Photograph by Kelly Cronin Bicknell

There is a saying that the most important ingredient in any great recipe, product or other creation is love. Cape Cod woodcarver Geoff Semonian seems to embody that philosophy. In an age when so many home furnishings are mass-produced, Semonian takes great pride—and a good deal of time and effort—in meticulously crafting custom-made items for his clients.

In business on the Cape since 2009, Semonian hand carves and paints signs and other specialty items from his two studios: one in Harwich, the other on Provincetown’s MacMillan Wharf (Pier), overlooking the water. During an early-April visit to the Provincetown studio, the waterfront weather was cold, icy and windy; the day served to demonstrate that signs and other products made of wood and intended for display outdoors require sturdy materials and solid construction.

Inside the studio, one of several artist sheds on the pier that once stored gear for local fishermen, many of Semonian’s signs and other carvings are on display. Lining the walls and shelves is a collection of hand-carved birds, sea creatures, and pineapples as well as eagles and other symbols of Americana. Semonian makes quarter boards, too, and address signs of all size and description. To further illustrate his range, the artist’s business card features images of two signs he has made: one reads “welcome;” the other, “keep out.” “I’ll make a sign or a product that can make people feel welcome or unwelcome,” he says, “or anything in between.”

One sizeable creation that greets visitors at the studio’s entrance is a five-foot plaster carving of a man wearing a plaid shirt and overalls; he’s sticking out his thumb like a hitchhiker. “That,” Semonian says, “is my former neighbor, Richard, from Eastham. I used to see him when I worked at a local restaurant. Many knew him because he was seen hitchhiking on the Cape’s roads. I carved him when I had free time several winters ago.” In the past, Semonian displayed “Richard” outside the shed until inclement weather, and wear incurred from curious customers, eventually took its toll.

Photograph by Kelly Cronin Bicknell

What led Semonian to woodcarving? “It kind of found me,” he says of the trade. “I come from a long line of people who make stuff. My family owned a machine shop in Watertown that specialized in making parts for model airplanes, and my great uncle, Stan Sparre, was a well-known bird carver on the Cape. He was my hero. He was an accomplished illustrator as well, and he continued to carve birds well into his seventies.” Sparre passed away in 2011 at the age of 88.

A resident of Harwich, Semonian enjoys the precision and attention to detail his work requires. “There are no happy accidents in woodworking,” he says. “This work is so purposeful and definitive. I think that’s what I love most about it.”

To create a given sign or art piece, Semonian selects from a wide variety of potential materials, including hardwood and driftwood, brass and gold. Hanging on the wall is one striking piece he made from driftwood that features several delicately carved and painted whales. “Intricate details always take the most time in woodcarving,” Semonian says. “Everything is completely custom and built to last. We use solid brass mounting hardware and strong materials that will protect not only your sign, but your home as well.”

Semonian also takes pride in the tools he uses. “These chisels are designed with specific widths, grooves and tips,” he says, “and they come from countries all over the world. They fit perfectly into each detail that I carve.” For tools, Semonian says he generally looks to the Robert C. Eldred Co. of East Dennis to find what he needs.

After graduating from Chelmsford High School in 1994, Semonian attended School of the Museum of Fine Arts and Massachusetts College of Art and Design, both in Boston, for a period but decided that route wasn’t for him. Making his next step, he attempted to find a place to live north of Boston, but through an acquaintance came across an opportunity to rent a home in Truro. He arrived on Cape Cod and has never looked back.

For the next five years, Semonian worked under the tutelage of his great uncle at Stan Sparre Bird Carving in Falmouth, and also for Son Signs in Eastham, and Sandwich-based wood carver Paul J. White,. Over the next decade and a half, Semonian also worked as a bartender at a few local restaurants, including the The Captain Linnell House and the Old Jailhouse Tavern, both in Orleans, to supplement his income while he made plans to start a woodcarving business of his own. At one point he even commuted between Truro and Watertown for a year—that’s 120 miles—to work at his family’s shop, Semco Model Engineering. Eventually, Semonian had honed his craft enough to go into business on his own.

Semonian says his long journey from apprentice to artist has been challenging, but he has also learned a lot. “I came to the Cape to be an artist,” he says, “but I had no idea how to do that. The marketing and business part was the toughest for me.” He credits the time he spent tending bar for helping him learn how best to interact with the public. “Bartending gave me great experience in sales and in working with people,” he says. “It taught me the importance of recognizing the needs and wants of the customer.”

