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HISTORY OF WELLFLEET 
 
 FROM EARLY DAYS 
 TO PRESENT TIME 
 
 mu 
 
 VIEW OF WELLFLEET 
 
 Compiled by Everett I. Nye 
 1920 
 
HISTORY OF WELLFLEET 
 
 FROINT 
 
 EARLY DAYS 
 
 TO 
 
 PRESENT TIME 
 
 Compiled by 
 EVERETT I. NYE 
 
 1920 
 

 
EVERETT I. NYE 
 
ACKNOWLEDGMENT 
 
 While much of the material herein contained is the 
 result of years of research and interest in the annals of 
 Cape Cod and particularly of Wellfleet by the author, he 
 wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness to the various 
 authors of Cape Cod Histories from which many important 
 dates and facts are taken. Namely: "Pratt's History of 
 Eastham," "Freeman's History of Cape Cod," "Swift's 
 Cape Cod," "Deyo's History of Barnstable County," 
 "Rich's History of Truro," "Barber's Historical Collec- 
 tions," and to the residents of Wellfleet and vicinity for 
 their kindness to which he is indebted for many facts 
 obtained. 
 
 Credit is especially due to Miss Mary Otis Sparrow for 
 appreciation, advice and assistance in arranging and pre 
 paring the subject matter for publication. 
 
 Thanks are also extended to Rev. N. Addison Baker, a 
 native of Wellfleet, now pastor of a church in Bellingham, 
 Wash., who, at the request of the author, delivered this ad- 
 dress at the opening exercises of Old Home Week for which 
 much of this material was prepared. 
 
 Page Three 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 These facts, collected through many years, but hastily 
 compiled, make no pretense at literary merit, but are given 
 with the hope that we may save from oblivion much of local 
 history which posterity may enjoy. 
 
 "What is writ, is writ, — 
 Would it were worthier ! but I am not now 
 That which I have been, and my visions flit 
 Less palpably before me, — and the glow 
 Which in my spirit dwelt, is fluttering, faint and low." 
 
 Pag© Five 
 
EARLY HISTORY 
 
 Geologists tell us that in the remote past Cape Cod was 
 buried under the great glacier or ice cap, the pressure of 
 the western edge forcing up the range of hills that from 
 Sandwich to Brewster runs parallel to the shore line from 
 one to two miles from the present beach. As the ice melted, 
 the increasing volume of water cut channels across the Cape 
 from east to west, leaving what we call hollows. Good 
 examples in Wellfleet are Pierce's Hollow and'the Herring 
 Brook Valley. The soil, washed from the hills, settled in 
 the valleys and formed our salt meadows and swamps. 
 
 It is possible that the adventurous Northmen 1000 
 years ago discovered our shores, but of that there seems to 
 be no certain evidence. The actual history of Cape Cod 
 begins May 15, 1602, when having sighted land the day 
 before, Gosnold found himself "Em])ayed within a mighty 
 headland near this cape." He anchored in fifteen fathoms, 
 where they caught so many codfish they were ''pestered" 
 with them and threw them overboard. From this circum- 
 stance he named the place Cape Cod. 
 
 Champlain in 1605 comes next. From his description 
 he seems to have entered Wellfleet Bay. 
 
 John Smith in 1614 ranged the coast from Penobscot to 
 Cape Cod and what had been previously known as West 
 Virginia he named New England. He alsoi named Cape 
 Cod, Cape James, but Gosnold 's designation prevails. 
 
 The people mentioned, and many preceding and follow- 
 ing them, were traders and adventurers, or as Smith writes, 
 "Our plot was to take whales and to make trials of a mine 
 
 Page Seven 
 
of gold and copper. If tliese failed, fish and furs were then 
 our refuge." 
 
 The greatest event in the history of Cape Cod and our 
 country comes in /'The Landing of the Pilgrims." While the 
 Mayflower laj^ in Provincetown harbor, the people under 
 the leadership of Miles Standish, made three cruises, one 
 by land and two in the shallop. The third one interests us, 
 as then they sailed along back of the islands, around Billins- 
 gate Point, then across the Bay to the shore, landing near 
 the old Camp Ground in what is now Eastham, where they 
 made camp for the night. The next day, some by land and 
 some in the shallop, cruised the neighboring country and 
 bay returning to their camp before night. Towards morn- 
 ing they were attacked by the Indians with flights of arrows 
 and plenty of noise. They returned musket balls for the 
 arrows. The noise was soon cured by absent treatment and 
 nobody hurt. They then proceeded on their way, finally 
 landing in Plymouth. In all this there is no evidence that 
 any of the Pilgrim party ever set foot on what is now Well- 
 fleet, with the possible exception of the extreme southern 
 end of the town. 
 
 In 1643 Gov. Bradford and others made a survey and 
 purchased of the Indian Sachem the territory now included 
 in the towns of Orleans, Eastham and part of Wellfleet. 
 
 The rights of the Indians in the shell fisheries and 
 whales being recognized, the question was then asked ol 
 George, the sachem, "Who owns Billinsgate?" "Nobody," 
 he said. Then, tliey replied, "That land is ours also," to 
 which the Indian assented. 
 
 The land of Billinsgate was held for some time without 
 consideration made to the natives. It was finally claimed 
 l)y them and bought by the town from an Indian named 
 Lt- Anthony, said tract extending from the northern limit oF 
 Nauset to a little brook called by the Indians Sapokouish, 
 and by the English Bound Brook. (This purchase was un- 
 derstood to mean all the land within the bay north of that 
 purchased of Sachem George.) 
 
 Page Eight 
 
Vitur of\^llfleet:i 
 
DERIVATION OF NAMES 
 
 Billinsgate. *Biniusgate I\Iarket in London has been the 
 chief fish depot since 1464. In 1699 it was by William III 
 made a free port where fish might be sold any day except 
 Sunday. The original name is said to have been Belinsgate 
 or Gate of Belinus, King of Britain, who was fellow adven- 
 turer of Brennus, King of the Gauls, at the sacking of Rome 
 360 B. C. Whether the name was applied to this part of 
 the town because of the abundance of fish, or by reason of 
 the free use of language, other than classical, by the people, 
 is submitted for your consideration. 
 
 Bound Brook Island derived the name by reason of 
 being bounded by a brcok or creek; Merricks or properly 
 Myrick's Island, from Wm. Myrick its owner. Griffin's 
 Island, or properly Griffith's, probably from some person 
 of the name who owned it wholly or in part ; a family name 
 further up the Cape. There was an early attempt, but un- 
 successful, to have this part of the town set off as a new 
 town to be called Poole. Poole is a seaport on the English 
 Channel in Dorset. When the town was finally divided 
 Wellfleet was the name chosen. The termination floet or 
 flete is Saxon and means a place where the tide comes in. 
 There are several places on the east coast of England, Gun- 
 fleet, Purfleet, Northfleet, Saltfleet and others, all situated 
 on tide water similar to Wellfleet. A map of Essex County, 
 
 . T,*,T^^^ ^^^^ P^^^ °^ ^'^^''^ '" London was built in the year 1000 
 at Billinsgate for the accommodation of the fishermen, a small fee 
 being charged. 
 
 Page Nine 
 
England, in 1750 shows in the margin a picture of a barrel 
 of oysters marked "W<x.llfleet Oysters and this statement: 
 "On the north side of Blackwater Bay a wall was built to 
 resist the encroachment of the sea. Near the wall the 
 famous Wallfieet oysters are found." Is it not probable 
 that some one from that locality, noting the similarity 
 of natural conditions, selected the name? That also is 
 submitted. 
 
