part of the site. Workmen, excavating for the cellar, struck a
stone wall. The wall was a mystery then, and remains so today; for
stones of the size that went into it are not to be found on the Lower
Cape.

The practice of the Norsemen of ballasting their vessels with stone is
cited by those who believe, or want to believe, that the wall is
really a Norse relic, and the depth to which it had been buried under
Chip Hill - about thirty feet - does suggest antiquity. The theory
that the Norsemen came to Cape Cod antedates the discovery
of Provincetown's "Norse Wall" by many years, but the find is now
offered as evidence to support it, and indeed is the only tangible
evidence the Cape has. On this speculation Thoreau says, "But as
Biarne, and Thorwald, and Thorfinn have not mentioned the latitude and
longitude distinctly enough, though we have great respect for them as
skillful and adventurous navigators, we must for the present remain in
doubt as to what capes they did see. We think they were considerably
further north." Thoreau began writing his book in 1855 - two years
after the wall at Provincetown had been unearthed.

The wall has never been scientifically examined by archaeologists, and
whether any of its stones bear inscriptions is not known. Harvard
representatives did approach the owner during the 1890's. They were
told that if they promised to put everything back shipshape, they
could go ahead and dig. For some reason which escapes the present
version of the story, they evidently couldn't promise that. And so,
the "Norse Wall" makes up in mystery what it may lack in authenticity.

In the winter of 1936-37, archaeologists of Dartmouth College let it
be known that they were planning an expedition to Hampton, New
Hampshire, "in search of the bones of Thorvald." In that place,
according to the announcement, "a large stone, with curious marking,
as yet uninterpreted, discovered in a windswept field close to the
ocean, is believed to be the grave of Thorvald. Crosses, chiseled into
the hard surface of the granite stone, could not have been made by
glacial ice." It was added that Norwegian and United States government
officials had interested themselves in the story, and if the legend
were borne out, "leaders in the town were planning to make the spot a
national shrine." With town leaders everywhere keenly aware of the
commercial possibilities, we may have within a few years an imposing
array of Thorvalds all down the Atlantic Coast, and the tourist may
take his choice.

[more to come]
transcribed by and all errors attributed to
Bobbie Hall








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