Photograph by Kelly Cronin Bicknell

At the studio, Semonian demonstrated the intricate nature of his work by showing how all of his tools fit precisely into each nook and cranny of the products he makes. He says one of the most important elements of his commissioned work is that he follows the client’s exact specifications. “I like to think that the customers tell me what to do as opposed to me convincing them what they want,” he says. “I tell them ‘think of me as a chisel in your hands’. People have a good idea of what they want, and a lot of times they bring designs to me. By using quality, strong materials and translating the design they want into their woodcarving, I can create a product that meets the customer’s exact needs.”

Today, Semonian’s woodcarving clients hail from across peninsula, and represent all income levels. “I get to work with so many great people,” he says. “But when someone saves up enough money to buy something from me, that’s the best.” Semonian’s individual carvings range from $35 for a tiny whale, to $3,000 or more for a large commercial or residential sign featuring lots of detail.

Over the years, Semonian has completed many commissioned pieces, including a sign for a dog park in Chelmsford, his boyhood home, to a replica of the codfish carving displayed at the State House in Boston. But he says he is most fond of a specific line of sea creatures he creates. “I love the whales,” he says. “They are beautiful subjects and they really lend themselves to the art of woodcarving.” Semonian has at least one carving of every kind of whale species found along the East Coast in his collection but says humpbacks are among his favorites due to the level of detail he puts into them.

Semonian says he feels Provincetown is the perfect location for his studio. Among a large community of small, local businesses, he feels right at home. “Almost everyone around here that owns a small business is a dream chaser,” he says. “That’s the one thing we all have in common.” His studio’s scenic location doesn’t hurt. “It’s really great to see a lighthouse, the Pilgrim Monument, and the ocean right outside your front door,” he says. “I’m very fortunate to work where I do.”

Geoff Semonian’s studio is at 4A MacMillan Wharf in Provincetown, and is open from April through October 31, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Open daily in summer, the studio is open from Friday to Monday in April and May, September and October. In the offseason, visitors can find the artist at his studio in Harwich, at 463 Long Pond Drive. For more information on Semonian’s work, visit capecodwoodcarving.com.

Matt Taylor is a freelance writer from Marlborough.

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During World War II, Cape Cod had a busy POW camp

Artwork by Emily Gedney – Grade 11 • Falmouth High School • Pencil

The raising of the American flag at Iwo Jima, the D-Day invasion at Normandy, and the horrific German concentration camps are just a few of the images and stories many Americans think of when reflecting on World War II. There are other stories that are not as well known, however, including the existence of about 500 prisoner of war (POW) camps in the United States.

One of these camps was located right in our backyard—at Camp Edwards, a massive, 22,000-acre military training area established on Cape Cod in the late 1930s; the base has expanded over the years and is known today as Joint Base Cape Cod.

According to Jack Sheedy and Jim Coogan, who together wrote Cape Cod Voyage: A Journey Through Cape Cod’s History and Lore, prisoners started to arrive at Camp Edwards—and at other camps around the country—in April of 1943, after German Field Marshall Erwin Rommel’s Africa Corps was driven out of North Africa. Most of the prisoners shipped to Camp Edwards, however, arrived in 1944 in the weeks following the D-Day invasion. In all, from 1943 to 1946, some 5,000 German soldiers were imprisoned at Camp Edwards.

According to Jerry Ellis, a selectman in Bourne and a co-director of the Cape Cod Military Museum who has given talks about Cape Cod during the war, many people he comes across have never heard of the POW camp. “It’s surprising how many people are totally unaware of that,” says Ellis. “The bottom line is this was the perfect place to have a POW camp because the canal was a natural barrier.”

There is some debate as to exactly where on the base the camp was located. According to the Massachusetts National Guard website, thenationsfirst.org, it was located at the south end of a runway. Ellis, however, believes it was located further to the west, near the East Coast Processing Center, where American servicemen who had gone AWOL were being retrained.

According to building plans signed in April of 1944, the prison camp was established in “Block 35,” a barracks area that had previously been used by American soldiers. Adjacent to Turpentine Road, the group of buildings was located slightly apart from other areas of the base, and Ellis says that made it a good location for the POW camp.

Courtesy of the Cape Cod Military Museum

To secure the camp, a stockade was built around the buildings featuring two barbed wire fences, the interior of which was electrified. The camp had an infirmary, a post exchange, a visitors building, single- and double-decker barracks, a recreation building and a guard tower at each corner. According to Anthony Cimino’s publication Camp Edwards in World War II, the prison camp had the capacity to hold as many as 2,000 men at a given time.