 To show how names persist when they do not strictly 
 apply : 
 
 "When our town was first settled, Billinsgate was con- 
 tinuous land from Beach Hill to the extreme end of the Old 
 Point. We still speak of "Billinsgate Point" and "going to 
 the Point," when in fact it has probably been an island for 
 more than a hundred years. 
 
 The early settlers established themselves on the islands. 
 They found these islands ideal homes. Their objects in life 
 were first shelter, second sustenance. The bays furnished 
 fish and fowl to an extent beyond our conception. But all 
 the conditions changed so radically that by reason of the 
 favorable location the northern part of Eastham advanced 
 so rapidly in population and influence, that in 1723 Billins- 
 gate was set off as a separate precinct, and in 1763 after 
 the usual opposition by the parent town was, by a petition 
 of ten freeholders, set off as a township to be called 
 Wellfleet. 
 
 Page Ten 
 
EARLY SETTLEMENTS 
 
 The range of islands that separate Wellfleet and Barn- 
 stable bays were among the earliest settlements. The loca- 
 tion was the best possible as everything needed for their 
 subsistence was at their doors. The waters and flats which 
 surrounded them teemed with fish, fowl and shellfish to an 
 extent beyond our imagination. Levi Whitman, in his 
 "Topographical Description of Wellfleet," says: "The 
 method of killing gulls, in the gull house, is no doubt an 
 Indian invention, and also that of killing birds and fowl 
 upon the beach in dark nights. The gull house is built with 
 crotches fixed in the ground on the beach and covered with 
 poles, the sides being covered with flakes and seaweed, the 
 poles on the top covered with lean whale. The man, being 
 placed within, is not discovered by the fowls, and while they 
 are contending for and eating the flesh, he draws them in 
 one by one between the poles until he has collected forty or 
 fifty. This number has often been taken in a morning. The 
 method of killing small birds and fowl that perch on the 
 beach is by making a light. The present mode is with hog's 
 lard in a frying pan. We suppose the Indians used a pine 
 torch. Birds in a dark night will flock to the light, and 
 may be killed with a walking cane." 
 
 The first of the name of Rich came from Dover, N. H., 
 and settled on the southeast corner of Great Beach Hill. 
 Thos. Rich & Co. by deed of 1746 conveyed to Samuel Smith 
 for £3 and 10s., parcels of land on Great Island which he 
 had bought of sundry persons, the original deeds having 
 dates of 1711, 1712 and 1715. Samuel Smith was an inn- 
 Page Blfeven 
 
holder. His house was a little back from the road. Tradi- 
 tion says that at the road was the enticing sign : 
 
 "Samuel Smith, he keeps good flip, 
 Good toddy, if you please ; 
 The way is near and very clear, 
 'Tis just beyond the trees." 
 
 Great Island was depopulated before 1800, the last 
 house, being in Smith Cove on the river side of the Island, 
 was floated across the bay to Dogtown, a designation given 
 to that part of the town between the village and South 
 Wellfleet. 
 
 Griffith's Island, the next in order, was a busy little 
 neighborhood of twelve to fifteen families. Lying as it did 
 between the Herring river on the east and Duck harbor, on 
 the west, it offered every advantage possible for the prose- 
 cution of their business as sailors and fishermen. 
 
 Bound Brook Island, the last of the range completing 
 the northwest corner of the town, was the last to succumb. 
 It was a flourishing community of about twenty families, a 
 store, and a schoolhouse with a sufficiency of scholars to fill 
 it. The schoolhouse was sold about 1880. The belfry can 
 now be seen as a well house at the David Baker homestead 
 on the Island and the bell is now in a Wesleyan Chapel in 
 Jamaica, W. I., being carried there by Capt. L. D. Baker, a 
 native of Bound Brook Island. Six houses are now habit- 
 able, owned originally by Elisha Atwood, Thomas Atwood, 
 E. L. Atwood, Henry Atwood, David Baker and *Samuol 
 Rich, later the Bryne place. They are now all vacant, the 
 gradual shoaling and final closing of Duck Harbor and the 
 increasing size of the vessels compelling the abandoning of 
 the islands. 
 
 The last house on Griffith's Island was burned in 1890. 
 
 *There is good authority for the statement that the vessel that 
 brought lumber for the Samuel Rich house came up the beach and 
 discharged her cargo almost on the spot where the building stands. 
 Also for the statement that on a Sunday morning thirteen chaises 
 left the Island to attend church in the village. 
 
 Page Twelve 
 
Bound Brook Island was depopulated at about the begin- 
 ning of the present century. 
 
 During the war of 1812 the fine English ship of war, 
 Newcastle, from Boston to Provineetown ran ashore on the 
 shoal ground abreast South Truro. Help was at once sent 
 from Provineetown. Guns and other ordnance were thrown 
 overboard. A shot of cable with sheet anchor was slipped, 
 when she was gotten off; the cable had been buoyed to 
 await a convenient time for the recovery of that and the 
 other property. As soon as the ship was gone, the people 
 who had been watching from the shore manned their five- 
 handed whale boats and hastened to the scene. As the big 
 hemp cable was too heavy to handle entire, it was underrun 
 and cut into lengths convenient to handle, and was carefully 
 unlayed and layed up again into boat rodes, and other small 
 rigging, the superior quality and extreme scarcity of that 
 material at that time making it a valuable find. The fore 
 going is on the authority of the late Capt. Naphtali Rich, 
 who was present and helped, and being a boy, had a half 
 share. 
 
 The hill to the northwest of the Elisha Atwood place 
 was a famous lookout for whales. 
 
 Page Thirteen 
 
CHURCHES 
 
 In 1723 Billinsgate having been set off as a separate 
 parish, a meeting was held to request Rev. Josiah Oakes to 
 continue in the work of the ministry with them, offering to 
 pay £80 a year, which he accepted. The new society seems 
 to have gotten a bad start. Trouble commenced at once and 
 continued until Mr. Oakes left the town in 1727. He was 
 buried, however, in the old cemetery at Chequesset Neck. 
 
 He was followed by Rev. Ezra Whitmarsh until in 1730 
 Rev. Isaiah Lewis was hired at a salary of £110 in good and 
 passable money, and what strangers and persons from 
 neighboring towns, being providentially here, should add ; 
 also £200 settlement in good money. 
 
 They soon built a small meeting house in Chequesset 
 Neck, 20 feet square, sufficiently large for the people, in 
 1734 it was voted to build a new meeting house to the south- 
 ward of the head of Duck Creek, Elisha Holbrook giving 
 the land. 
 
 The uncertain value of the circulating medium seems 
 to have required frequent readjustment of salary to meet 
 the depreciation in the current money, as both parties 
 seemed disposed to do what was right and proper under all 
 circumstances. The Reverend brother was honored and mueli 
 respected, dying in 1786 in the 55th year of his ministry. 
 Following Mr. Lewis, Rev. Levi Whitman was ordainc<l 
 April 3, 1785. In 1765 the meeting house was enlarged by 
 an addition of 18 feet, and a porch added with a steeple and 
 vane. 
 
 Page Fourteen 
 
In 1808 after 23 years' service the church offered Rev. 
 Mr. Whitman $500 to ask for his dismissal to which he 
 agreed, stipulating, however, that he should get the money 
 first. 
 
 He was succeeded by Mr. Timothy Davis, who was suc- 
 ceeded by Rev. Stephen Bailey for eight years ; then a suc- 
 cession of pastors followed, mostly for short terms, to the 
 present time. 
 
 The meeting house was enlarged in 1806. In 1829 a 
 larger and better house was built with the addition of a 
 tower and bell. In 1850 the present house in the village was 
 built which in 1873 was remodeled and repaired at an ex- 
 pense of $10,000. In December, 1879, the steeple and town 
 clock were blown down, and replaced in a substantial man 
 ner. The foregoing is a brief sketch of the Old F'irst Con- 
 gregational church for 200 years. 
 
