Cape Cod History

February 9 - 1961: Massive snowstorm inundates Cape; 1895: Volleyball invented in Bay State; 1914: Fierce storm dooms one of last six-masted schooners

1961: Local residents hit with a "vicious killer nor'easter"

The Cape Cod Canal was completely iced over and ice extended for a mile into Cape Cod Bay.

On this day in 1961, Cape and islands were digging out after one of the worst snowstorms in years - with the prospect of more snow to come.

A "vicious killer nor'easter," as described by UPI, dumped two feet of snow across the region, with drifts of up to 15 feet measured elsewhere in New England. Heavy snow snapped power lines and left a quarter of a million people without power in the dead of winter.

The Cape Cod Canal was completely iced over and ice extended for a mile into Cape Cod Bay. Snow began falling on the evening of Friday Feb. 3 and didn't stop until nearly 30 hours later.

"An estimated 100 deaths on the Eastern Seaboard were attributed to the storm that finally went out to sea after reaching near-blizzard conditions Friday," UPI reported. "Virtually every segment of life was affected - transportation, communications and industry."

The storm's breadth and fury were unequaled until that of another to hit the Northeast on this same week 17 years later - the Blizzard of 1978.

1895: Bay State man invents volleyball

Holyoke women play a 19th century game of volleyball.

On this day 1895, a new game was first played at the YMCA in Holyoke. Many of the men who came to the Y were excited about another new game; basketball, but the Holyoke sports director was looking for a less strenuous indoor sport. Borrowing from basketball, tennis, and handball, William Morgan came up with "Mintonette," soon re-named volleyball.

William Morgan was born in the state of New York and studied at Springfield College, Massachusetts. Ironically at Springfield, Morgan met James Naismith who invented basketball in 1891. Morgan was motivated by Naismith's game of basketball designed for younger students to invent a game suitable for the older members of the YMCA.

Over the next half-century, the game spread around the world. At the first Olympic competition in the 1964 games in Tokyo, the Soviet men and Japanese women took the Gold. However, when the Volleyball Hall of Fame opened in 1987, it was in Holyoke, the Massachusetts mill town where the game was born.

1914: Fierce storm dooms one of last six-masted schooner

On this day in 1914, a fierce storm with winds up to 60 mph doomed efforts to salvage the six-masted schooner Alice M. Lawrence that had run aground on Tuckernuck Shoal two days earlier.

The 305-foot vessel, built in 1906 in Bath, Maine at a cost of $130,000, was "bound light" (without cargo) from Portland to Norfolk, Va., most likely to pick up a cargo of coal. Its crew was forced to abandon ship on Dec. 14.

The Alice M. Lawrence is believed to have been the first American-built schooner outfitted with electric lights. 

The last of the schooners, these giant six-masted ones were said to have paid off their costs with a few years. The schooner is a fore-and-aft rigged vessel with at least two masts, named the fore and the main mast. There were only ten six-masted schooners built.

According to the tradition the word schooner was first used in Gloucester, Massachusetts, in 1713 when a new vessel was launched at the shipyard of Andrew Robinson. It has been said that when the vessel entered the water that a spectator remarked "Oh, how she scoons!", upon which Robinson replied: "A scooner let her be." True or not, fore-and-aft vessels of the schooner type had been built before that date and are illustrated in Dutch paintings from the early 17th century. (photo credit,  Maine Maritime Museum)

February 8 - 1942: Huge fire at Camp Edwards destroys 125 vehicles; 2006. JFK Jr.'s last radio comments were routine. 2006: Sovereign Bank closes two offices here

1942: Wartime blaze at garage on Camp Edwards destroys 125 vehicles

Today's Mass. Military Reservation in the Upper Cape looked like this during World War II.

Blaze occurred two months after the World War II began

On this day in 1942, as reported by the long gone International News Service -

"One hundred and twenty-five vehicles, including 40 new cars, with their tires and tubes too, were destroyed today in a fire that swept the largest garage on Cape Cod."

No injuries were reported in the fire of uncertain origin, which caused an estimated $250,000 in damages.

The history of Massachusetts National Guard training on Upper Cape Cod extends back to 1908, when soldiers conducted weekend and annual training in the woods to the south and west of present-day MMR. This photo is from about 1942.

"Soldiers from Camp Edwards saved six automobiles by pushing them through a plate glass window," the INS reported.

The blaze occurred two months after the US entry into World War II following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and seven years after construction began of the military base on the Upper Cape.

About Camp Edwards

From 1935, when Gov. James Michael Curley signed a bill to appropriate funding for land and to establish a Military Reservation Commission, to 1940, the state and federal governments constructed 63 buildings and two 500-foot turf runways at the base.