During the war, Camp Edwards had a large convalescent hospital where servicemen from across the country who had been injured in battle were rehabilitated; after treatment at Camp Edwards, they would be sent to hospitals closer to their homes. Ellis says German prisoners were also treated at this hospital—but they were admitted through a separate entrance.

According to stipulations agreed to in the Geneva Convention of 1929, prisoners of war could be required to work for the benefit of their captors. At American military bases in World War II, most of the work prisoners were asked to do involved duties regularly performed by American soldiers, many of whom were stationed overseas. In his book Nazi Prisoners of War in America, Texas A&M history professor Arnold Krammer estimates that on military installations alone, German prisoners completed more than 90,000 man-days of labor between early 1943 and December of 1945.

The prisoners were given operational and maintenance tasks to perform around the base; they were also used for contract labor, mainly at nearby farms and industrial plants. This was important, Krammer writes, because as the mobilization of American forces increased as the war stretched on, the prospect for filling the enormous holes in production at American plants and farms grew bleak.

Contractors who would hire the prisoners faced several obstacles, including completing an extensive government application; other challenges included a lack of training for specific tasks, language barriers, and concerns about security.

In camps across the country,  prisoners were paid 80 cents per day in canteen coupons, with an opportunity for more productive workers to earn $1.50. The coupons could be used to buy cigarettes, candy and other items in the post exchange. In an arrangement with the federal government,  farmers who employed prisoners would pay the free market rate for the work performed—paid to the prisoners in coupons—with the difference paid to the Treasury Dept. to support the POW program.

With so many young men serving overseas, many farms on Cape Cod were in dire need of laborers to help harvest strawberries, cranberries and other crops. According to woodsholemuseum.org—the website for the Woods Hole Historical Museum—in 1944 alone German prisoners aided with the harvest of 90,000 quarts of strawberries at Falmouth farms.

Photography by Matt Gill

Speaking of a labor shortage, no one could have predicted the need that arose following the Great Atlantic Hurricane, which ripped through New England on September 14, 1944. In the aftermath of the storm, the Camp Edwards prisoners helped clear fallen trees and debris from the Cape’s roadways and beaches. They also repaired damage at local boatyards and built roads near the base, including Sandwich Road in Bourne—all under the guard of the 1114th SCU Military Police.

Back at the base, the men ran the tree trunks and branches through portable sawmills, which had been shipped to Camp Edwards from the state of Washington and were set up a short distance from the POW camp. Through this effort, Ellis says the prisoners helped salvage several million board feet of lumber, which would later be used for military construction purposes.

West Dennis resident Margaret Eastman, 84, recalls seeing the prisoners at work. “We moved to Dennisport just in time for the September 1944 hurricane,” Eastman says. “The cleanup from that storm went on for months, even years. As a young girl of 13, my friends and I would watch the army trucks go through town loaded with young—and they were very young—war prisoners. They seemed glad to see us and waved to us, said things we couldn’t understand, but they were smiling. We didn’t do more than wave back at them as they rode through.”

A lifelong resident of Harwich, Albert Raneo, 83, has similar memories. “I remember the POWs from Germany, dressed in blue coveralls, being transported between strawberry farms, cranberry bogs, and areas that suffered severe damage from the hurricane,” Raneo says. “They did a lot of great work, particularly in Onset where my grandmother lived. The damage there was extensive.”

According to news clippings from the period, Cape residents were wary of the prisoners, and there were a few instances of prisoners making escape attempts. According to Sheedy and Coogan’s book, a prisoner named Victor Gleiberger ran away from a work detail in Cotuit. He was caught a few days later after hiding in bogs in Santuit.

As a boy, Ellis lived with his grandparents in Sagamore Village  and had multiple first-hand encounters with the prisoners. Ellis, 82, wrote of some of these experiences—including a run-in with a prisoner on the run—in a recent edition of Post Scripts, the newsletter for the Bourne Historical Society.

One afternoon in 1944, residents in the area were warned that some prisoners were at large, and to be vigilant. “I vividly remember needing to go outside,” Ellis writes, “as my grandparents had kept us inside all day. I volunteered to go out and get some kerosene from behind our barn in the backyard. As I filled up the jar halfway with kerosene, I peeked around the corner and there he was dressed in dark blue coveralls in a blue fatigue jacket with white letters reading, ‘PW.’ I ran back in the house and told my grandparents, which prompted my grandfather to patrol the yard with a bat. The prisoner was caught trying to swim across the canal under the Sagamore Bridge.”