 The Second Congregational church was organized De 
 cember 4, 1833, in South Wellfleet, 42 members withdrawing 
 from the First Church for that purpose. The church flour- 
 ished and in 1861 a new pulpit and internal improvements 
 were added. 
 
 A more central location being desired the old church 
 was abandoned and the Pond Hill schoolhouse was fitted up 
 as a chapel where services were held, the Wellfleet pastor 
 officiating. The old church was removed to Wellfleet in 
 1919 to a fine location in the village opposite the Post Office, 
 where it now stands awaiting completion. 
 
 Page Fifteen 
 
THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL 
 CHURCH 
 
 As early as 1797 Rev. Robert Yallarly of Provincetowii 
 had visited the town and preached. 
 
 In 1807 Wellfleet was part of the Harwich circuit, Rev. 
 Joel Steele, preacher. In 1811 it was in a circuit with 
 Truro, and in 1827 a station by itself. 
 
 The first class meeting was organized in 1802 with three 
 members, Abigail Gross, Thankful Rich, and Lurana Hig- 
 gins. Ephraim Higgins was the first class leader. In 181G 
 a church was built on the hill north of the village, the first 
 of that denomination in town. "When the growth of the 
 society made a larger building necessary, the house was en- 
 larged and galleries added. In 1842-3 great revivals oc- 
 curred and all churches added largely to their membership. 
 
 A new building was erected in the village which was 
 at that time the most elaborate church edifice on the Cape. 
 This church was struck by lightning and burned in 1891, 
 and the next year the present building was erected. 
 
 The Methodist church at South Wellfleet was built in 
 1835 standing on the west side of the road, a little to the 
 south of the old Congregational church. In 1838 Rev 
 Anthony Palmer was the pastor who reported ''My salary 
 was $100 clear cash, my board cost me nothing as I boarded 
 round." Sometime in the fifties the church seems to have 
 died of inanition and was later in 1869 removed to the 
 Adllage and converted into a dwelling house by Dr. Geo. 
 T. Wyer. 
 
 Page Sixteen 
 
In 1819 a Methodist camp meeting was held in Soutli 
 Wellfleet near where now stands the house of J. K. Lewis 
 A fine spreading oak tree stands behind that house, perhaps 
 a remnant of the original forest. From 1823 to 1825 the 
 camp meeting was held on Bound Brook Island. 
 
 The First Universalist society was organized in 1840; 
 subsequent meetings were held in Lyceum Hall. In 1844 
 the old Masonic Hall was remodeled into a suitable place 
 for worship. The Union Hall was purchased in 1868, where 
 regular services were held until 1889, and where services 
 are now held during the summer season. 
 
 There was a small Advent Society organized in 1866. 
 A chapel was fitted up over the store of Mr. Payne W 
 Higgins where is now the Public Library. Services were 
 conducted by itinerant preachers for several years. 
 
 Previous to 1900, considerable population having come 
 to this place from the Azores, and from Nova Scotia, bein.;.^ 
 Roman Catholics, and having no place of worship, priests 
 from neighboring parishes made occasional visits and held 
 meetings in some private house. By a vote of the town on 
 October 1.9th of that year the town sold to Henry Delory 
 for $59 the schoolhouse opposite the old cemetery. With 
 that as a meeting place and with some assistance from inter- 
 ested citizens a neat chapel was made, which was continued 
 until 1912 when a lot was bought in the village, and a com- 
 plete church and rectory was commenced, which by the 
 skill and unremitting industry of those in charge of the 
 work, particularly that of Rev. Joseph Eikerling, has been 
 made a beautiful and attractive place much' admired by 
 natives and strangers. 
 
 An Advent church was built in South Truro, but by 
 reason of some human mistake in calculating the date of 
 the Divine appearing, or for some other reason, the church 
 building was removed to "Wellfleet where as a store and 
 later as a skating rink and tenement house it has served a 
 useful purpose. 
 
 Page Seventeen 
 
SCHOOLS 
 
 The founding of the public school system of Massa- 
 chusetts, and of Cape Cod as well, may rightly date back 
 to Gov. Prince, the fourth governor of Plymouth Colony. 
 He had a deep respect for learning and learned me:^, and 
 established a school at Plymouth which was supported hj 
 the profits of the fisheries of Cape Cod. This was fraught 
 with such incalculable benefit that afterwards schools were 
 sustained at public expense. 
 
 Wellfleet from the time of its incorporation as a town 
 has always been liberal in the support of the schools. At 
 the first meeting it was voted to raise more money than 
 heretofore for the education of their children, agreeing to 
 pay the schoolmaster £26, 13s., 8d., with board, for his ser- 
 vices and to choose a committee to rbgulate the schools. 
 
 Of the earlier schools we quote from *Elien Freeman, 
 
 *Further quotation from manuscript of Eben Freeman, Esquire: 
 
 "Summer schools were kept by female teachers. I was fiv^ 
 years old when I first entered a schoolroom, if it may be called a 
 schoolroom. It was on the hearth of an old-fashioned fireplace. 
 About ten scholars with seats all on the hearth of the fireplace 
 Not allowed to go on the floor of the east room for that was sandod 
 i'n lumps as was then the fashion. In those days the said east 
 room resembled our salt marsh in the months of August and Sep 
 tember, when the hay is all cocked up for many acres. The sand 
 was dug out of the land, washed, and put in a kettle and heated to 
 make it stick together, then taken in thimblefuls and placed neatly 
 in patterns on the floor. 
 
 "I learned the A B C's and &.c but the letter Z was then called 
 izzard; and &c, I had to call ampersand. 
 
 "The winter school the third year was kept by Thomas Atkin.s 
 from the country. He brought one dozen spelling books. He sold 
 them for twenty cents apiece. Some of the old women, and some 
 
 Page Eighteen 
 
Esquire, manuscript written at the age of 75. He was born 
 in 1790. "In those days there was always some one who 
 went to sea in summer and. stayed at home in winter. 
 The neighbors would select some such one to teach their 
 boys, hire some kitchen in an old house, tit it up with rough 
 seats and tables. 'School begins next Monday,' would be 
 announced. They come. The master calls the names to 
 see if all who applied are there. All in, he directs them to 
 their seats. Those with slates and writing books sit at the 
 tables or benches, and readers only sit on low benches. 
 School begins. This is a private school. 
 
 "The schoolmaster brings Pike's Arithmetic, the Bible, 
 and Westminster Catechisms. The scholars bring the same 
 if they have them. Some bring a book called the Psalter 
 In some schools there was no arithmetic but the master's. 
 The custom then was for the master to write his sums down 
 on each scholar's manuscript so called. The scholar went 
 to his seat and puzzled it out to prove it by reading the 
 rule. A scholar who could read a chapter in St. John's 
 gospel without spelling the words was thought a go 3d 
 reader ; and if he could cipher as far as the rule of three he 
 was then considered finished, left school and went to sea 
 for a living. That was the case of the writer. ' ' 
 
 About the year 1798 a number of men in the north pari 
 of the town built a schoolhouse in 32 shares. It was located 
 on the King's Highway north of the Herring Brook about 
 fifteen rods south of Truro town line. It was the first* 
 schoolhouse built in Wellfieet and maintained as a private 
 school with seats for 32 scholars. They came from Truro 
 and the Island over meadows and bogs, no bridges. Some 
 of the scholars were more than 21 years old and some 10 or 
 
 others said it would undo the country. They never never read in 
 anything but the New Testament and Psalter. 
 
 "When I was a boy of ten summers, being the fifth in a family 
 of eight sons, four older than myself, I was reserved to make up lo.-'t 
 time, perhaps one day in a week, when the others were absent, so 
 I lost my winter school in the new schoolhouse." 
 