In 1938, Curley's successor, Gov. Charles Hurley, dedicated Camp Edwards, the Army's portion of the MMR. The camp was named after Major General Clarence Edwards, former commander of the 26th Yankee Division. Otis Field at the base was named after 1st Lt. Frank J. Otis, a Yankee Division pilot killed on a cross-country training flight.

The 1940 equivalent of Obama's Stimulus Plan "Peak of construction occurred in November 1940 with 18,343 employees working three shifts, a weekly payroll in excess of $1 million, and completion of 30 buildings a day."

The initial construction effort "represented the largest WPA (Works Project Administration) project in the state, employing more than 600 workers," according to a website on the history of the MMR. "Peak of construction occurred in November 1940 with 18,343 employees working three shifts, a weekly payroll in excess of $1 million, and completion of 30 buildings a day."

In 1941, the 101st Observation Squadron of the Massachusetts National Guard, stationed at Jeffries Field in East Boston (known today as Logan International Airport), was inducted into federal service and moved to Otis Field. The airfield's first concrete runways were built in 1942, the same year as the devastating fire at the base garage. The runways were widened and lengthened the following year in response to the use of larger and more powerful military aircraft.

2006: John F. Kennedy Jr.'s last radio comments were routine

The last radio contact from John F. Kennedy Jr. before he died when the plane he was flying crashed into the Atlantic in July 1999 was a routine 'thanks' to air controllers in New Jersey for runway clearance, newly released documents showed on Wednesday.

The air traffic transcripts give no additional clues on what caused the crash off the southern New England coast that killed Kennedy, the son of the slain 35th U.S. president, his wife and sister-in-law.

'Caldwell ground, Saratoga niner two five three November, ready to taxi with mike at airbound right turnout northeastbound,' Kennedy told ground controllers at the Essex County, New Jersey, airport where he began an ill-fated flight to Cape Cod in Massachusetts. He was headed to his family's storied compound for a wedding.

See the NOAA search report on the attempts to recover the plane here.

2006: Sovereign Bank to close 11 branches in MA, two on Cape

Sovereign plans to shutter eleven Massachusetts branches this year as part of a 100 million-dollar cost-saving plan....The Quincy Patriot Ledger reports that Sovereign will close former Compass Bank branches in Harwich and Barnstable on Cape Cod.

February 7, 1922: Twenty-five sailors rescued off Provincetown. 1978: The Blizzard of the Century. 2009: Cape Quahog may become official state shellfish. 2006: Foreclosure filings highest in history

1922: Steamer Thistlemore runs aground off Peaked Hill Bars

On this day in 1922, the British steamer Thistlemore ran aground at Peaked Hill Bars 100 yards from shore during a nor'easter.

Capt. Emanual Gracie of the Peaked Hill Bars Coast Guard Station set up breeches buoy apparatus (as shown in the photo) and rescued 25 of the 44-member crew, with the remaining sailors staying on board.

On Feb. 12, tugboats managed to free the ship from the sandbar.

A far more dire outcome was initially expected for the Thistlemore. In a Feb. 8 dispatch, the AP reported that the vessel was "breaking up amidships and not expected to last until daylight, according to a wireless message intercepted" at a naval radio station.
(photo credit, "Shipwrecks Around Cape Cod" by William P. Quinn)

1978: The Blizzard of the the Century hits state

On the day in 1978, the storm of the century paralyzed the entire state of Massachusetts. The Blizzard of '78 dropped between two and four feet of snow on the Bay State in the space of 32 hours.

Ferocious winds created drifts as high as 15 feet. Along the coast, flood tides forced 10,000 people into emergency shelters. Inland, over 3,000 cars and 500 trucks were immobilized along an eight-mile stretch of Route 128.

By the time it subsided, the storm had taken 29 Massachusetts lives, destroyed 11,000 homes, and caused more than one billion dollars in damage. The Blizzard of '78 is also remembered for many acts of kindness, cooperation, and courage.

The photo show the Southeast Expressway (Route 3) between Plymouth and Boston.

2009: Efforts continues to make Cape Quahog official state shellfish

It started several years ago, and again this year a history class at Taunton Catholic Middle School has gotten a hands-on lesson about the legislative process. The quest to make the quahog the official state shellfish of Massachusetts began five years ago in seventh-grade teacher Bill Ruggiero's class. A new generation of students has now picked up the torch to support the effort.

"We were reviewing the Constitution and how a citizen's idea can become a bill and eventually a law," the teacher explained. The class decided it would be an interesting experience to come up with a new law. Student Rene LeBlanc, who is now a senior at Coyle-Cassidy High School, researched state symbols and learned that Massachusetts has no official shellfish.

