############################################# Nearby Attractions [Illustration: Mayflower _replica_, _Plymouth_ Awashonks _figurehead_, _New Bedford Whaling Museum_] =The historical, cultural, recreational, and scenic attractions of Cape Cod and the nearby area are so multitudinous they cannot be listed in this book. Here, by community, are a few sites related thematically to the National Seashore.= Bourne The 7-mile-long Cape Cod Canal links Massachusetts Bay with Buzzards Bay and saves mariners 100 miles of traveling around the Cape in hazardous waters. The Army Corps of Engineers manages the canal and the 3 bridges that cross it. The canal was first envisioned by Myles Standish in 1624, and 150 years later George Washington liked the idea so much he ordered a survey. But nothing happened for years. New York financier August Belmont took over the construction in 1909 after it had been worked on for nearly 30 years. He saw it through to completion in 1914, but he lost millions of dollars on it. The Federal Government took over the canal in 1928, and the Army Corps deepened and widened it. Stop at the canal visitor center on Main Street in Bourne Monday through Friday to see a model of the canal and an audiovisual show. Canal boat tours are offered out of Onset Bay Town Pier. Hikers and bicyclists can take a 14-mile roundtrip along the canal. Woods Hole The National Marine Fisheries Service Aquarium has tanks of seals, East Coast fish and shellfish, and exhibits about fisheries. The Marine Biological Laboratory offers a tour in the summer of a lab and of sea life in holding tanks. It also presents a slide show about its scientific studies. Mashpee The Wampanoag Indian Museum on Mass. 130 has exhibits and artifacts of early Wampanoag life (see pages 32-33). Plymouth In this Massachusetts Bay town you can see Plymouth Rock, the traditional landing spot of the Pilgrims after they left Cape Cod in 1620; go aboard a replica of the _Mayflower_, tour Plimoth Plantation, a reconstruction of the Pilgrims’ first village; and see a number of other historic sites, plus Cranberry World Visitor Center’s exhibits on the cultivation and harvesting of cranberries. New Bedford Nantucket and New Bedford were the centers of New England’s whaling industry in the 19th century. Today New Bedford is still a key fishing port, but whaling is an historical attraction. The New Bedford Whaling Museum on Johnny Cake Hill features the 89-foot _Lagoda_, a half-scale model of a fully rigged whaling ship; a large collection of scrimshaw; and a multitude of whaling artifacts. Nearby is the Seaman’s Bethel, a sailors’ church with a pulpit in the shape of a ship’s prow. The church figured in Herman Melville’s _Moby Dick_. ############################################# Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket [Illustration: _Osprey_ _Main Street, Nantucket_]