 * A, tablet has been erected by Dr. Wm. Rollins of Boston to 
 mark the spot where this first schoolhouse was located. 
 
 Page Nineteen 
 
12. The first masters in the new house were brothers, James 
 and Thomas Hatch. 
 
 We quote from "History of Barnstable County:" "At 
 the division from its parent town, Wellfleet at once assumed 
 the prerogative of placing the schools upon a better basis. 
 The share of the public money in the hands of the old town 
 that belonged to this was at once handed over to the treas- 
 urer of Wellfleet and the best master they could hire was 
 placed over the schools, he to 'board round' and teach in 
 divisions. At this early day no schoolhouses adorned the 
 landscape and the schools were kept at private houses." 
 
 In 1763 it was. agreed that terms of five week each be 
 kept at James Atwood's, Joseph Atkins', Joseph Pierce's 
 and Zoeth Smith's and the remainder of the six months at 
 Widow Doane's. 
 
 *In 1768 John Greenough was employed to teach a 
 Grammar school one year, the school "to be attended by 
 such only as learn Greek and Latin." The school for teach- 
 ing "reading, writing and cyphering" was located in four 
 different parts of the town, between 193 families — in the 
 south part were 48 families, in the middle division 48, on 
 Holbrook Neck, the islands and Pamet Point 49, and in the 
 northeast part 48 families. The sum appropriated was £40. 
 This gentleman, Greenough, fell into disfavor politically, 
 and in 1774 another teacher for the Grammar school was 
 secured. In this year the town was divided into eight 
 districts. 
 
 In 1807 the districts were reduced to five each with a 
 teacher, besides a central Grammar school. 
 
 In 1844 the town supported ten schools. 
 
 In 1859 the town raised $2800. There were 12 schools 
 with 600 pupils. 
 
 In 1861 a committee was chosen for each district to fur- 
 nish a proper teacher and to supervise the school. 
 
 *This Greek and Latin school was kept in the old Ryder homo 
 stead where now is a vacant lot opposite homestead of the lato 
 Jerry Ryder. 
 
 Page Twenty 
 
In 1866 the district system was abolished, a committee 
 appointed to build new houses and $10,000 appropriated for 
 that purpose. 
 
 The same year, 1866, for the first time, a High school 
 building was erected on the hill back of the residence now 
 occupied by David C. Lombard. This location at that time 
 accommodated pupils from the outlying districts of the 
 town. Later centralization of town residences required Its 
 removal to the village in 1889 to the place between Union 
 Hall and the residence of the late Dr. T. N. Stone, where it 
 now stands. Changes in school systems led to a better grad- 
 ing and arrangement of schools, two buildings now accom 
 modating all the pupils, distant pupils being transported 
 to these points. 
 
 Page Twenty-one 
 
INDUSTRIES 
 
 Billinsgate and Wellfleet — the names suggest fish and 
 fishing — as was probably intended by our earliest settlers. 
 It is safe to say that nowhere on this coast were fish and 
 shellfish so plentiful and so easily caught as in Wellfleet bay 
 and Provincetown harbor. Gosnold speaks of the advantage 
 of catching codfish near the shore in six or seven fathoms 
 of water at Cape Cod, rather than far off in fifty or sixty 
 fathoms in Newfoundland. 
 
 Another inducement was the Avhaling business. Whales 
 seem to have been plentiful in the bay and the disposition 
 and ownership of those cast ashore was a matter of con- 
 tention and controversy, but it was finally decided that for 
 each whale so found the finder should send one hogshead of 
 oil to Boston for the government. Soon, however, the new 
 comers, unwilling to wait for death from natural causes, 
 kept careful watch from the hills or from watch towers 
 and gave the alarm when whales were sighted, and the boats 
 were manned by willing hands and with harpoons and 
 lances the whales were killed and towed ashore to the 
 nearest try yard where the blubl^er was stripped and tried 
 out. There were try yards on Griffith's Island, Physic 
 Point* and at South Wellfleet below the Townsend place. 
 There was a lookout on Bound Brook Island. The native 
 Indians in the earlier days under the leadership of the 
 white men were said to have been expert whale men. Capl . 
 
 *Physic Point was so called because it was for a long time the 
 residence of Dr. Warren Anson Kenrick, a noted pliysician. 
 
 Page Twenty-two 
 
Jesse Holbrook of Wellfleet about the time of the Revolu- 
 tion on oue voyage killed 52 whales. He was employed l)y 
 a London company for 12 years to teach their employees 
 the art of catching whales. 
 
 Whaling was an established business Ijefore the Revolu- 
 tion. In 1771 Welltleet is credited with having 30 whalers 
 of 75 tons, each employing 15 men. It appears that they 
 started out early in the spring, went to the Gulf of Guinea, 
 west coast of Africa, returning in the fall, hauling up for 
 the winter in the creeks and coves, on their return voyage 
 often calling at St. Thomas to re-victual the ship. 
 
 With the abundance of natural products of the sea, a 
 living was easily obtained. There was not much to sell for 
 cash excepting oil. That always had a ready sale in the 
 London market, the profits from the business being the 
 foundation on which the fortunes of some families were 
 built, notably that of Capt. Elisha Doane, who at the time 
 of his death in Boston had accumulated a fortune of £120,- 
 000, and was the richest man in INIassachusetts. Hezekiah 
 Doane of the same family was largely concerned in the 
 whaling industry before the Revolution, owning 16 whalers. 
 The Avar ruined the town, the inhabitants being diminished 
 by deaths in prison ships and removals to Penobscot and 
 other places, and the whaling business was never re-estab- 
 lished to any great extent. 
 
 Later, the cod and mackerel fisheries were the principal 
 industries. In 1837 Wellfleet had 39 vessels in the business, 
 3100 quintals of cod and 17,500 barrels of mackerel being 
 taken and 496 hands employed. 
 
 In 1851 there were seventy-nine vessels employing 852 
 men. The business increased and was at its best between 
 1860 and 1870, when about 100 vessels were employed. 
 After that date it declined, till in 1884 there were 30 vessels 
 employing about 500 men that landed 36,784 barrels. In 
 1886 twenty-nine vessels landed only 3565 barrels wiiich il- 
 lustrates the uncertainties of the business soon reducing it 
 to the vanishing point. 
 
 Page Twenty-tliree 
 
For the accommodation of the fleet, wharves and pack- 
 ing establishments were built. The first wharf appears to 
 have been built by Capt. Reuben Rich on Griffith's Island 
 opposite White Hill, where the Herring River could be 
 forded at low water, there being no bridge. The vessels 
 from the West Indies with sugar, molasses and other staple 
 commodities, discharged their cargoes into ox carts to be 
 conveyed to the owners in this and adjoining towns. 
 
 In 1720 the King's Road, so called, was laid out. About 
 that date a road was projected from the King's Road fol- 
 lowing the line of the present road through the village 
 turning to the north over the hill near the old Bell School- 
 house, to the next hollow, then passing the house of Lemuel 
 Newcomb and around the meadow to White Hill, where 
 the river could be forded, making a connection between this 
 wharf and the King's Road. 
 
 The second wharf was built by Thomas Holbrook in 
 1788 on Duck Creek below the residence of the late Charles 
 Marsh. When whales were caught in the bay they Avere 
 secured at this wharf and tried out on Physic Point. 
 