"We dedicated ourselves to researching which shellfish we thought would best represent Massachusetts," Ruggiero said. The quahog was the class's unanimous choice.

2006: Foreclosure filings are highest in history
Nearly 20,000 Massachusetts homeowners foreclosed  in 2006

In 2006 foreclosure filings in the Bay State surpassed the previous high of 17,000 set during the housing crash of 1991 and were the highest since records were kept. Among the worse areas hit was Barnstable which saw a 91% increase (934 in 2006 v. 488 in 2005).

Among the hardest hit towns here were Orleans (400% increase, 15 v. 3), Eastham (333% increase, 13 v. 3), Bourne (147% increase, 89 v. 36) and Mashpee.

• Over 19,400 Massachusetts homeowners had foreclosures filed against them in 2006
• 2006 foreclosure filings eclipse previous high of 17,000 set during housing crash of 1991
• The fourth quarter of 2006 saw more than double the foreclosures of 2005 indicating continued trouble for the real estate market well  into 2007

The PR Release sent by ForeclosuresMass.com included a full year 2006 Massachusetts Market Analysis Report.  “2006 was a terrible year for thousands of Massachusetts homeowners. More families faced foreclosure than any other time in our history,” said Jeremy Shapiro, president  of ForeclosuresMass.com.

“Additionally, what is even more troubling is that foreclosure filings in the 4th quarter of 2006 were more than double the 4th quarter of last year, and were the highest of any previous quarter on record. All indications are that this trend will not abate, which means trouble for tens of thousands of additional homeowners in 2007.”

February 6 - 1912: Lorenzo Dow Baker our Banana King. 2007: Woman sues HAC. 2006: Pit bull closes mall, Bourne dodgeball brouhaha

2007: Homeless advocate sues Housing Assistance Corp. over firing

Sandwich woman opposed scaling down Dana Fields

On this day in 2007 Livia Munck Davis had fought for her dream of a farm on Cape Cod where once-homeless men and women would live and work together for more than a decade. Through relentless controversy, she steered a steady course for the groundbreaking project known as Dana’s Fields, convinced that one day it would become a reality. Instead, Davis says, her dream was dismantled.

In a lawsuit filed Monday in Barnstable Superior Court, she asserts that she was unjustly fired by her longtime employer, the nonprofit Housing Assistance Corporation, the project’s developer, because she opposed its plans to dramatically scale back the number of homeless people to be served by the new program.

Slated for 47 acres of former farmland in Sandwich, town officials approved the Dana’s Fields development two weeks ago after years of battle between its proponents and some nearby homeowners. Neighbors argued that housing for the homeless would drive up crime rates and depress property values. In time, their opposition forced project leaders to retreat from the model Davis first championed.

2006: Pit bull attack closes Hyannis Christmas Tree Mall

Boston TV station WCVB reported this morning that a raging pit bull forced police to evacuate the Christmas Tree Mall in Hyannis briefly last night.

2006: Dodge ball banned in Bourne

WBZ-TV offered a video today about the Bourne dodge ball controversy. 

1912: How a Wellfeet sea captain "invented" banana

In 1871 Lorenzo Dow Baker returned to Jamaica and loaded his ship with unripe (green) bananas. This time the bananas were just ripe enough when he docked in New York to earn a substantial profit.

On this day in 1912, as reported in The Van Nuys News and The Van Nuys Call, under the headline "Banana Raising in Costa Rica" -

"Forty years ago the banana was not as well known in the United States as the alligator pear is today. Within the memory of two generations the imports of this fruit have grown from nil to 40 million bunches. Three billion bananas, retailing for $35 million; that is the banana budget of the United States for 1910.

The fruit has made this remarkable advancement in public favor 'strictly on its merits,' to use a commercial colloquialism. Capt. Lorenzo Dow Baker of Cape Cod brought a few bunches of bananas from Jamaica to New York in 1870, and although this was not the first time the fruit had found its way to the United States shores, still he became the father of the banana business, for the importation proved an instant commercial success.

The fruit was a high-priced in the market where a brisk demand furnished the inspiration for the great banana industry of today.

Fom the Wellfleet Library newsletter:

Even though Captain Lorenzo Dow Baker was born in Wellfleet in 1840, he spent 21 years of his adult life as a part time resident. Having made his fortune in the banana trade by the time he was 41 years old, he found himself lonely and depressed because his business interests required him to be in Jamaica so much of the time while his family lived in Wellfleet. Consequently, in 1881, he moved his wife and 4 children to Jamaica. He and his family spent most of the year in Jamaica and lived in Wellfleet during the summer and early fall.

