The Story of Squanto - Fascinating!

Imagine the surprise when the Pilgrims landed and were met by an English speaking Indian. The story of how this is even possible is the fascinating story of Squanto's (a.k.a. Tisquantum) life. He was apparently kidnapped by Capt. Thomas Hunt in 1615, taken to Spain, lived in England, and returned (1619) to North America with Capt. Thomas Derme.

Everyone who remained in his village near Plymouth, perished due to the plague. The story is quite involved and isn't without some controversy and some unknowns. Read the biography on the Mayflower History website. Squanto's story was made into a 1994 Disney move called "Squanto: A Warrior's Tale".

Squanto's name has been given to many streets on Cape Cod, including one in Eastham, near the National Seashore.

Eastham's 2016 'Annual Thanksgiving Duck Race' - November 13th

Again this year, the Eastham Recreation and Beach Department is having its annual rubber duck race. This year it will be next Sunday (November 13th) at the end of First Encounter Beach, on Bee's River. Prizes will be 'awarded' to the top finishers. It's a buck a duck and they start swimming at 12:30 PM. This should be a lot of fun.

If you'd like to buy a duck (for a buck), call the Rec Department at 508-240-5974 after 10 AM on Wednesday November 9th. Ducks are assigned automatically, by the order of the calls. When all the ducks are gone, they're gone! This is a rain or shine event. You must pay on race-day and be present to win.

CodeRED - A New Eastham Service

The Town of Eastham has implemented the CodeRED system, a high-speed emergency notification service provided by Ormond Beach, FL-based Emergency Communications Network.

The CodeRED system will serve as the backbone of the Town's emergency planning and communications outreach to both citizens and Town of Eastham personnel by using the system capabilities to send telephone calls, text messages, emails and social media in an effort to inform residents to protect life and property. Hopefully, this system will keep us informed about road closures during the water system installation.

The Town also plans to use CodeRED to inform residents in specific geographic locations of fires, floods, drinking water emergencies and missing children notices.  To learn more about this new service go to an article fromCapeCod.com ... Here.  To get the alerts and take advantage of this new service, you must enroll. Go Here to enroll. 

Natural Gas Moratorium on the Outer Cape - Details

By now the ugly truth that National Grid, our local natural gas company, has problems with their gas delivery infrastructure has sunk in. The company has placed a moratorium on new Outer Cape hookups, which is seriously inhibiting new construction. The National Grid has released a set of FAQs (frequently asked questions) that detail the rules by which they will grant permission for new hookups.

Clarifying Gas Sales Moratorium for Dennis to Eastham: The requirements for the moratorium are as follows:

• New residential and commercial and industrial customer gas service connections are prohibited.
• Incremental gas load on existing commercial and industrial customer gas accounts is prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to, heating, hot water, cooking and other types of loads.
• Incremental gas load on existing residential customer gas accounts is prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to, heating, hot water, cooking and other types of loads, unless it meets one of the exceptions below.

Exceptions:

• For existing residential gas customers only, natural gas barbecues are permitted as added load.
• For existing residential gas customers only, emergency backup natural gas generators are permitted as added load, subject to application, review and approval of the Company. Please contact Kerrie Doyle at (781) 907-2201 for questions regarding the availability of service to new natural gas generators. 

More information can be found on a fact sheet ...    National Grid Gas Sales Moratorium Fact Sheet for Cape Cod

Photo of the Day - Forrest's Gift Shoppe and Filling Station

I was kicking around the internet and came upon an antique post card of Forrest's Gift Shoppe and Filling Station. Where is this filling station today? Does it exist (in an updated form) along Route 6 today? (Click on the post card to make it bigger).

Winter Storm 2015 - Could Have Been Worse

The Outer Cape got what was promised. No more, no less. By my reading, we got about 10-12 inches of snow. Lots of wind. Nicely, I didn't lose power at my house (although there was a report that P-Town lost power). That's the good news.