 About 1830 the depopulation of the islands and the 
 vicinities near the back shore caused the centralization of 
 the town around Duck Creek. John Harding built a wharf 
 in Duck Creek about this time. The remains of a wharf 
 probably built by Amaziah Atwood near Uncle Tim's bridge 
 can now be seen. Samuel Higgins had a wharf near where 
 the railroad crosses the creek. Enterprise wharf on the 
 other side of the creek was built prior to 1837. It was 
 abandoned in 1862. Commercial wharf, the oldest on the 
 beach, was built in 1835 by Payne G. Atwood and Elisha 
 G. Perry. Central wharf was built in 1863, the Mercantile 
 wharf in 1870. These three wharves during the thriving 
 years of the mackerel industry did a flourishing and profit- 
 able business. Commercial wharf after a number of changes 
 in ownership is now used as an extensive and valuable plant 
 by firms engaged in the oyster business. Central wharf was 
 bought by the town for a town landing and is now used as 
 
 Page Twenty-four 
 

 
 B&2^ 
 
 
 A\rs V/^ H Tubaian 
 
 ' Capt Anthony Fre^ema^ j 
 
 Country Hone- ^ •"■•'""«^/2/ ' 4, •*• 
 
 ^^^*- .1,: 
 
 HI 
 
 /Marshall I. Higoin^, Re^idei/ce- 
 
 /^Rs. Valter. LiBBY.rtone- 
 
such. Mercantile wharf was bought by Capt. L. D. Baker 
 aud the buildings remodeled forming the now popular, com- 
 modious, and attractive Chequesset Inn. 
 
 Two wharves have not yet been mentioned : the River 
 Wharf which was built on the mainland opposite Great 
 Island built in 1840 as a fishing and packing establishment, 
 and one at South Wellfleet built by Boston men on the south 
 side of Blackfish Creek. These, like the earlier wharves, 
 have since fallen into decay. 
 
 Salt Making-. The discovery that salt could be obtained 
 from sea water by solar evaporation was made in 1799, and 
 the need of that commodity for curing all kinds of fish 
 stimulated that business to such an extent that in 1837 
 there were 39 establishments in Wellfleet for the manufac- 
 ture, and 10,000 bushels were made. The withdrawing of 
 the state bounty, and the duty being removed, together 
 with the development of the salt springs in New York, 
 made the business lesS important and profitable, no new 
 works being erected after 1860, and by 1880 the business 
 was practically abandoned in Wellfleet. The shore from 
 Milton Hill to the Barzillai Kemp place was covered with 
 vats, and the windmills for pumping the water. There 
 were works in the cove, on Griffith and Bound Brook Islands 
 and in South Wellfleet. 
 
 Oyster Industry. Oysters and other shellfish were 
 found in the bay in great abundance at the first settlement, 
 which not only afforded a supply for the inhabitants, but 
 in time were taken to Boston and other places for sale. 
 This business was carried on extensively and profitably to 
 those engaged in it. Shops and stands were opened in 
 Boston, Salem, Portland and other places, where the oysters 
 were sold in quantities to suit the purchasers. 
 
 In 1770 all the oysters in the bay died. What caused 
 the destruction is not certainly known, but it is supposed 
 that, as at this time a large number of blackfish died and 
 came on shore where their carcasses remained, producing a 
 very filthy condition of the water, it caused this mortality. 
 
 Page Twenty-five 
 
Another surmise, possibly more credible, is that oyster 
 seed, or spat, as it is called, is deposited on shells or stones. 
 At the date mentioned, the accumulation of shells, or oyster 
 rock, that caught the spat, was broken up and used to make 
 lime for building purposes. As a consequence, there were 
 no seed oysters in Wellflcet bay until about 1900, when the 
 experiment of bringing shells from Wareham and other 
 places was commenced, and pursued with varying success.* 
 
 The inhabitants of the town tried the experiment of 
 bringing oysters from the South in the spring and layiu;^ 
 them down on the flats, which succeeded well. By the fall 
 of the year they had increased in size and their quality was 
 much improved. 
 
 This soon became d large business and a number of 
 vessels were employed in the spring of every year in bring- 
 ing them here, the number of bushels in some years amount- 
 ing to about 150,000. Nearly all the oyster shops and 
 stands in Boston and in other towns and cities in this state 
 were supplied from this place and were kept by persons b.}- 
 longing to this town. This business afforded a living for 
 many families. 
 
 About 1890 the business of buying seed oysters in Long 
 Island Sound and planting them in Welltieet bay, to be taken 
 up on their maturity and prepared for market, was started. 
 Buildings were erected for handling the product, Avhich in 
 1903 had reached the amount of 200,000 bushels. Since that 
 date there has not been a set of oysters in the Sound, but 
 the quantity of seed in AVellfleet bay has increased to a con- 
 siderable extent, the quantity of oysters on the bed at tliis 
 time being about 100,000 bushels. t Qauhaugs and clams 
 
 *The desirability of re-establisliing tlie industry is shown bv 
 the action of Eastliam in 1774 when that town chose a committee 
 to "join with one from Welltieet to propagate the growth of oysters 
 in that Bay." What action, if any, was taken does not appear. 
 
 fA good set of oysters occurs only about once in three years, 
 when the shells are taken up and planted in deep water to grow. 
 In the off years, however, the shells are scattered by the ice, and 
 the seed are abundant and make an easily caught and readily sold 
 product. 
 
 Page Tweuty-six 
 
have always been plentiful, some years as many as 150 per- 
 mits having been granted to eitizens and which to them 
 has been an important industry. 
 
 Ship Building. The first vessel built in Wellfieet of 
 which we have any record was the schooner Freemason, 
 built under the hill below the Thomas Atwood place on 
 Bound Brook Island about 1800. This craft was of 100 
 tons burden, Capt. Reuben Rich, owner. 
 
 A shipyard was established on land owned by Samuel 
 riiggins in Duck Creek by Henry Rogers and sons James, 
 Edward, Charles and Sydney. From 1848 to 1853 eiglit 
 schooners were built, named Simeon Baker, J. Y. Baker, 
 J S. Higgins, Benjamin Baker, R. R. Freeman, I. H. Hortou, 
 George Shattuck and Varnum H. Hill. In 1863 the schooner 
 St. Cloud was beached on Great Island. This schooner was 
 rebuilt by Giles Hopkins and named the Louie A. Swett. 
 Later the Clara D. Swett was built by Theodore Brown 
 near the old Town Landing. Later two sloops were built 
 by Nathaniel Snow for Capt. L. D. Baker for use in coast- 
 wise banana trade in Jamaica, W. I. This was the begin 
 ning of the now prominent United Fruit Company business. 
 Smaller craft and scows for the fish weir business were built 
 by Nathaniel Snow and Theodore Brown. 
 
 A careful investigation by inquiry from the most re 
 liable sources shows the number of schooners hailing from 
 Wellfieet since 1820 to be 357 of which 46 sailed from SoutJi 
 Wellfieet. 
 
 Windmills. Early maps of Wellfieet shoAv a windmill 
 on Bound Brook Island, between David Baker's house and 
 the beach, and owned by David Baker. There was also one 
 at Pamet Point, the last miller of which was Thomas Hig 
 gins. There was one to the north of Perch Pond called 
 Freeman's mill, the mill stone of which last served as a 
 doorstep to Elisha Freeman's tannery. The Samuel Ryder 
 mill, so called from its original owner, was built in 1765 on 
 the hill north of Squire's pond which is still known as Mill 
 Hill. The original mill was torn down in 1838 to make room 
 
 Page Twenty-seven 
 
for a better one and the latter prior to 1870, having been 
 damaged by lightning, was moved and by additions con- 
 verted into the summer residence now known as the Morn- 
 ing Glory. Samuel Chipman's mill stood east of the present 
 village near the King's highway. About 1839 its timbers 
 were perverted to other uses. The mill stones were later 
 used as doorsteps at the Morning Glory cottage. 
 