Early life
As the 8th & youngest child of a fisherman and his wife, Alonzo grew up on a homestead on Bound Brook Island on the bay side of northern Wellfleet. When he was 6, his mother died and his dad married a widow with several children of her own. Needless to say, his was not an easy life. He was apprenticed to a fishing captain at age 10, became a cook on a fishing schooner at age 15 and was considered an outstanding fisherman at the age of 18. By age 20, he was captain of a fishing schooner and eventually owned his own fishing schooner, "Vineyard". He married his childhood sweetheart, Martha, when he was 21 and she was 17. They had 4 children, Lorenzo Jr., Joshua, Martha and Reuben. He was a devout Methodist and a devoted husband and family man. For nine years, he made his living as a sea captain and fisherman.

Banana Trade
In 1870, at age 30, Captain Baker made his first voyage to the tropics with his newly purchased ship, "Telegraph". His cargo was mining equipment for Venezuela. On his return, he picked up a cargo of bamboo in Jamaica, where he tasted his first banana. He decided to introduce the exotic fruit to northern markets and he included some bunches in his cargo. However, upon arrival in New York City, the bananas were spoiled and could not be sold. Captain Baker was not deterred. The next year, he returned to Jamaica and loaded his ship with unripe (green) bananas. This time the bananas were just ripe enough when he docked in New York to earn a substantial profit.

Captain Baker spent the next 10 years expanding and developing his fruit importing business which became the foundation of the Boston Fruit Co. and made possible the giant conglomerate United Fruit Company (Chiquita brand) that still exists to this day. He acquired business partners and formed a company called L. D. Baker Company in 1879. The Boston Fruit Company evolved from it in 1885. His companies purchased 7 plantations in Jamaica to grow the bananas; purchased many ships to quickly transport the fruit to northern markets; and created a marketing group to advertise and create demand for the fruit in the northern states.

Sadly, Captain Baker lost control of his Boston Fruit Company in 1889. The other members of the board of directors secretly purchased enough shares in the company to achieve a majority ownership and forced him off the governing board.

The other members of the board felt that Captain Baker was stifling the further development of the company with his distrust of corporate financiers, and his unbending will to continue small business practices to manage a huge and expanding corporation. When the remaining board members created The United Fruit Company, he was not included.

February 5 - 1725: Revolution-era 'flame of fire' is born in Barnstable

1725: James Otis Jr. was born on this day in West Barnstable

Author of landmark phrase "A man's home is his castle"

On this day in 1725, James Otis Jr., one of the most influential figures in fomenting revolution against Great Britain by the 13 colonies that formed the United States, was born in the village of West Barnstable.

The oldest of 13 children, Otis was educated at Harvard and began his law practice in Plymouth before relocating to Boston in 1750. A decade later, he was appointed to the prestigious position of Advocate General of the Admiralty Court, which oversaw maritime affairs. Otis soon resigned, however, rather than argue in favor of the Writs of Assistance, vaguely worded warrants that allow searches of colonial property and vessels without warning or probable cause.

In a dramatic five-hour speech at the old State House in February 1761, Otis represented pro bono the merchants who challenged the legality of the writs before the Superior Court, a predecessor to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

" A man's house is his castle," Otis argued, "and whilst he is quiet, he is well guarded as a prince in his castle. This writ, if it should be declared legal, would totally annihilate this privilege. Customhouse officers may enter our houses when they please; we are commanded to permit their entry. Their menial servants may enter, may break locks, bars, and everything in their way; and whether they break through malice or revenge, no man, no court may inquire. Bare suspicion without oath is sufficient."

" A man's house is his castle, and whilst he is quiet, he is well guarded as a prince in his castle." James Otis, 1761.

" ... Every man prompted by revenge, ill humor, or wantonness to inspect the inside of his neighbor's house, may get a writ of assistance," Otis went on to say. "Others will ask it from self-defense; one arbitrary exertion will provoke another, until society be involved in tumult and in blood."

Among those who heard Otis was future president John Adams, who described the Barnstable native as "a flame of fire; with a promptitude of classical allusions, a depth of research, a rapid summary of historical events and dates, a profusion of legal authorities."

Adams would later write that "the child independence was then and there born,[for] every man of an immense crowded audience appeared to me to go away as I did, ready to take arms against writs of assistance."

(illustration credit, billofrightsinstitute.org)

February 4 - 1664: Third comet visible here in a dozen years; 1952: Groundhog Day hurricane arrives here; 2007: Murray becomes first woman State Senate President

1664: The day Cape Cod saw the last of the Great Comets

On this day in 1664, as described in the book "Cape Cod Historical Almanac" by Donald G. Trayser, "the people of Cape Cod and other parts of New England saw the last of a great comet which excited fear and awe.