Courtesy of the Cape Cod Military Museum

Ellis’ second encounter was a much friendlier exchange. “My neighbor [a practical engineer at Camp Edwards] brought home two POWs for dinner one Sunday, and after playing basketball with me, one of the prisoners noticed a book of ships on the ground. He asked if I liked ships and told me he was in the navy.” After the neighbor hosted the prisoners for another dinner the following week, he paid Ellis a visit as the prisoners had left gifts for him. “Wrapped inside some newspaper,” Ellis writes, “were a hand-carved boat and a German military insignia from a prisoner’s uniform.” Ellis says he never learned the names of the two prisoners he met, or what eventually became of them, yet to this day he has the mementos they gave him.

In 1991, a film starring Walter Matthau and Robert Carradine titled The Incident was released, telling a fictional story set at a World War II prison camp in Colorado. According to theincidentmovie.com, a website dedicated to the film—and to providing details about real-life POW camps in the U.S.—following the surrender of German forces in May of 1945, German prisoners were supposed to be repatriated back to Germany. According to the site, however, due to several reasons, including the fact that Germany was in disarray and food in the country was scarce, many prisoners were repatriated in 1946, some even later.

Before being sent home, Ellis says many of the prisoners were first sent to England to help rebuild that country’s infrastructure. Other German prisoners, according to theincidentmovie.com, were shipped to Italy, France, the Netherlands, Russia and elsewhere.

Ellis says at least a few Germans who had been imprisoned at the POW camp stayed in the area or returned to Cape Cod in the years following the war. This could be attributed to the Cape’s natural beauty, or, perhaps, to the treatment the men received as prisoners.

In his book Stark Decency: German Prisoners of War in a New England Village, writer Allen Koop states that German prisoners were treated with compassion in U.S. prison camps. A professor at Dartmouth College, Koop researched New Hampshire’s lone World War II camp, which had been located in the town of Stark. He traveled to Germany in the 1980s to meet with former Stark POWs and even organized a reunion for five of the men to return to the Granite State as free men.

Koop writes that in POW camps in America, prisoners—were they so inclined—were allowed to wear Nazi uniforms, celebrate Nazi holidays, and even use the Hitler salute. He also describes the basic standard of living prisoners experienced in American camps—based on factors including housing, sanitation, food and recreation—as exceeding that of the regular German army. At the time, many in the press were critical of these scenarios, arguing that the prisoners were being coddled.

Today, visitors to Joint Base Cape Cod—the name that covers all of the military agencies and installations currently calling the base home, including Camp Edwards—will find little trace of the camp that once housed German prisoners. Pine trees surround quiet paved roadways that once passed by the camp. Nearby, fields that were once home to hundreds of barracks for American servicemen are vacant or overgrown.

A short distance off, visitors will find the Roxy, the base’s movie theater located near the intersection of Turpentine and Lee roads. Seventy years ago the site was home to the sawmills where the German prisoners worked, helping to transform thousands of hurricane-felled trees into useful lumber.

During the 1970s, Ellis says a large problem was literally unearthed at the location. A member of Bourne’s planning board at the time, Ellis says the area where the theater’s foundation was to be built was infested with termites. The bugs were chewing on remnants left a quarter century before by the sawmill . . . a lifetime supply of sawdust.

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A preview of the 2015 Provincetown, Nantucket, and Woods Hole film festivals

Courtesy of : Nantucket Film Festival

Cape Cod and the Islands are known around the world for their gorgeous beaches, pristine natural settings, fresh and flavorful seafood, and a laidback vibe that keeps vacationers coming back year after year. In the past two decades, the region has also become a mecca for visitors who enjoy the fine art of filmmaking.

During the summer, interest in first-run independent films heats up at annual festivals in Provincetown, Nantucket, and Woods Hole. Not only do attendees have the opportunity to see films that may never appear in local theaters, they can interact with the filmmakers behind the films, and learn about the filmmaking process, the struggles, and the attention to detail involved. “This is the place to discover films before the rest of the world knows about them,” says Connie White, artistic director of the Provincetown Film Festival.

The festivals draw thousands of film enthusiasts, directors, actors, and others in the industry every year-—as well as summer vacationers curious to learn more. With many evening screenings and events, the festivals offer many cool options for cooling off. Enjoy! For more information, visit stg-capecodlifecom-staging.kinsta.cloud/readersinfo.

Living on the Edge

Courtesy of : Provincetown Film Festival

Held annually in Provincetown—on the tip of Cape Cod—the Provincetown International Film Festival honors filmmakers who live and work on the edge. “We honor filmmakers who make their audiences think,” says Connie White, the festival’s artistic director. “Their films must be provocative, adventurous, and artistically well done.”

