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Ancient Town

“The ancient town from which we write, now about two centuries old,” said a writer in the New York Journal of Commerce in 1856, “is one of the principal towns of Barnstable County, Cape Cod.”

As we look from our chamber in the principal, or central village of the place, we have in full view the Bay, the beautiful islands of Martha’s Vineyard, Gay Head Light, upon one of the headlands, together with Woods Hole, from which point telegraphic communication is extended seaward to Nantucket, and also the village and much of the town of Falmouth.

This town is a very pleasant resort in the summer, and more strangers would delight to pass time here, if a modern hotel should open its door to them. As it is this scenery is much enjoyed by the stranger, as well as the cool breezes that ever blow across the Bay.

Indeed this Cape Cod, with its surrounding Bay and islands, together with its neighboring Plymouth and Marshfield, with the vast hunting and fishing grounds of the region, with so much in the names of places and in historical associations, to remind of the aborigines that roamed unmolested through these woods and by these waters, with the recollections of the enterprising merchants, sea captains, and professional men it has given to the world, with the simple and sincere manners and customs of the inhabitants, all reminding one of the Puritan fathers, is one of the most interesting spots to visit either in this or in any other country.

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