"It appeared November 8th last, and continued to this date, the third comet witnessed by early settlers in the space of 12 years.

"The first appeared in December, 1652, the second in February and March, 1661, and the third as noted above," Trayser wrote. "Comets were fearsome things to people in these days."

Trayser quotes Nathaniel Morton, secretary of Plimoth Colony, who wrote of the comet of 1663-64 that "it was no fiery meteor caused by exhalation, but it appeared to be sent immediately by God to awake the secure world."

"Night after night, 'the great blazing starre' was observed in the southern sky," Trayer wrote, "and for several years after it, all the calamities and evil things which occurred in the world were ascribed to it."

Monponsett sent us the NASA article on this comet, thought to be Halley's comet and the comet referred to in Book Two of Milton's "Paradise Lost."

The period engraving shows two of the comets from the era (illustration credit.)

1952: A February surprise for Cape Cod and the entire East Coast

A "Freak Storm" three months after the close of Hurricane Seaso

On Groundhog Day on the night of February 2, 1952, an unnamed tropical storm moved northeast across South Florida and what was left of the storm raced up the eastern seaboard crossing Cape Cod late on February 4.

After leaving Florida, the storm continued rapidly northeastward, strengthening to peak winds of 50 mph. On February 4 it completed the transition into an extratropical cyclone off the coast of North Carolina.

Around that time, gale force winds extended 100 miles to the east of the center.  Later that day, it passed over Cape Cod, and early on February 5 it moved into eastern Maine.

2007: Therese Murray to become first woman Senate President

On this day in 2007 expectations were swirling at the Statehouse that Senate President Robert Travaglini will leave his post for the private sector, a shakeup that has triggered anxiety and opportunism on Beacon Hill.  Sen. Therese Murray, D-Plymouth, one of Cape Cod's two state senators, is widely believed to have locked up a majority to succeed Travaglini when he decides to leave. Murray, chairwoman of the powerful Senate Ways and Means Committee, is a key member of Travaglini's leadership team.

Murray began lining up support last spring, when Travaglini initially told senators he was considering leaving. Travaglini decided to stay, but speculation is rampant that he will leave this term, possibly to take the vacant president's position at the Massachusetts Hospital Association...  Murray's ascension would make her the first woman to lead either the House or the Senate.

2007: Patrick Kennedy expects congressional hearings on Narragansetts

Tribe wants slots in Rhode Island

Rhode Island Congressman Patrick Kennedy (on right with uncle Ted) said Tuesday he's confident a congressional panel will hold hearings on whether to overturn the Chafee amendment, which has prevented the Narragansett Indian Tribe from opening a casino on their Rhode Island tribal lands.  "Its day is long overdue," Kennedy said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press after meeting with Narragansett Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas... 

The amendment being targeted was written by the late Rhode Island Sen. John Chafee. The amendment stopped the tribe from opening a casino on their tribal lands without getting state approval.  Under Chafee's 1996 amendment, when it comes to that federal gaming act, the Narragansetts' 1,800 acres in Charlestown are not treated as Indian lands.

February 3 - 1936: Ice-locked Nantucket residents threatened with famine; 2006: Coyotes wear out their welcome; 2006: All hope lost for Lady Luck

2006: State's coyote population reaches saturation point

In every town except on the Vineyard and Nantucket

A usually shy but adaptable predator, coyotes have made their home in the suburbs and rural countryside, but on this day in 2006 state official felt they have apparently run out of room in the Bay State.  According to wildlife experts and officials, the population of at least 8,500 coyotes in Massachusetts is stable and unlikely to increase because the predatory canines have saturated all available habitat.

"Leave cats inside or accept that when you let them outside they're part of the food chain," said Jonathan Way, author of "Suburban Howls."  (Photo on right shows a coyotes pouncing on a prey)

Coyotes are not indigenous to Massachusetts. The eastern coyote didn't move into the state's central and western regions until the 1950s. By the 1970s, coyotes had moved into eastern Massachusetts and Cape Cod.  They now live in every town statewide except for the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket.  The coyote hunting season lasts four months each year, from November through February. In recent years, the number of coyotes killed annually through hunting has more than doubled.

1936: The day Nantucket almost starved, airlift begun to prevent famine

The ferry Nobska trapped in ice off Nantucket during another cold winter, that of 1964. Nobska.org.

On this day in 1936, as reported by the Associated Press -

"A large transport plane bearing more than 1,500 pounds of foodstuffs took off from East Boston airport today to prevent a threatened famine on the ice-locked island."