 In the absence of water power these grist mills were im 
 portant in grinding the local supply of grain. 
 
 There was however, a mill located in the creek below 
 the Hamblen place, deriving its power from the ebb and 
 flow of the tides. The mill was built by Thomas Holbrook 
 whose daughter Lucy married Lemuel Newcomb, whose 
 house was to the north of the old Hamblen estate, and on 
 the line of the old road. One of the mill stones is now in 
 front of the residence of Arthur H. Rogers, whose wife was 
 the great granddaughter of Lemuel Newcomb. 
 
 Page Twenty-eight 
 
WRECKS 
 
 Unless we accept the evidence presented by the Prov- 
 ineetown historian, of the visit of the Northmen to that 
 locality in 1004, (Hist, of Provincetown 1890), the Sparrow- 
 hawk from London to Plymouth, which was cast ashore at 
 Potanamaquot Harbor in what is now Orleans, in 1626, and 
 exposed by the washing away of the beach in 1863, (the 
 rudder and some other remains being now in Pilgrim Hall, 
 Plymouth), is the first wreck to be recorded in this vicinity. 
 
 In the month of April 1717, a pirate ship Whidah ot' 
 23 guns and 130 men, Samuel Bellamy, commander, ven- 
 tured upon the New England coast near Cape Cod, and after 
 having taken seven vessels, several of the piratical crew 
 were transferred to one of the prize ships. The men soon 
 became drunken and slept. The master of the vessel ran 
 her ashore, and the pirates were secured. Six of them were 
 taken to Boston and executed. April 26 the pirate ship 
 itself was wrecked at South Wellfleet; the whole crew, ex- 
 cept one Englishman, and an Indian were drowned. Capt. 
 Cyprian Southack, sent by the government to the scene of 
 the disaster, found and buried 102 bodies. As late as 1863 
 portions of the wreck were disclosed at times. To this day 
 Spanish coins are sometimes found in this vicinity. 
 
 The following extract from Justin Winsor's "Memorial 
 History of Boston" may be of interest in this connection: 
 "Concerning the pirate Bellamy's ship Whidah or Whido, 
 wrecked at South Wellfleet April 26, 1717 : In August 1698, 
 leaving his ship Queedah Merchant in Hispaniola, Kidd cama 
 to America and was put in jail. He proposed to Gov. Bella- 
 Page Twenty-nine 
 
mont that he should be taken as a prisoner to bring back tlio 
 Queedah Merchant. He stated the value of the treasure in 
 the ship to be £50,000 or £60,000, which would not otherwise 
 be recovered. This request was refused. Twenty years 
 later the ship Whidah was wrecked on Cape Cod. It is not 
 a violent supposition that when Kidd's men found their 
 captain gone they took the Queedah Merchant for them- 
 selves. Twenty years is not a long life for a vessel built in 
 the East Indies. It may be that Kidd's lost treasure ship is 
 the same vessel under another name that was wrecked on 
 Cape Cod twenty years later." Around this tragic occUv'- 
 rence there have growii local traditions more interesting 
 than authentic. 
 
 Probably the worst storm of which there is any record, 
 as measured by the 'loss of life and property, occurred dur- 
 ing the gales of December fifteen, seventeen and twenty-one, 
 1839. It seems to have expended its force on Cape Cod, 
 Boston, and the north shore as far as Newburyport. In the 
 account published in 1840, the recapitulation gives the dam- 
 age as one barque, 17 brigs, 68 schooners and one sloop lost. 
 The loss of life was estimated as 150 to 200 : fifty lost at 
 Gloucester alone in the first storm. Besides this 23 ships and 
 barques, 22 brigs, 168 schooners and five sloops were dis- 
 masted, driven ashore or greatly injured. The destruction 
 of property must have been nearly $1,000,000. This does not 
 include those foundered at sea, nor some that went to pieces 
 so that no intelligible record of their loss is left behiu'l 
 During the first gale 21 vessels went ashore from Province - 
 town to Eastham. While wrecks were numerous in the bay 
 and on the back sliore there is no record of any vessel being 
 lost from Wellfleet. 
 
 In 1779 the ship America of "Wellfleet, Capt. Wm 
 Doane, was lost with all on board consisting of twenty-three 
 men. 
 
 The l)arque Cactus from Boston to Ireland in 1847, willi 
 a cargo of grain for tliat famine stricken country, was 
 wrecked at South Wellfleet and all hands lost. 
 
 Page Thirty 
 
In 1849 the ship Franklin from London to Boston witli 
 a valuable assorted cargo was wrecked at Newcomb's Hol- 
 low. Of the passengers many were drowned as was also 
 the captain and some of the crew. It appeared from the 
 Captain's private papers picked np by Capt. Isaiah Hatch 
 that the ship was purposely wrecked. 
 
 *The same year the English mail steamer Cambria, 
 bound to Boston, ran ashore at about the same place. After 
 a few days she was pulled off and proceeded on her voyage. 
 While getting out an anchor one of the crew, t John Anson, 
 had his leg broken and was left behind and remained here 
 during his life. 
 
 The ship White Squall from Singapore to Boston with 
 a valuable cargo of coffee, tin and other East Indian prod 
 ucts, was wrecked at Cahoon's Hollow in 1868. 
 
 Since then there have been various wrecks, notably that 
 of the Italian barque Castagna, but since the establishment 
 of the Life Saving Service the loss of life and property has 
 been greatly diminished. 
 
 Vessels belonging to Wellfleet lost with all on board of 
 which record has been kept : 
 
 Schr. F. M. Dyer, Samuel Roberts, master, coming from 
 Virginia. 
 
 Schr. Moselle, Joseph S. Rich, master, wrecked on Bren 
 ton's Reef, Newport, R. I. 
 
 Schr. Lucy J. Keeler, John Eaton, master, coming from 
 Virginia to Boston, never arrived. 
 
 Schr. H. & R. Atwood, John Barnard, master, on a voy- 
 age from Cape Breton. 
 
 Schr. Ellery C. Anthony, Wm. Iliggins, lost on passage 
 to Virginia. 
 
 Schr. R. R. Freeman, Henry Smith, master, iced up and 
 sunk in Vineyard Sound February 7, 1861. 
 
 *The mail from the Cambria was relayed to Boston by lancT, 
 being brought to the village in uncle Jack Newcomb's ox cart, 
 thence conveyed to Yarmouth by Thomas Holbrook. 
 
 tJohn Anson may be remembered by Wellfleet people as em- 
 ployed in the family of Jesse Y. Baker for many years. 
 
 Page Thirty-one 
 
Sehr. Empire State, Payne Jenkins, master, lost on first 
 trip to Virginia, March 1853. 
 
 Schr. Wm. H. Atwood, Hawes Gross, master, from Vir- 
 ginia to Boston, wrecked on "Wood End, Provincetown. 
 
 Sehr. Majestic, David Cole, master, March 1841. 
 
 Schr. Spartel, Jesse Freeman,, master, in 1846 bound 
 south with a partial cargo of mackerel; probably shifted 
 cargo, and was lost with all hands. 
 
 Schr. Flying Dragon, John Daniels, master, on passage 
 to Philadelphia. 
 
 Schr. Amos Fielding, Amos Fielding, master, coming 
 home new from Cape Ann was wrecked and all hands lost. 
 Vessel probably capsized. 
 
 Schr. Emerald was sunk off Chatham and one man 
 saved. 
 
 When the number of vessels owned in Wellfleet is con 
 sidered, the proportion of those lost is small, and these loss^^s 
 confined mostly to those engaged in the oyster business, 
 which from its nature was hazardous. 
 
