New Listing - Truro Bay-Front - Amazing Views!

TRURO - New Listing - This year-round 3 bedroom cottage sits atop the dune with insane views of Cape Cod Bay and a set of stairs that take you to an amazing beach that stretches for miles, past picturesque cottages and into P-Town. Ready for a major remodel, this home could be what dreams are made of.

Would you like more photos?  Go here.....  Dream Here!

Truro Beach Sticker - The 2013 Smiling Shark Is 'Out'

I don't know how I missed it, but the 2013 beach sticker for Truro raised a lot of eyebrows. The sticker's smiling shark poked fun at what was a very serious problem in the 2012, where Truro was the site of a very rare shark attack.

To move forward from the controversy, the Town is having a contest to design the 2014 sticker. Rules for the contest can be found on the Town of Truro's website. A detailed story appeared in the Cape Cod Times - check it out Here. I think it's interesting that the contest ends on April fools' day.

Truro's Head of the Meadow Beach

The Head of the Meadow Beach is actually two beaches - a Cape Cod National Seashore beach and a Town of Truro beach. These beaches are at the end of Head of the Meadow Rd, off Rt 6 north of the Highland Lighthouse.

Take a look at this video, created by the Cape Cod Times online edition.

Close Encounters of the Whale Kind

Image you are off the coast of Truro, simply sitting on your float, enjoying the waves and the beautiful day. Then you are greeted by 3 enormous humpback whales. Whoa!!  Also, check out the story in the Boston Globe... here.

Seals in Truro - Shark Lunch?

The is a spot in North Truro, about a half hour walk from the High-Head parking lot on Truro's ocean beach, where a large group of seals gather that is a sight to see. The seals, by the hundreds, enjoy the sun on a sand bar that emerges at low tide. The Cape Cod Times traveled there to capture the seals in a video...check it out. Where there are seals, there's likely to be sharks.

   

Head of Meadow Bike Path - So Easy!

The Head of Meadow bike path, in Truro, is said to be the easiest bike path on Cape Cod. It runs about 2 miles from its beginning to end, at Head of Meadow Beach.  Check out this video, from the Cape Cod Times.

Gray Seals On Truro Sandbar

This video was taken by the Cape Cod Times in Truro a few days ago. Gray seals (Grey seals?) have taken possession of a sand bar in Truro. The problem is that where seals hang out, sharks aren't far away.  Hmmm.

Saving Lighthouses From Beach Erosion

As Cape Cod's ocean beaches have eroded, the familiar lighthouses have had to be relocated back from the 'edge'. In 1996, Truro's Highland Light, built (actually re-built) in 1857, was picked up and moved several hundred feet in 1996. Likewise, Nauset Light, in Eastham, was moved 300-ish feet, across the street that same year. Saving these lighthouses was important to preserving the history, and charm, of the Outer Cape, and the Cape Cod National Seashore.

My family was vacationing in Eastham in 1996 when the Highland Light was being moved. The lighthouse moved so slowly that the movement was (almost) imperceivable. The project seemed almost surreal.

Read about the moving of these lighthouses on the Cape Codder's website... Here.

Provincetown - The Hard Way

Before the railroad line was built to Provincetown, the body of water that we now know as Pilgrim Lake as simply an extension of Cape Cod Bay. There was no Route 6, or 6A. The route to P-Town from Truro and the rest of the lower Cape was overland around the back of the current Pilgrim Lake. This route wasn't much different then as it is now - huge sand dunes, blowing sand, stiff winds, and a wildly shifting route.  The video below was done by the Cape Cod Times. I found it very interesting!  This walk isn't to be done on the hottest days, or by anyone not capable of walking several miles in soft sand.

Picture of the Day

The photo below was taken yesterday by a German tourist, and friend, Janek Bechtel, of the Highland Light in Truro. You can see that we didn't get very much snow this past storm.

Seals Invade Truro

Maybe a bit over-said, but 250 to 400 gray seals have moved to a sandbar between Head of Meadow and High Head beaches. They are especially visible, just off shore, at (or near) low tide.  It's noisy, it's smelly, and it's a lot of fun.

Check out the article on the Cape Cod Online website.

