Disappointment (or the Columbia River) to Cape Flattery (at the Strait
of Juan de Fuca) is nearly north and south, and can be travelled almost
its entire length on a beautiful sand-beach,” with the exception of two
bays, four or five rivers, and a few points jutting into the sea. The
common shell-fish found there seem to be often of corresponding types,
if not identical species, with those of Cape Cod. The beach which I
have described, however, is not hard enough for carriages, but must be
explored on foot. When one carriage has passed along, a following one
sinks deeper still in its rut. It has at present no name any more than
fame. That portion south of Nauset Harbor is commonly called Chatham
Beach. The part in Eastham is called Nauset Beach, and off Wellfleet
and Truro the Back-side, or sometimes, perhaps, Cape Cod Beach. I think
that part which extends without interruption from Nauset Harbor to Race
Point should be called Cape Cod Beach, and do so speak of it.
One of the most attractive points for visitors is in the northeast part
of Wellfleet, where accommodations (I mean for men and women of
tolerable health and habits) could probably be had within half a mile
of the sea-shore. It best combines the country and the seaside. Though
the Ocean is out of sight, its faintest murmur is audible, and you have
only to climb a hill to find yourself on its brink. It is but a step
from the glassy surface of the Herring Ponds to the big Atlantic Pond
where the waves never cease to break. Or perhaps the Highland Light in
Truro may compete with this locality, for there, there is a more
uninterrupted view of the Ocean and the Bay, and in the summer there is
always some air stirring on the edge of the bank there, so that the
inhabitants know not what hot weather is. As for the view, the keeper
of the light, with one or more of his family, walks out to the edge of
the bank after every meal to look off, just as if they had not lived
there all their days. In short, it will wear well. And what picture
will you substitute for that, upon your walls? But ladies cannot get
down the bank there at present without the aid of a block and tackle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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