A sandy peninsula of SE Massachusetts, USA; length 105 km/65 mi; width up to 32 km/20 mi; bounded E by the Atlantic and W by Cape Cod Bay; crossed by the 13 km/8 mi Cape Cod Canal; on 15 May 1602 Bartholomew Gosnold recorded, Near this cape...we took great store of codfish...and called it Cape Cod; pilgrims from the Mayflower landed near Provincetown in November 1620; airfield at Provincetown; a popular resort area.
Although Cape Cod was originally connected to the mainland, the Cape Cod Canal, completed in 1914, effectively transformed Cape Cod into a large island.Geography
Cape Cod consists of four portions: The Upper Cape is the section of Cape Cod closest to the mainland.
The Lower Cape is the narrower portion of the cape, where it bends sharply to the north.
The large area of water enclosed by Cape Cod and the mainland seacoast to the north is Cape Cod Bay;
Cape Cod is connected to the mainland by a pair of canal-spanning highway bridges from Bourne and Sagamore that were constructed in the 1930s, and a vertical-lift railroad bridge. Commercial air service to Cape Cod operates out of Barnstable Municipal Airport and Provincetown Municipal Airport. Worn by the breakers and the rains, and disintegrated by the wind, it still stands bold." - Henry Beston, from his book The Outermost House
Most of Cape Cod's geological history involves the advance and retreat of the last continental ice sheet in the late Pleistocene geological era and the subsequent changes in sea level. By about 18,000 years ago, the ice sheet had retreated past Cape Cod. On Cape Cod, sea level rose roughly 3 meters (11 feet) per millennium between 6,000 and 2,000 years ago. By 6,000 years ago, the sea level was high enough to start eroding the glacial deposits that the vanished continental ice sheet had left on Cape Cod. So while other parts of the Cape have dwindled from the action of the waves, this part of the Cape has grown. Also, many "kettle ponds" - clear, cold lakes - were formed on Cape Cod as a result of the receding glacier.
Climate
Cape Cod experiences a continental climate that is very common in New England, which is variable and changes rapidly.
Precipitation on Cape Cod and the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket is the lowest in New England region , averaging slightly less than 40 inches a year (most parts of New England average 42-46 inches).
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Avg high °F (°C) |
35.7 (2.1) |
36.5 (2.5) |
43.2 (6.2) |
53.1 (11.7) |
62.5 (16.9) |
74.3 (23.5) |
79.5 (26.3) |
80.0 (26.7) |
77.1 (25.2) |
65.1 (18.4) |
54.6 (12.6) |
41.8 (5.4) |
58.5 (14.7) |
|
Avg low °F (°C) |
22.4 (-5.3) |
23.0 (-5.0) |
29.6 (-1.3) |
36.9 (2.7) |
47.7 (8.7) |
58.3 (14.6) |
66.6 (19.2) |
68.5 (20.3) |
60.0 (15.5) |
49.9 (9.9) |
39.1 (3.9) |
28.0 (-2.2) |
44.1 (6.7) |
|
Rainfall in inches (millimeters) |
3.86 (98.0) |
2.97 (75.4) |
3.74 (95.8) |
3.62 (90.4) |
3.29 (80.3) |
3.02 (74.2) |
2.45 (62.2) |
2.56 (67.6) |
2.94 (75.9) |
3.34 (81.3) |
3.57 (90.7) |
3.65 (92.7) |
39.01 (990.85) |
History
"(Cape Cod is) . a vast morgue, where famished dogs may range in packs - the most uninviting landscape on earth." - Henry David Thoreau
Cape Cod was a landmark for early explorers, possibly the "Promontory of Vinland" mentioned by the Norse voyagers (985-1025).
Cape Cod was among the first places settled by Europeans in North America. A channel from Massachusetts Bay to Buzzards Bay is shown on Southack's map of 1717, but the present Cape Cod Canal had a troubled development from 1870 to 1914.
Thanks to its early settlement and intensive land use, by the time Henry Thoreau saw Cape Cod during his four visits over 1849 to 1857, its vegetation was depauperate and trees were scarce. As all heating was by wood, and it took 10 to 20 cords (40 to 80 m³) of wood to heat a home, most of Cape Cod was cleared early on. Lacking any significant water power the early industrial revolution, which occurred through much of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, bypassed Cape Cod, as a result of this, along with its geographic position, the Cape developed as a large fishing and whaling center.
Guglielmo Marconi made the first transatlantic wireless transmission from Cape Cod at Wellfleet.
Much of the East-facing Atlantic seacoast of Cape Cod consists of wide, sandy beaches.
Tourism
Although Cape Cod has a year round population of about 230,000, it experiences a tourist explosion each summer between Memorial Day and Labor Day, as the New England cold gives way to a brief but comfortable summer.
Provincetown, at the tip of Cape Cod, also berths several whale watching fleets who patrol the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary.
Cape Cod is also very popular for its boating, seafood, ice cream, candy, miniature golf, go-karts, and unique shopping.
There are numerous working lighthouses on Cape Cod and the Islands, including Nauset Light, Chatham Light, Race Point and Nobska, some operated by the U.S. Coast Guard, which are frequently photographed emblems of Cape Cod.
Sports
The Cape has nine amateur baseball franchises playing within Barnstable County in the Cape Cod Baseball League. The Wareham Gatemen also play in the Cape Cod Baseball League in nearby Wareham, Massachusetts in Plymouth County.
The Cape also is home to the Cape Cod Frenzy, a team in the American Basketball Association. The league changed ownership in 2006 and was moved to Cape Cod, although many of their games were played on the Cape in the 2005-2006 season. The team will play a 36 game season in 2006-2007 and will have merchandise for sale throughout the year at a kiosk in the Cape Cod Mall in Hyannis.
Pro Soccer is alive on Cape Cod with the Cape Cod Crusaders playing in the Premier Development League (PDL) soccer based in Hyannis. In addition, there is summer Cape Cod Adult Soccer League (CCASL) in active in several towns on the Cape.
Islands off Cape Cod
Like Cape Cod itself, the islands south of Cape Cod have turned from being whaling and trading areas to resort destinations for the Northeast, attracting old, wealthy families, celebrities, and prosperous tourists alike. Several prominent families have established compounds or estates on the larger islands, making these Cape Cod offshore islands some of the wealthiest resorts in the Northeast, yet they retain much of the early merchant trading and whaling culture.
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