The bad news is that the wind and waves took out the Nauset Light Beach stairs. It's become an annual event. There was some flooding on Rt 6 near Gov. Prence Rd and by the Goose Hummock in Orleans. Once again, the waves broke through the beach to overflow the Pamet River in Truro.  I'm certain there will be other damage reported tomorrow.

Spring is only 5-6 weeks away (I declare March 1st as my unofficial start to Spring). Yay!  The photo below was taken by the National Park Service mid-day today.

2014 Rubber Ducky Race - November 15th

Again this year, the Eastham Recreation and Beach Department is having its annual rubber duck race on the Saturday before Thanksgiving (November 15th) at the end of First Encounter Beach, on Bee's River. Prizes will be 'awarded' to the top finishers. It's a buck a duck and they start swimming at 9 AM. This should be a lot of fun.

If you'd like to buy a duck (for a buck), call the Rec Department at 508-240-5974 after 10 AM tomorrow (Nov 12th). Ducks are assigned automatically, by the order of the calls. When all the ducks are gone, they're gone! This is a rain or shine event. You must pay on race-day and be present to win.

2015 Eastham Assessment Information

I met with Gail McAleer, the Town Deputy Assessor, today. Eastham's 2015 assessment data is available now. She gave me the 'highlights'. A few data points...

• The assessment is intended to represent home values as of 1/1/2014
• The median single family residential home assessment for 2014 is $382,500, up 0.1% from the 2014 median assessment
• The average assessed value is $445,695 (up 0.4%)
• There were 5,103 single family homes in Eastham as of 1/1/2014  (up 12 from 2013)
• The total assessed value for Eastham's single family residences is $2.275 Billion (up 0.7%)

The 2015 real estate tax rate for Eastham is $7.10/thousand (up 1.1%). The tax on the median-valued home will be $2,715.75.

The 2015 assessments for individual homes should be available soon on the Town of Eastham website...Here. You can also pick up a newspaper-like copy of the town assessments at Town Hall and at quite a few of Eastham's commercial establishments (e.g. the Eastham Superette).

The Drama Continues On Nauset Spit!

The drama continues between Eastham and Orleans over the Nauset Spit. Over the years the spit has grown north, from Nauset Beach in Orleans, into Eastham. The rules for driving on the beach differ by town (watch the video), so conflict was bound to happen.



A Perfect Day in Eastham

Yesterday I spent a lot of time driving around and enjoying this beautiful town and all it has to offer visitors. The photos below show a couple kayakers on Boat Meadow Marsh during high tide, about to go under the Bridge Rd bridge, and - the art show at the Schoolhouse Museum, a 'green flag' day at Nauset Light Beach, and finishing up with the 'Super Moon', taken from Fort Hill. Amazing! Not shown was time at the Great Pond beach and dinner at Arnold's. It doesn't get much better than that!

Photo of the Day - July 4th Flag

In my travels in and about Eastham I came upon this flag .... Happy 4th of July!

Dr. Beach Picks Coast Guard Beach - Again!

'Dr. Beach' (a.k.a. Stephen Leatherman, a professor from Florida International University) has named Eastham's Coast Guard Beach as one of the 'top ten' beaches in the US. Ratings each year are based on a number of criteria, such as sand, water quality, weather, facilities and crowds. Coast Guard came in as number 8 this year. It's no surprise that the number 1 beach is from Hawaii, with beaches from South Carolina and Florida in the mix. Strange, no California beaches made the list this year. 

Check out the article on Fox News' website. And go to  to Dr Beach's website see all the winners.

Photo of the Day - Cape Cod Shingle Art

Every once in a while I come across something that's a bit different and deserves to be displayed. Over these last few years I've noticed some 'shingle' art on the sides of homes and garages. This form of art uses the 3D aspect of cedar siding with clever cutouts and natural wood shading variations to create dramatic images. Check out the handiwork of artist Roger Dumas of Eastham. He calls his business 'Jolly Roger Woodworking'. Click on the photo to get a closer look.

