Discover the fascinating and nearly forgotten history amid Cape Cod’s salty waves and sandy beaches—photos included. From Provincetown to Falmouth, the Cape’s fifteen towns offer a plethora of hidden and enchanting tales. Learn why one of the most famous rescues in Coast Guard history spent nearly fifty years in the shadows without public notice. Discover which wild creature went from the nineteenth-century soup pot to enjoying conservation protection under state law. Historian Theresa Mitchell Barbo explores these mysteries and more, from the lost diary of a nineteenth-century schoolteacher to the reason Cape Codders call their lunch “the noontime dinner.” Join the author as she lifts the lid on the quirky and remarkable character of Cape Cod and its colorful past.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "Engrossing...entertaining...the perfect book to take to the beach." - Boston Herald Two families, both carried by the Mayflower across stormy seas... both destined to generations of proud leadership, shameful intrigue, and passion for the sandy crest of land that became their heritage... This is the story of the Bigelow and Hilyard clans, from their first years on America's shores, through the fury of her wars and the glory of her triumphs, to our own time when young Geoff Hilyard must fight to save both his marriage to a Bigelow heir and the windswept coast he loves. It is a struggle that will take him deep into the past, to a centuries-old feud that never died..And on a dangerous quest for a priceless relic of American history that has lain hidden in the Cape for over two hundred years.

Introduction -- Ancient Cape Cod -- Legendary miscreants -- The arctic explorer from Provincetown -- Fantastic creatures -- Murder most foul -- Gentle legends -- The disappearance of Billingsgate Island -- Village vignettes -- Unsolved mysteries -- Medical Maladies -- Haunted places -- Wampanoag tales -- Cape Cod oddities -- Ill-fated sea voyages -- Local legends -- Believe it or not -- Goblins and ghosts -- Inspirational legends -- The auctioneer and the air crash -- Hurricanes and other disasters -- UFO sightings: fact or fiction -- Cape eccentrics -- Legendary Hyannis Port.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "Engrossing...entertaining...the perfect book to take to the beach." - Boston Herald Two families, both carried by the Mayflower across stormy seas... both destined to generations of proud leadership, shameful intrigue, and passion for the sandy crest of land that became their heritage... This is the story of the Bigelow and Hilyard clans, from their first years on America's shores, through the fury of her wars and the glory of her triumphs, to our own time when young Geoff Hilyard must fight to save both his marriage to a Bigelow heir and the windswept coast he loves. It is a struggle that will take him deep into the past, to a centuries-old feud that never died..And on a dangerous quest for a priceless relic of American history that has lain hidden in the Cape for over two hundred years.

In the summer of 1937, Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus, rented a house on Planting Island, near the base of Cape Cod. Thus began a chapter in the history of modern architecture that has never been told _until now. The area was a hotbed of intellectual currents from New York, Boston, Cambridge and the country's top schools of architecture and design. Avant-garde homes began to appear in the woods and on the dunes; by the 1970s, there were about 100 modern houses of interest here.

Malice and mayhem simmer beneath the surface of one of America's favorite vacation areas. “Youthful alienation and despair dominate the 13 stories in Akashic’s noir volume devoted to Cape Cod. [It] will satisfy those with a hankering for a taste of the dark side.” —Publishers Weekly “David L. Ulin has put together a malicious collection of short stories that will stay with you long after you return home safe.” —The Cult: The Official Chuck Palahniuk Website Akashic Books continues its groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each story is set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the city of the book. Brand-new stories by: William Hastings, Elyssa East, Dana Cameron, Paul Tremblay, Adam Mansbach, Seth Greenland, Lizzie Skurnick, David L. Ulin, Kaylie Jones, Fred G. Leebron, Ben Greenman, Dave Zeltserman, and Jedediah Berry. From the introduction by David L. Ulin: “Here, we see the inverse of the Cape Cod stereotype, with its sailboats and its presidents. Here, we see the flip side of the Kennedys, of all those preppies in docksiders eating steamers, of the whale watchers and bicycles and kites. Here, we see the Cape beneath the surface, the Cape after the summer people have gone home. It doesn’t make the other Cape any less real, but it does suggest a symbiosis, in which our sense of the place can’t help but become more complicated, less about vacation living than something more nuanced and profound . . . "For me, Cape Cod is a repository of memory: forty summers in the same house will do that to you. But it is also a landscape of hidden tensions, which rise up when we least anticipate. In part, this has to do with social aspiration, which is one of the things that brought my family, like many others, to the Cape. In part, it has to do with social division, which has been a factor since at least the end of the nineteenth century, when then summer trade began. There are lines here, lines that get crossed and lines that never get crossed, the kinds of lines that form the web of noir. Call it what you want—summer and smoke is how I think of it—but that’s the Cape Cod at the center of this book.“

What do you do when a pandemic forces you to stay close to home while current issues of social and racial justice are sparking a reckoning with the past? You seek answers right where you live by walking and discovering the stories of the people who came before you, and of those around you today.Over the summer of 2020, Peggy Jablonski walked through every town on Cape Cod, the peninsula she calls home, on a pilgrimage to reflect, listen, understand, and take action. The Cape Cod Camino Way is her story of asking questions, finding answers, and sharing what she has found. It is the story of building awareness toward true social justice action for the future. And it is a guide for creating a Camino Way walk of your own!Cape Cod Camino Way: Walking with a Purpose continues with its walks on Cape Cod to invite others to explore contemporary social issues from a historically accurate lens, and to enjoy the natural beauty of the Cape.