It was the second time in three years that bitterly cold winters surrounded Nantucket with ice and kept ferries from delivering food, fuel and other supplies.

The 3,800 residents of Nantucket were "cut off from the world by six miles of ice surrounding their island," reported the International News Service, INS (which merged with United Press in 1958 to become UPI).

"Even coastguard cutters crashing steel prows into the ice were unable to get into the harbor," according to INS. "No ship has touched the island shores since early Saturday," two days earlier.

Ice also covered Provincetown harbor for the first time in 20 years and prevented vessels from passing through the Cape Cod Canal.

2006: 'Whatever happened, happened quick' to the Lady Luck

Father of fisherman lost at sea calls efforts by Coast Guard to find son's boat 'Herculean'

The Coast Guard has given up hope this day in 2006 that two crewmen aboard a missing Newburyport fishing vessel will be found alive.  The Lady Luck (on right), a 52-foot long, steel-hulled dragger, was reported missing off the Maine coast early Thursday morning. The crew made no distress calls, but emergency beacons were detected.

After a 40-hour search that covered 8,140 square miles, the Coast Guard announced it had suspended its search at 5:34 p.m. yesterday. Missing and presumed dead are the captain and owner of the ship, Sean Cone, 24, of North Andover, and his crewman, Dan Miller, 21, of North Hampton, N.H... The first sign of a problem with the Lady Luck came around 2 a.m. Thursday, when an electronic signal from the ship indicated it may have been in distress. About 55 minutes later, the Coast Guard transmitted a general alert to boaters in the area. At 3:18 a.m., the Coast Guard was able to pinpoint the location of the Lady Luck's emergency beacon - a device that detaches from a fishing boat when the crew launches it, or when a boat is at least 3 meters under water.

Winds were high the night the Lady Luck disappeared, but the Coast Guard has not said if the conditions were severe enough to have caused significant ice buildup. Last week, a New Bedford fishing boat sank off Nantucket, its deck and rigging caked with ice.. A half hour later, a Falcon jet took off from Cape Cod, and found the beacon, called an EPIRB, by 4:30 a.m. It dropped a life raft and continued to search.

February 2 - 1919: High price of grain brings windmills out of retirement; 1997: Feds stop poisoning our Sea Gulls

1997: U.S. Halts Poisoning of Sea Gulls on Monomoy

On this day in 1997 the United States Fish and Wildlife Service has halted the poisoning of sea gulls at a wildlife refuge off the coast of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, a practice that had brought protests.

A recent tern count on Monomoy south of Chatham.

Ronald Lambertson, regional director of the Federal agency, gave Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, the news in a letter that was made public late Friday.

"Many citizens on Cape Cod were disturbed greatly by our gull poisoning actions in 1996," Mr. Lambertson wrote. "The Service has decided that gull poisoning in 1997 is canceled."

The service poisoned sea gulls as part of a four-year program to protect the roseate tern and piping plover, two endangered species that gulls were crowding out at the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge.

But public outrage has forced the service to return to its old method of killing gulls: shooting them.

The old method ''did not generate significant public concern or controversy,'' Mr. Lamberston said.

Mr. Kennedy commended the service, saying the poisoning program ''jeopardized the thriving tourism that is the heart of our Cape Cod economy.''

1919: The day when high grain prices put the windmills back to work

On this day in 1919, as reported by The San Antonio Light under the headline, "Old Cape Cod Windmills Doing Their Bit" -

The windmills of Cape Cod are coming into their own again. Some of the mills, which closely resemble those of Holland, were built more than 150 years ago. At that time they were used to grind grain, and it is the high price of grain that brings them back to a new life.

In the early '70s the mills did their duty in pumping saltwater from the sea into large vats, where the salt was scraped from the boards after the water evaporated. Not long after, a new process of making salt was discovered and the salt industry of Cape Cod declined.

Some of the mills were demolished. Some were left standing and in recent years many have been purchased by summer residents to serve as ornaments on country estates. A few that have survived Cape Cod easterly storms are awakening from their half a century sleep and will grind meal for farmers.

Scroll down to: 1977: Coast Guard "firebombs" oil spill in Buzzards Bay.
1994: Nancy Kerrigan's attacker identified.

February 1 -1977: Coast Guard "firebombs" oil spill in Buzzards Bay; 1994: Nancy Kerrigan's attacker identified

1977: The day they firebombed Buzzards Bay

Bouchard barge trapped in ice, spills 100,000 gallons of home heating oil

The oil was from a Bouchard barge trapped in thick ice near Cleveland Ledge Lighthouse in Buzzards Bay.

