EXTRA...

Why Cape Codders don't speak French; CCNSP close ORV access; New Ptown Boat Ramp; A new South Shore massacre

The legend of Peter's Well

  Pembroke lore has it that a Huguenot family settled there in 1617. The same legend says that the family was wiped out in an early Indian attack and there was only one survivor.

Or, the reason Cape Codders don't speak French today

A South Shore massacre today

Readers who want to  follow the Entwhistle murder trial should to go to a site containing everything ever written about this bizarre case by the MetroWest Daily News. Above, the wife and infant murdered by the accused in back.According to legend, there may have been a settlement of French Huguenots in Pembroke just north of Plymouth as early as 1617, three years before the Pilgrim  arrived on these shores.  Near the well on the "Wallis" property, it is said, are the ruins of the foundation of a house.

All of this is located amid the remains of an early orchard of Hightop Sweetings, an apple variety peculiar to Huguenot orchards. Old maps of Pembroke call this area Wallis Orchard.

Legend says this is the spot where the Huguenot family of Wallis settled. The same legend says that the family was wiped out in an early Indian attack and that Wallis himself was the only survivor. He is supposed to have lived out the rest of his life at this spot.

The farm lay vacant until 1756 when French neutrals who were driven out of Acadia (now known as Nova Scotia) settled among the American colonists. Pembroke took in a man named  Pierre Pelerine or, as his neighbors called him, Peter who with his family moved into the abandoned homestead.


Drawing of a similar wreck the same era.Some credence is given to this legend by Governor William Bradford who wrote in his History of Plimoth Plantation that there was a French ship wrecked off the coast of Cape Cod in 1617 and that the survivors went inland to settle. They were followed by Indians who massacred all but four settlers.

Some historians believe that the peaceful landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth in 1620 was possible for two reasons.  The first is that the local Indian population had been wiped out by a plague several years before, and second, and less well known, was the belief of the surviving Indians that the Mayflower was sent to seek revenge for the Huguenot massacre...  Pembroke Express.

Our forgotten French roots

This small monument overlooking Stage Harbor commemorates Champlain's visit to Chatham in 1603.  cctoday photo.F

our hundred years ago, France developed a fine new foothold in the Americas.

It was the new 1608 ville de Quebec, named for the narrow place on the St. Lawrence River where a maritime trading post was established. After Samuel de Champlain sailed to North America in 1603, his first five years were spent trying to locate the best spot to create a new French fur trade base...

For decades, New England’s historians, history students and schoolchildren have been erroneously taught that the early English land claims here in Massachusetts and in the Northeast were the only ones that really mattered. History “began” with the 1620 Mayflower landing at Plymouth — even though 17 years earlier Champlain successfully sailed across the wide Atlantic and his men explored and accurately mapped the ports from Gloucester to Cape Cod.

Families with English last names like White, King and Perley were quick to pen new profiles of the earliest English planters, preserving their stories — while earlier tales of the Native Americans and the accounts of traders with names like LeBlanc (White) LeRoy (King), and Ouellette were completely oubliette (forgotten).

 The Anglocentrism of our English ancestors is understandable. Many felt justified to do as they did because the French and English had been rivals and enemies in Europe for many centuries. Supporters of the Catholic and Protestant religions did not always see eye to eye. And over many years, the French, in general, developed better partnerships with the natives. After 1675, the English did not always consider that to be positive...  Salem Gazette. 
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Boat ramp off P'town's west end rotary?


The Provincetown Harbor Committee is discussing installing a boat ramp at the West End rotary to replace the deteriorating one.

Cape Cod National Seashore closes off-road vehicle access to protect piping plovers
Cape Cod National Seashore Superintendent George Price announced Friday that the three beach access points to the off-road vehicle (ORV) corridor that are usually available this time of year, are closed to protect piping plovers.
   However, to maintain some vehicle access, in accordance with the park’s 2007 ORV Environmental Assessment, the seashore will open a section of the ORV corridor at Coast Guard Beach in Truro to 24-hour access for ORV operators with current ORV permits. The piping plover is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. These closures occur while unfledged nestlings are present.
   This ORV closure does not affect pedestrian access to the ORV Corridor, nor does it affect access to the seashore’s six swimming beaches...  Banner.Preliminary discussions on building a new boat ramp next to the west end breakwater have emerged recently as the deteriorating condition of the west end parking lot boat ramp has become apparent.

The harbor committee initially brought up the idea about a year ago as part of its ongoing efforts to finalize a harbor plan. The potential project resurfaced last week when selectman approved a $1,000 emergency repair to the west end parking lot boat ramp, where cracked concrete has made gaps in the structure. Harbormaster Rex McKinsey told selectmen they might want to hold off on more extensive repairs to the ramp until a decision is made on whether to pursue a new boat launch next to the breakwater.

The advantage of a boat ramp at the far west end of town would be that large boats would not need to be hauled through narrow local streets to the existing ramp in the west end parking lot in order to access the harbor, McKinsey said...  Banner.