Duck Creek Boneyard in Wellfleet, MA.
These are four siblings, all babies of the Reverend Levi and Sarah Whitman. Ruth died in 1793 at age 16 weeks. Then came Ichabod Thomas, who died in 1798 at age 2 years. They tried again with another Ichabod Thomas, who lived and died in 1800. He unfortunately blessed their home for only 11 days. Catherine’s grave is the newest–she died in 1803 at age 4 months.
What a sad time it must have been for Levi and Sarah.
The annual Columbus Day Cape Cod Event didn’t disappoint. Our plans to bicycle with Linda and Norm changed, and we decided to leave the steeds at home in deference to the 40+ mph winds forecast for Friday and Saturday morning. Instead, we drove to Woods Hole and east across the South Cape, through Hyannis, before turning north for a drive up the arm to Provincetown. We were a little disappointed that we couldn’t find a parade to be in this year, though. A few years ago we happened upon a Columbus Day parade in Hyannis, and we drove through it; me waving like the queen.
After a delicious cod lunch in Wellfleet, (added bonus: an old boneyard next to the outdoor restaurant) we decided it was time for the Lighthouse Walk.
This was no ordinary walk on the beach. To reach the lighthouse, a walk down a deep, soft-sand beach is in order. Two miles, one way of soft sand, about 12-18 inches deep. That’s four miles of walking in quicksand, sort of. We think it would have been easier if we had thought of wearing snowshoes. It was hilarious–in an “oh-oh, I don’t know if I can do this” hilarious sort of way. It took us two and a half hours to get to the light and come back. But it was worth every step.
The tracks in the sand are from jeeps carrying fishermen. You can go out in a beach rig if you buy a permit, and some folks park rv’s on a part of the beach closer to the Provincetown Airport. Sand reaches halfway up their wheelwells, though, and we have no idea how they get the vehicles on the beach. It looks like you could just walk in the tracks and the sand would be firmer, but it’s not. Randy walked a bit ahead, having a longer stride, and I took a small shortcut through a dune over some tracks, and I was at the lighthouse when he got there. Very tricky! Nicholas might remember another shortcut I took, on a bike somewhere in Washington State. Randy really wondered how I got there before him without passing him on the beach.