On this day in 1977, as reported by the Associated Press -

"Thick, black smoke billowed off the Cape Cod coast for several hours after the Coast Guard firebombed just a small fraction of the 100,000 gallons of home heating oil that spilled here."

The oil had spilled three days earlier from a Bouchard barge trapped in thick ice near Cleveland Ledge Lighthouse in Buzzards Bay. The accident was one of several involving oil spills off the Cape and islands in the bitterly cold winter of 1976-1977, including the loss of 7.6 million gallons of oil from the tanker Argo Merchant on Nantucket Shoals a month earlier.

Cleanup efforts after the Bouchard spill in January were hampered by ice floes covering much of the bay. In a seldom-seen strategy, Coast Guard officials decided to try and burn the oil before it hit beaches on the Cape and South Coast.

"A Coast Guard seaplane dropped ten boxes of flammable material and grenades over the largest slick while area residents watched safely from shore,"

"A Coast Guard seaplane dropped ten boxes of flammable material and grenades over the largest slick while area residents watched safely from shore," the AP reported. "Suddenly a puff of white smoke shot straight up from the ice. The smoke quickly grew and fanned out, turning from dark gray and into a large mushroom cloud ... Flames leapt 30 feet in the air."

The oil had pooled in three large slicks, one within walking distance over ice from Wings Neck. The barge was hauling 3.1 million gallons of oil from Providence to Portland and its remaining cargo was pumped to another barge. Much of the oil that leaked from the barge was also vacuumed from shore.

Coast Guard officials decided against burning off more oil after their initial effort consumed only a small amount of the spilled fuel.

Bouchard vessels passing through Buzzards Bay have been involved in numerous spills over the years, including the most recent, in April 2003, when an estimated 98,000 gallons were lost after a barge scraped an underwater ledge.  (photo credit, AP)

1994: Nancy Kerrigan's attacker identified

Lawyer for Tonya Harding's Ex-Husband Says He Has Tied Her to Attack

Video of the attack on Nancy Kerrigan.

On this day in 1994 Jeff Gillooly, the former husband of Tonya Harding, has told investigators that Miss Harding helped plan the assault on her figure-skating rival, Nancy Kerrigan, Mr. Gillooly's lawyer said today.

Ronald H. Hoevet, the lawyer, said Mr. Gillooly told Federal investigators last week that Miss Harding had given final approval for the Jan. 6 attack in Detroit, where Miss Kerrigan was struck above the right knee and kept from competing in the national championships. The lawyer said Mr. Gillooly's account was fully detailed, and included many points that could be corroborated by phone logs and bank records...

Mr. Gillooly identified a Pennsylvania woman well-connected in figure-skating circles who Miss Harding called to ask for help in learning Miss Kerrigan's home address in Stoneham, Mass., and details of her training schedule at her practice rink on Cape Cod... NY Times.

January 31 - 2007: NH to Cape ferry service proposed; 1798: Native American writer William Apess born; 1988: The Breakthrough claims a dozen homes; 1999: Death of National Seashore visionary

1988: Chatham homes are doomed by breakthrough
Homeowners on Cape Cod Battle Sea and Town

Pointing to a spot on his map where Holway Street reaches Chatham's eastern shoreline, Doug Wells, chairman of this town's conservation commission, said that the sea had come up to that point before, in 1875.

Sea threatens Holway Street house.

''Now it's back again,'' he said, ''and so is the bitter argument over what, if anything, should be done to stop it and who should do it.''

The spot he marked was half a block inland, well behind a line of Cape-style houses that are now in danger of toppling into the sea. #9 Houses Threatened A week ago Thursday one of those houses did slide down the six-foot-high bank between it and the sea, and had to be destroyed. At high tide, water has already swept under the front porch of the house on one side of where the first house stood and is cutting away at the small concrete patio of the one on the other side.

1798: William Apess born
Helped free Cape Cod Mashpees

On this day in 1798, a Pequot Indian named William Apess was born in Colrain, a village in western Massachusetts. Although his childhood was marked by poverty and abuse, he did learn to read and write.
     After converting to Christianity, he became a traveling preacher. He sought to convert other Indians to Christianity and wanted white people to recognize Indians as equal members of the family of God. In his 30s, he moved to Cape Cod, where he helped the Mashpee Indians regain a measure of self-government.
     William Apess published five books, including an autobiography. In 1837, he disappeared from the historical record. Like most native people of the time, he became invisible. Fortunately, his published words survive.

The threatened loss of these homes and at least seven others nearby has started a new round in the conflict between beachfront property owners all along the Atlantic Seaboard and the Federal, state and local officials responsible for shoreline protection.