 By reason of the fact that it was a winter business, and 
 that the perishable nature of the cargo made it necessary 
 to reach the market as scon as possible, every advantage of 
 wind and weather must be taken. The relatively small loss 
 of life and property shows Wellfleet men to have been 
 skillful navigators and hardy sailors. 
 
 Page Thirty-two 
 

 
 /^Ri'- Freeman S"now A Samuel Poi^i^f 
 
LIFE SAVING STATIONS 
 
 The first effort to preserve the lives and relieve the 
 sufferings of shipwrecked mariners on Cape Cod was made 
 by the Massachusetts Humane Society in 1802, when on the 
 report of Rev. James Freeman, D.D., huts were built on the 
 back shore of Cape Cod where seamen cast ashore might 
 find shelter. These huts were small wooden buildings with 
 fireplaces and other conveniences. Those in Wellfleet were 
 located at Newcomb's Hollow, Pearce's, Cahoon's, Snow's, 
 and Fresh Brook, also one on Great Island, some person 
 living in the vicinity by occasional visits keeping the huts 
 in proper condition. 
 
 After the wreck of the ship Franklin, better and more 
 effective apparatus was added. This was brought about by 
 the realization that in spite of the heroic efforts of our citi 
 zens the great loss of life was due to lack of suitable gear. 
 
 The present Life Saving Service was established in 1872, 
 when a station was built at Cahoon's Hollow, with all 
 modern life saving apparatus, a keeper and crew and beach 
 patrol. 
 
 These stations are manned by a brave and experienced 
 captain and crew and are of inestimable value in saving of 
 life and property. 
 
 Page Thirty-three 
 
MARINE BENEVOLENT SOCIETY 
 
 Previous to this, in 1836, a Marine Benevolent Society 
 had been organized, and incorporated in 1840, having for its 
 purpose the relief of shipwrecked seamen and their widows 
 and orphans. This society was supported by the yearly 
 dues paid by its members. At the time of its organization 
 many shipwrecked sailors needed temporary assistance, not 
 otherwise provided, and to them and their families in many 
 instances valuable help was given. Later, assistance ,was ex- 
 tended to others not of that class who were in need. 
 
 After the establishment of the Life Saving Service all 
 shipwrecked mariners were cared for at the expense of the 
 government. Then the funds of this society were gradually 
 expended in local charity until in 1904 the corporation was 
 legally dissolved. 
 
 During the 68 year=^ of its existence it distril)uted in a 
 quiet and unostentatious manner nearly $13,000. 
 
 Page Thirty-four 
 
LIGHTHOUSES 
 
 By the energy and influence of Capt. Michael Collins of 
 Eastham, a lighthouse was built on Billinsgate Island (The 
 Old Point) in 1822. By reason of the washing away of that 
 part of the Island it was removed to the northward on to 
 higher land in 1858. Within quite recent years this was 
 changed to an automatic light. 
 
 The sea having encroached to the extent of undermin- 
 ing the tower and house a new skeleton tower was built in 
 1915 to the eastward of the old one. Two days later, Decem- 
 ber 26, during a high tide and heavy gale the old tower 
 tumbled into the sea. 
 
 About 1839 a lighthouse was erected on Mayo's Beach 
 at the head of Wellfleet bay. About 1875, a new tower and 
 house were erected further away from the encroachment of 
 the sea. Recently this also has been changed to an automa 
 tic light. 
 
 Page Thirty-five 
 
TRANSPORTATION 
 
 In early days all transportation was necessarily by 
 water. The packet system was established about 1800, as 
 being the only means of conveyance of freight and pas- 
 sengers between Wellfleet and Boston. 
 
 After the close of the tishing season, which was abont 
 the first of November, a company of men would take a ves- 
 sel and go to Boston to buy winter stores sufficient for their 
 families until navigation was opened in the spring. 
 
 The first packet of record was the sloop Mary, 24 tons, 
 built at Barnstable previous to 1812, followed by the sloop 
 Hannah, built at Barnstable soon after the war of 1812 to 
 1815. The sloop New Packet, built in Newburyport in 1819, 
 struck on Minot'S Ledge and was lost. Four men were 
 drowned. The packet sloop Pacific was built at Newbury- 
 port in 1820 to replace the one lost the previous year. A 
 second sloop Mary of 38 tons was built at Newburyport 
 later. 
 
 The requirements of the business demanding larger 
 vessels, the schooner Swiftsure of 50 tons was built at New- 
 buryport in 1826. The schooner Herald of 48 tons was also 
 built there in 1830. 
 
 The schooner Franklin of 55 tons at the same place 
 was followed by the schooner Merchant of 57 tons and tlie 
 Tremont 63 tons built in 1835. 
 
 The schooner Golden Age, 75 tons, built in New Haven, 
 
 Conn., was followed by the Sophie "Wiley, 69 tons, built at 
 
 Dartmouth, Mass. The schooner Lilla Rich, 112 tons, was 
 
 built at New Haven, Conn., followed by the Nellie Baker, 
 
 Page Thirty-six 
 
126 tons, then the largest packet on the New England coast. 
 The Nellie Baker was sold and afterwards lost on the Texan 
 coast of the Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 The Freddie A. Higgins, 100 tons, built at Kennebunk. 
 Me., in 1882, was last heard of as a "famous sailer" owned 
 in St. Andrews, N. B., and engaged in the coasting trade to 
 U. S. ports. 
 
 The diminished business, by reason of railroad exten- 
 sion, requiring only a smaller vessel, the schooner J. H. 
 Tripp, of 24 tons, was bought in Chatham and run as a 
 packet for ten years, then sold to Provincetown, thus clos- 
 ing a continuous and successful public service of nearly 
 one hundred years. 
 
 Page Thirty-seven 
 
RAILROADS 
 
 The first railroad came to Wellfleet in 1870, and was 
 extended to Provincetown in 1873. Previous to that all con- 
 nection with Boston by land was by stage to the various 
 points to which from Boston the road was gradually ex- 
 tended, being brought first to jMiddleboro, then to Sandwich, 
 to Yarmouth, and later to Orleans from which place it was 
 extended to this town. 
 
 The old stages were unique affairs, painted gayly in 
 yellow and red, upholstered with leather and drawn by 
 four prancing horses. These stages accommodated nine 
 passengers inside and six or eight on top, and their daily 
 arrival was an event looked forward to by young and old. 
 
 The stable built to accommodate the stage line, wlicn 
 Yarmouth was its terminus, was removed to Orleans and 
 again to Wellfleet, and after its discontinuance for that pur- 
 pose was sold by Samuel Knov/les to Capt. George Baker 
 and the premises used as a lumber yard. 
 
 Page Thirty-eight 
 
MAILS 
 
 The first mail service that includes Wellfleet was es- 
 tablished about 1801. For many years this was only once a 
 week. Soon after 1820, on petition, the lower towns of the 
 Cape received mail semi-weekly. It is recorded that at this 
 time many refused to sign the petition on the ground of 
 expense and because once a week was often enough. 
 
 Ten years later mail was received three times a week, 
 and daily about 1846. From this to a double service daily 
 on the advent of the steam cars was a notable change. 
 
 Samuel Thatcher of Barnstable was the first mail con- 
 tractor so far as is now known. Mr. Thatcher's mail was 
 carried in saddle bags holding about a peck. 
 
 It was considered a matter of distinction to have a 
 letter in the mail. In winter the mail carrier used to carry 
 on one side of his horse a saw, and on the other side a small 
 axe, to clear away obstructions when snowstorms compelled 
 him to cross the fields. 
 
 Page Thirty-nine 
 
INDIANS AND NEGROES 
 
 While the evidence in the shape of shell heaps indicates 
 a numerous Indian population in the dim past, the census of 
 1765 mentions only five in Wellfleet. In 1802 it was voted 
 to repair the Indian's house in the north part of the town, 
 and make it comfortable. The reservation was on the Pamet 
 Point road and the spot where the house stood can be seen 
 as a small clearing. The property reverted to the town and 
 is known as the Indian hinds. 
 