Roger's studio is here in Eastham, on Cole Rd. Check out his Facebook Business Page for more photos and for his contact information..  Fun!   

Photo of the Day - Cook's Brook Sunset

Today was a day of snow on the ground, ice fishing on the ponds (the ice is about 6 inches thick), and beautiful sunsets. The photo below was taken at Cooks Brook Beach this afternoon, as the sun set over the Bay. You can see some broken ice in the foreground, which should melt over the next few days as we expect to get temperatures in the high 30's and low 40's. Spring is coming, I'm sure.

Photo taken by a client, Brian R. Thank you!

Photo of the Day - Snowy Salt Pond

Day is the beautiful day sandwiched between 2 days of light snow. We got about 2 inches yesterday and are slated to get another 2-4 tonight and tomorrow. Driving past the Salt Pond on Rt 6, I caught a glimpse of the two familiar boat houses at the entrance to the pond. They gleamed with snow on their roofs and nearby grasses. Check out the photo that I took.

Cape Cod Seashore - Closed for Business?

I took a ride today to check out what is still open, and what's not, at the Seashore in Eastham. I found that both Coast Guard and Nauset Light Beaches are accessible from their respective parking lots. The bathhouses and restrooms are closed. Likewise, the National Seashore Visitors' Center was locked up - closed, but the hiking & biking trails appear to be open. I didn't get to check out  Fort Hill, but I'm pretty certain that the parking lot and trails are still open.  Sadly, the Marconi Beach area, in Wellfleet, is totally closed.

Great Pond Alum Treatment

It looks like the alum treatment work is nearly done on Great Pond. This treatment should go a long way toward clearing up the pond's water, which has been slowly deteriorating due to higher levels of phosphorus that had been released into the pond.

Last year Herring Pond was treated and the results have been amazing!

2013 Orleans' "Celebrate Our Waters" Weekend - Sept 13-15

The forth annual “Celebrate Our Waters” weekend, will be held September 13th, 14th and 15th, 2013, with many new events, encore presentations of some of your favorites. All events are free!

The weekend’s purpose is to showcase the area’s precious bays, ponds, lakes, marshes, creeks and beaches and thereby increase general awareness and appreciation of our valuable water resources. The event was originally conceived of as simply a few guided walks highlighting Orleans’ ponds and saltwater estuaries but it quickly mushroomed into a two day (and now three day) festival including walks, bike rides, talks, tours, kayak trips, cat boat sailing, aquaculture events, a sand sculpture contest and a bonfire on Nauset Beach. For 2013, they added Friday to the weekend festivities and continue with last years' popular geographical expansion with events in Brewster and Eastham.

This is a weekend to celebrate what brought many of us here in the first place – the wonderful waters all around us.

Go to their website for a schedule and map of events!  All events are free! (Did I say that before!)

2014 Eastham Assessments Available

The Assessor's office for the Town of Eastham has released the preliminary assessments for 2014 for Eastham properties. They are available online on the Town of Eastham's website and, in newspaper form, at various places around town.

These assessments can be appealed at the Assessor's office at Town Hall until close of business this Friday, August 9th. They represent the property values of homes and businesses on 1/1/2013. These assessments become 'final' on August 21st. Also, it's expected that the tax rates will be established by the end of the month.

2013 Eastham Part-Time Resident Taxpayers Assoc Meeting - July 6th

If your primary home is off-Cape and you own a second home in Eastham, then you need to keep up with the issues and attend the annual Members' Meeting of the Eastham Part-time Resident Taxpayers Association (EPRTA). This year it will be held at 9 AM on Saturday, July 6th, at the Elks Club on McKoy Rd. The meeting is open to non-members. Membership is cheap ($20) and they have a very informative quarterly newsletter. The officers of this group work hard to keep the Eastham town officials aware of the issues that concern part-time residents.

Go to their website to see what the EPRTA is about and to download their most recent newsletter (where I provide their real estate update) .

I'll see you at the meeting!