Here in Chatham, 10 owners of houses between Andrew Hardings Lane and Watch Hill Road have formed a group, the Beach Reclamation Enactment Association of Chatham Harbor.

On Wednesday, the group filed a $10 million damage suit in Barnstable Superior Court. The owners assert that officials in charge of state coastal management did not plan adequately for the protection of their shoreline and knowingly hindered them in their efforts to do it themselves.

On Thursday, members of the group appeared before the Chatham Conservation Commission asking to build a much more elaborate sea wall below their property. The commissioners, in turn, asked for further details on the design and for a determination of what part of the beach was classified as dune and what was considered a bank. If a new wall is finally approved by the town and state, it will cost the group at least $250,000 to build.

In mid-December, the commission, with support of state environmental and coastal zone management officials, denied the group permission to dump boulders along the water line in front of their houses. The commissioners said that might damage the shoreline to the north and south.

Two weeks later the group went to court and won permission to dump the boulders if its members posted a $100,000 bond to insure removing the boulders if they could not work out a permanent plan with the state and town officials.

Immediately afterward, a construction company began dropping the boulders about 10 yards in front of the bank on which the houses are perched. Additional boulders have been emplaced since, and the owners have now spent an estimated $145,000 in this desperate effort to stabilize their property.

The trouble in Chatham began 13 months ago when a wild storm and high tides broke through North Beach opposite Water Street and Chatham Light. Two weeks later, a subsequent storm had widened this beach and scooped out a channel 20 feet deep... NY Times.

1999: The day Paul Mellon died

Billionaire philanthropist, art collector and thoroughbred racer

Mellon foresaw that they had a last chance to protect and preserve for the future one of the most significant natural and cultural resources in the US here on Cape Cod.

On this day in 1999, Paul Mellon, son of financier Andrew W. Mellon, died at his residence in Oak Spring, Va., at age 91. Remembered mainly as a billionaire philanthropist, art collector and thoroughbred racer - his "Mill Reef" won the Kentucky Derby in 1971 - Mellon's legacy extends further and closer to home. As reported by The Boston Globe on Feb. 13, 1999 -

"The story goes that Paul Mellon was dismayed to discover that his Oyster Harbors home was lacking in what he considered a sufficient number of sand dunes. So he brought in 2,000 tons of sand from the north shore of Cape Cod and built his own dunes.

"Then he went one giant step further: He helped to create the Cape Cod National Seashore ... In Massachusetts, his legacy is 44,000 acres of pristine beach, wind-blown dunes, and wild sandy bluffs that literally define a much-loved corner of the state.

"Mellon, along with other key leaders, 'foresaw that they had a last chance to protect and preserve for the future one of the most significant natural and cultural resources in the US,' said Mike Whatley, a supervisory park ranger with the Cape Cod National Seashore in Eastham.

" 'They literally snatched it from the hands of developers,' Whatley said, 'and at the same time left many charming, compatible communities intact' ..."

"The finest victory ever recorded for the cause of conservation in New England."

" ... In 1956, a consortium of foundations supported by Mellon published 'The Vanishing Shoreline,' a report highlighting the significance of coastline territory and detailing runaway development that threatened to change it forever. It also identified key sites that should be included in the national park system.

"At the top of the list was a swath of land from Provincetown to Chatham, then known mainly as 'The Great Beach of Cape Cod' ..."

Other seashore advocates included Congressman Hastings Keith, Senators Leverett Saltonstall and John F. Kennedy and future governor Frank Sargent.

On Aug. 7, 1961, President Kennedy signed the law limiting development on the Outer Cape and creating the Cape Cod National Seashore, the nation's first. An editorial that month in The Berkshire Eagle described the new law as "the finest victory ever recorded for the cause of conservation in New England."   (Portrait of Mellon, www.vahistorical.org)

2007: New Hampshire Rep wants to see a ferry service to Cape Cod

This day in 2007, Foster's Daily Democrat reported that the scrap metal and salt operations at the Port of New Hampshire are not the best use of the property, according to Pease Development Authority Executive Director Dick Green. 

"There are some of us that feel there's a higher and more appropriate use than what it's being used for," Green said Tuesday.

If a majority of the board feels the same way as Green, some combination of container cargo, ferries or cruise ships could replace the industrial uses at the Market Street terminal in the coming years...  (State rep Laura) Pantelakos, a vocal critic of port operations, said she is thrilled by the potential change in direction at the port.

"I think that's certainly going to help a lot of people. It will create jobs," the Portsmouth Democrat said.  She said she would like to see a ferry service started to Cape Cod and said without the salt or scrap there would be a lot of "laydown area" for cargo.