Robbins Report

What's up in Wellfleet

The 411 on the Bookstore, the Blasch property and the Pearl

Story & Photographs by Peter Robbins

The Blasch property

   Despite the snow and cold, construction continues at the Blasch property.

With an estimated 400 tons of concrete for its foundation cured, progress at the Blasch property on Chequessett Neck Road is evident.  Metal sections are being put in place and local builder Bob Bacon says, "Construction is going forward, depending on the weather, it will hopefully be weathertight sometime this summer."

During a walk to the top of the hill last Thursday, it was very obvious how weather would play a part in progress.

The Bookstore Restaurant

  The Bookstore got the thumbs up for the town water hook-up.

The Bookstore was approved for a permanent hook-up to the town's water supply by the Wellfleet Board of Water Commissioners on December 10, 2008 at which time Co-Chair Emily Beebe recused herself from the vote.  The town will not ask for payment from the Bookstore until the Board resolves some "hook-up pricing issues."

Although the Bookstore operated all of 2008 without a business license, the Board of Selectmen had no problem at their November 25, 2008 meeting renewing the 2009 liquor license for the Bookstore and Restaurant which still remains closed.  No other information was posted at the front of the restaurant, just a simple sign reading "closed".

A check with the Health Department on January 22, 2009 revealed that a permit for a new septic system had still not been issued.

The Pearl

   Things are really shaping up at the Pearl Restaurant.

A little further down Kendrick Avenue, I paid a visit to Dana Heilman, owner of the Pearl.  Heilman is estatic with the progress. "We are ahead of schedule and look forward to a spring opening."

He is very pleased with the local support and visits from people checking on progress at the restaurant. "The people have been just wonderful and very supportive." The interior is coming together and you can visualize the layout.  When complete, renovations at the Pearl will be quite an accomplishment, including the beautiful interior and bar made from recycled antique material.

The open feeling will make the Pearl very comfortable for warm weather dining. The second floor addition looked great and it is hard not to anticipate the harbor views it will afford patrons this coming spring.

While I was there taking photos, a local man stopped in with a gift for the owners of the  Pearl.  It was a photograph he had enlarged of the original Capt. Higgins when it sat across the street.  The man thinks the photograph was taken in the 1940s and now, in a way, the old Capt. Higgins will always be preserved in the center of the new Pearl.