Nauset Light Beach, Cape Cod National Seashore, May 11, 2024
In mid-May 2024 I took a weeklong trip to visit Cape Cod, and surrounding areas. I opted to fly into Providence, Rhode Island, adding a day on each end of my trip to experience some of the Ocean State. Here are some of the highlights of my trip.
Rhode Island at the beginning of the trip: After flying into Rhode Island, I drove to the campus of the University of Rhode Island in Kingstown. I watched a game at Bill Beck Field, an on-campus ballpark with no lights and few amenities. There is a small press box and a bleacher section behind the plate. Most fans chose to bring lawn chairs and sit behind the fences. It was windy and chilly. It threatened to rain all game, but never did. The University of Rhode Island lost to the visitors from the University of Richmond 3-2, scoring their runs on a pair of back-to-back solo home runs in the fourth inning. It was my first collegiate baseball game in Rhode Island. I stayed overnight Friday and started Saturday with breakfast at the Blue Plate Diner in Middletown, one of several diners near Newport.
Saturday I drove from Kingstown to Cape Cod. The traffic picked up on US 6, particularly after crossing on to the Cape. Since it is still the off-season, the traffic thinned as I approached Dennis and even fewer as I moved passed Orleans. I stopped for my second Massachusetts haircut at Roger’s Barber Shop in North Eastham. And then visited the Cape Cod National Seashore, starting with the Salt Pond Visitor Center. I drove out to the ocean beaches of Nauset Light Beach and Coast Guard Beach. The winds were cold and fairly strong and the surf looked fairly angry. I walked along Nauset Light Beach until my fingers started to feel numb. I walked around the Coast Guard station at Coast Guard Beach, and saw a wedding ceremony conclude, with the wedding party quickly returning to their vehicles. I was drawn to the ocean beaches due to the writings of Henry David Thoreau and others.
Sunday I took care of a few unfinished activities in Massachusetts. I attended church services at the West Parish of Barnstable UCC in West Barnstable, the oldest* church on Cape Cod. (*The dispute stems from whether the congregation’s English charter makes it older than the church in Sandwich, whose congregation arrived first but waited to formally organize with a colonial charter.) The service at West Parish made Massachusetts the 50th state in which I have attended a church service. (More to follow in a separate blog entry.) Sunday afternoon I watched a movie at Entertainment Cinemas in South Dennis, the first movie I had watched in Massachusetts.
Monday I returned to the Cape Cod National Seashore. I drove to North Truro and climbed the 69 steps to the top of the Highland Light. The Highland Light was the first one built, and the current version was moved back from the rapidly eroding cliff. The beacon has been replaced by an LED light and serves local pleasure craft as far as ten miles offshore. I returned to Nauset Light Beach as well, enjoying much better weather Monday afternoon.
Monday afternoon I visited the JFK Hyannis Museum in downtown Hyannis. The museum celebrates the Kennedy family’s home in nearby Hyannisport, and was curated by the family. It focuses on the President and Jackie, but also has displays for Bobby and John F. Kennedy Jr.
Tuesday I left Cape Cod and drove north. I spent much of the day at the Plimouth Patuxet Museums in Plymouth. There is a recreated 17th century English settlement and Wampanoag lodges, reflecting the joint name of the museum. (Patuxet is the name of the abandoned Native American village near the Pilgrim’s settlement.) The museum includes a colonial-style gristmill and a replica of the Mayflower in downtown Plymouth. I was struck by the small size of the ship. It would have been unbelievably cramped with all the colonists. While the Mayflower seemed small, I was truly underwhelmed by Plymouth Rock. From my American history classes I had come to expect a rock formation along the shore, or maybe a big boulder. Instead Plymouth Rock (given its own shrine in Pilgrim Monument State Park) looks to be roughly the size of a common garden boulder, one that could be carried off by a few enterprising fellows.
Wednesday and Thursday I stayed in Worcester, in central Massachusetts. I was there mainly to see the Worcester Red Sox minor league baseball team. (When planning the trip I found it was too late to see college baseball, it was too early for the Cape Cod summer league, and I didn’t feel like navigating Boston into Fenway Park. Worcester is currently the only affiliated minor league team in Massachusetts.) The “WooSox” moved to town from Pawtucket in 2021 and play in Polar Park in downtown. Polar Park is a jumble of architectural styles (creating a disjointed concourse) that may be smoothed out when surrounding developments are completed. Besides requiring fans to take an elevator/stairs from the home plate entrance to the concourse, the park’s other remarkable features include the ability to watch trains pass on a trestle level with the upper deck and a Worcester Wall in right field built to the dimensions of Fenway’s Green Monster. The game I watched was an 11:15AM start and was both a School Field Trip Day and First Responder Wednesday. The kids were put in the outfield and left field corner, leaving most of the grandstand to us “regular” fans. The game itself was a pitcher’s battle and moved quickly. The visiting Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders defeated Worcester 1-0, after managing to string together two hits in the seventh inning.
Friday was a travel day for me. Before leaving Worcester, I stopped at one of the town’s many diners, the Kenmore Diner behind Union Station. On my way back to Providence, I stopped at the Museum of Work and Culture in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. The museum celebrates the town’s textile heritage and the French-Canadian workers.
My Official State Activities Scorecard (and number of states in which I have done each):
- Haircut – Roger’s Barber Shop, North Eastham. My second haircut in Massachusetts (the first was in Boston in 2017).
- Church (all 50!) – West Parish of Barnstable UCC, West Barnstable, Mass.
- Move (49) – “Nowhere Special” at Entertainment Cinemas, South Dennis, Mass.
- Baseball (46) – Worcester Red Sox (Class AAA)
- Complete State Sets (43) – Massachusetts