Vermont Moose Visits the Outer Cape

While exploring the far corners of the web, I encountered the adventures of a traveling moose, named Moose (seems fitting). The whimsical website follows the whereabouts of Moose, taking photos in front of local landmarks. Well, last summer Moose came to the Outer Cape, as evidenced by the following photos. The first was in front of the Highland Light in Truro. The second appears to be at the top of the stairs at Nauset Light Beach in Eastham. It also appears that Moose doesn't like to get wet - he stayed in the car while it rained at the Highland Light. Hmmm.

Follow Moose at http://www.avermontmoose.com/. He'll be back this summer.

Eastham Hostel Named Among Best in the World

After a difficult year dealing with the Town of Eastham, the Eastham Hostel, a member of Hostelling International, has been named one of the best hostels in the world. Specifically, it was named one of the most efficient locations. The hostel is on Goody Hallet Rd, just off Bridge Rd, in South Eastham, and near Boat Meadow Beach. Check out the Eastham hostel on their website.

Read the article about the 'award' on the Cape Cod Today website.

Also, there is another Outer Cape hostel, in Truro. Check it out...Here.

Hang Gliders on the Outer Cape

When I saw this video from the Cape Cod Times I did a bit of research and was surprised by the extent that hang gliding is done on the Outer Cape. It's best done where the high dunes meet the open water. The two locales that seem to host the gliders are in Truro (Bayside) and in Wellfleet (Oceanside). Both have similarly shaped water-facing high dunes. In Truro they go off a platform at the Seascape Motor Inn. The Wellfleet location is at White Crest Beach.

Cape Cod Humor - At the Highland Links Golf Course

A few weeks ago I played the 9 hole Highland Links golf course. The Highland Links is one of those courses known as a "Links" course, which translates to very rough roughs, with long grasses, oft impenetrable out-of-bounds, and unpredictable wind gusts. One of the fairways, the 5th if I recall, stretches along the top of the bluff above the open Atlantic Ocean. The out-of-bounds is about a 70 ft cliff, straight down to the ocean beach. Here is the sign that every golfer reads and needs to understand.

Towers of Cape Cod - The Jenny Lind Tower in Truro

One of the strangest structures on the Outer Cape is an empty 70 ft tower in Truro, known as the Jenny Lind Tower. Jenny Lind was an Swedish opera star from the mid-1800's who was brought to America by P.T. Barnum. Apparently she did a free concert from this tower (which was originally part of the Fitchburg train station in Boston) when the original venue was oversold. The tower sits on National Seashore property just south of the Highland Lighthouse. Read more about the Jenny Lind Tower on the Cape Codder website...Here.

Also, the Cape Cod Times did a video about the Jenny Lind Tower. Check it out...

New Christian Church in Truro

A former Roman Catholic church in Truro, the “Our Lady of Perpetual Help” Church, at 17 Pond Road, has been reborn as the "Chapel on the Pond". The Chapel will return to the purpose for which it was originally constructed almost 100 years ago. Following a period of restoration, the Chapel will be open for worship and praise of God, prayer, meditation, Bible study and getting acquainted. The Chapel is planning to continue year-round, with worship and prayer Sunday mornings at 10AM.

Go to the Boathouse Ministries website for more details.

Truro's Head of the Meadow Beach

The Head of the Meadow Beach, one of the Cape Cod National Seashore's many ocean beaches, was featured on the Boston Examiner's online edition. This beach is in Truro at the north end of the Seashore's 50-mile outer Cape beach. Check out the Head of the Meadow Beach.

A New Shipwrecked Hull Washes Ashore in Truro

The 40 foot section of timbers and planking of a wooden hull of a ship from the early 1900's, or earlier, has washed ashore in Truro on the outer beach. Although opinions differ, many think this is not the shipwreck that washed up in Wellfleet in January of 2008 and has since been reclaimed by the ocean. Read the story in the Boston Globe Online.

A few of my photos of the January, 2008, shipwreck, thought to be of a late 1800's schooner, converted to a coal tender, can be found on my website at http://shipwreck.robertsheldon.com/. Enjoy.

Truro Is 300!

On July 16th Truro will be celebrating 300 years of history as an incorporated town on the Outer Cape. The occasion, and in fact, the year will be marked by parties and parades and fireworks and so much more. Check out the Truro-300 website...Here.

An Exciting “Mid-July Main Event” running from Thursday, July 16 through Sunday, July 19 and including a family picnic and concert, a beach party, a parade, fireworks, a re-enacted reading of the proclamation that established Truro as a separate town, historic walks and tours, games and dancing.