 There was a negro family of unknown origin. The town 
 record says that Samuel Gibbs was born October 6, 1770, 
 and died August 9, 1823. His widow, Patience, died Novem- 
 ber 2, 1828. 
 
 They lived in the clearing between the Herring and 
 Iliggins ponds. Patience Brook, that connects the ponds, 
 probably derives its name from this fact. 
 
 The son, Samuel Gibbs, Jr., married Delilah Sampson, 
 the full-blooded Indian referred to, who was the last of her 
 race in this vicinity. An old man, who as a boy lived 
 near by, said, that on the occasion of his invasion of the old 
 lady's orchard with the intent to steal peaches, she devel- 
 oped a fine gift of profane declamation. 
 
 Gibbs is said to have been something of a fiddler, knew 
 eight tunes, but could only play four, one of which had a 
 vocal accompaniment beginning: 
 
 "Ring tailed shark in the bay. 
 Loon in the Gull Pond." 
 
 An old man who as a youth participated in the festivi- 
 Page Forty 
 
ties said that when the young people gathered at the old 
 man's house for a frolic, the charge was 25 cents, but when 
 they carried rum and had a regular "singe" it was 50 cents. 
 The only other family in Wellfleet were of the 
 name of Pope and lived on Bound Brook Island. ]\Ir. 
 Pope had been a steward of high degree in first-class ships 
 of his time. His wife was a Southern negro. Their son 
 Charles, born in Wellfleet, was last heard of in Baltimore. 
 
 Page' Forty-one 
 
LATER EVENTS 
 
 Since the decline of some of tlie earlier industries of tho 
 town, the population, which reached its height in 1850, has 
 materially lessened. 
 
 The exodus of city people to the country and seashore 
 during the summer season which has greatly increased in 
 recent years has benefiUd Welltleet as well as other Cape 
 towiis. 
 
 As houses on the outskirts of the town were vacated by 
 reason of removals to the village or to other towns, the resi- 
 dences have been purchased or hired by city people, who 
 enjoy sea breezes and summer rest. Many cottages near the 
 shore, the beaches or ponds, have been erected. 
 
 In the summer months the population of our town is 
 nearly doubled by these sojourners, who, having come one 
 year, are almost sure to repeat the experience. 
 
 Page Forty-two 
 
CAMP CHEQUESSET 
 
 In 1914, a Nautical Camp for Girls, known as Camp 
 Chequesset, was established by Miss Alice Hamilton Belding 
 of the Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Virginia, and 
 Mr. William Gould Vinal of the Rhode Island College of 
 Education. 
 
 This is attended yearly by a large number of girls from 
 all parts of the country, who enjoy the sea breezes, the warm 
 waters of the bay, the out of door life, and pleasures of 
 nature, woods, sea, and air, as well as an education in arts, 
 crafts, and all nautical instruction. 
 
 The speakers at the Camp are often celebrated lecturers, 
 and the lectures are open to the public. 
 
 Entertainments are often given by the Camp girls for 
 the benefit of local and other worthy purposes. 
 
 The National Association of Directors of Girls' Camps 
 held their first Nature Lore School at this Camp in June of 
 this year (1920). 
 
 Page Forty-three 
 
NATURAL ATTRACTIONS 
 
 The natural attractions of WeMeet are many. The 
 ponds are numerous and in most of them fish abound. The 
 bay is always delightful and with a smooth, clean, sandy 
 beach, affords the best bathing in the world. The waves, 
 or breakers, on the back or ocean side are majestic in a 
 storm, and at all times beautiful. 
 
 Gross Hill, so called from a notable family of ten sisters 
 who once dwelt there, affords a view extensive and always 
 charming. 
 
 The roads through the Cape as far as Wellfleet are good 
 and from here to Provincetown, soon will be in exeelle.it 
 condition. 
 
 Page Forty-four 
 
CAPE COD 
 
 *'Cape Cod! 'tis a tiny, shapeless thing, 
 A sandy crook on the shore 
 Of the old Bay State, where sea-birds wing, 
 And the red man ranged of yore. 
 
 'Tis a section small on history's page; 
 
 'Tis a crooked mark on the map; 
 But it braves the Atlantic's fiercest rage 
 And holds the bay in its lap. 
 
 It has sand hills on its northern strand. 
 
 Bleak, verdi^reless and wild. 
 Which makes the sailor nearing land 
 
 In a storm like a frightened child. 
 
 It has hills and dales with verdure crowned, 
 
 It has tiny lakes that lie 
 "With pure white sand embosomed round. 
 
 Where the wavelets gently ply. 
 
 It has numerous pools and fish ponds neat, 
 
 Where the red man's winter store 
 Was kept from frost secure and sweet 
 
 In the simple days of yore. 
 
 But, fruitless as its soil may be, 
 
 And barren as its sands. 
 Its noble sons sail every sea 
 
 And traffic in all lands. 
 
 Paige Forty-five 
 
Its daughters fair and virtuous, too, 
 
 Their sea-girt homes adorn ; 
 Their hearts, as the needle, pointing true 
 
 "Wherever they may roam." 
 
 Page Forty-six 
 
RECORDS 
 
 Record of Wellfleet residents who have died since 1887, 
 being more than 90 years old : 
 
 Mrs. Drusilla Laha, died August 9, 1887, aged 99 years, 
 11 months. 
 
 Mrs. Susanna C. Nicholson, died February 7, 1889, aged 
 96 years, 4 months, 5 days. 
 
 Isaiah H. Hatch, died June 4, 1893, aged 94 years, G 
 months. 
 
 Mrs. Matilda Wiley, died Fel)ruary 4, 1894, aged 90 
 years, 6 months. 
 
 Mrs. Betsey Rich, died October 1, 1895, aged 90 years, 
 
 8 months, 1 day. 
 
 Joshua Atwood, died January 26, 1899, aged 98 years, 
 3 months, 28 days. 
 
 Mrs. Azuba M. Daniels, died May 30, 1899, aged 9 1 
 years, 4 months, 12 days. 
 
 Mrs. Betsey Dyer, died March 18, 1901, aged 95 years, 
 7 days. 
 
 Mrs. Anne Hopkins, died February 17, 1903, aged 96 
 years, 12 days. 
 
 Mrs. Polly C. Snow, died September 7, 1905, aged 93 
 years, 19 days. 
 
 Mrs. Rebecca H. Freeman, died March 14, 1906, aged 
 92 years, 4 days. 
 
 Mrs. Phebe Rich, died February 22, 1911, aged 93 year<5, 
 11 months, 22 days. 
 
 Robert H, Libby, died October 10, 1911, aged 95 years, 
 
 9 months, 10 days. 
 
 Page Forty-seven 
 
Miirdoek Berrio, died May 22, 1913, aged 95 years, L3 
 days. 
 
 Mrs. Emeline Belcher, died January 22, 1915, aged 90 
 years, 3 months, 7 days. 
 
 Mrs. Betsey Higgins, died February 13, 1919, aged 92 
 years, 4 months, 23 days. 
 
 Michael Burrows, died June 27, 1919, aged 92 years, 10 
 months. 
 
 James M. Mott, died March 31, 1920, aged 96 years, 5 
 months, 15 days. 
 
 These are recorded as remarkable cases of longevity. 
 
 'Of no distemper, of no blast they died, 
 
 But like the autumn fruit that mellowed long 
 * * * * 
 
 Until at length worn out by eating time, 
 
 The wheels of weary life at last stood still." 
 
 Page Forty-eight 
 
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