Since its inaugural year in 1999, the festival’s mission has been to show a diverse selection of American and international narrative features as well as documentaries and short films. The festival also seeks to highlight the Provincetown community’s unique qualities, including its rich history dating back to the Native Americans, the arrival of the Mayflower Pilgrims, a fishing village with strong Portuguese connections, and an oasis for gays and lesbians. Every year, the festival hosts more than 30 events honoring filmmakers and 100 or more films are screened.

According to White, the presentation of the annual Filmmaker on the Edge Award is the festival’s signature event. John Waters, who directed films such as Hairspray (1988), Serial Mom (1994), and Pink Flamingos (1972), which  all pushed the boundaries of conventional propriety, was the first recipient of the award back in 1999. Today, Waters is a fixture at the festival, White says, and his pencil-thin mustache makes him easy to identify.

Filmmaking pioneers Kevin Smith (2010), Darren Aronofsky (2011), and Roger Corman (2012) have also received the award for their many films that have challenged social norms.

The festival’s annual “Breakfast With…” event is another staple and features panel discussions with filmmakers and other special guests. In 2014, discussions focused on topics such as first-time female filmmakers, documentaries, and the HBO film, The Case Against 8. Participating as a first-time, female filmmaker in 2014, Sheila Canavan created the documentary, Compared to What? The Improbable Journey of Barney Frank.

Over the years, the festival has drawn interest from a variety of celebrities, including actresses Debra Winger, Patricia Clarkson, and Jane Lynch.

Though the festival ends June 21, the Provincetown Film Society, the festival’s parent organization, holds events all year long. “We work with the Wellfleet Drive-In to show classic films such as Jaws,” says White. “We also showed the film, A Hard Days Night, on its 50th anniversary last year.” For tickets, visit ptownfilmfest.org, or call 508-487-3456.

The Write Stuff

Courtesy of : Nantucket Film Festival

The natural beauty of Nantucket Island may be difficult to capture or reflect in words—and that may be one of the reasons organizers of the Nantucket Film Festival work so hard each year to honor writers and the art of screenwriting. “We believe the writer is at the heart of every film,” says Bill Curran, producer of the festival, which this year runs from June 24 to 29. “We are choosing to elevate a role that doesn’t get its proper credence.”

This year’s festivities begin Wednesday, June 24, with an opening night screening at Nantucket High School. In addition, two films shot on the island are scheduled to be part of the festival lineup. “We are thrilled to show films made locally,” Curran says, “including Gray Lady (2014), which was written and directed by John Shea and features actors Eric Dane, Amy Madigan, Natalie Zea, and Rebecca Gayheart; and Peter and John (2014), written and directed by Jay Craven, and starring actors Jacqueline Bisset, Christian Coulson, Shane Patrick Kearns, Gordon Clapp, Gary Farmer, and Diane Guerrero.”

Curran says the mission of the festival, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, is to accentuate the idea that a great film does not exist without a great story. Through staged readings, late night storytelling sessions, and the annual Screenwriters Tribute Award, attendees can participate in fun and interactive events to learn about the quality writing that serves as the backbone of any well-crafted film.

Over the years, the festival’s annual Screenwriters Tribute Award has honored industry legends that have brought distinction to the art of film writing. Honorees have included Judd Apatow, the creator of Bridesmaids; Jim Taylor and Alexander Payne, the writers of Sideways; and in 2014, Aaron Sorkin, who wrote The Social Network. This year’s tribute and award ceremony will be held Saturday, June 27, at Sconset Casino.

Perhaps the most interesting live events at the festival are the stage readings and late night storytelling sessions. Past stage readings have included an adaptation of the Steven Soderbergh and Scott Kramer film, Confederacy of Dunces, featuring Will Ferrell, Rosie Perez, Alan Cumming, Moz Def, and Paul Rudd. The Late Night Storytelling sessions feature filmmakers and other guests telling five-minute stories that address a particular theme.

“This year’s theme will be fact versus fiction,” Curran says of the event, to be held Friday, June 26. “Ophira Eisenberg, writer, comedian, storyteller, and host of NPR’s weekly comedy trivia show, Ask Me Another, will once again host the evening.” Curran added that the names of the storytellers who will participate in the event are kept secret until the event, but past participants have included Rudd as well as Tina Fey, Jim Carrey, and Sarah Silverman.

Another annual event that has featured big names in the industry in the past is the All-Star Comedy Roundtable. Ben Stiller, Bill Hader, and Chris Rock have all been involved over the years.

Though the Nantucket Film Festival does attract popular celebrities and industry professionals, Curran says the festival does not suffer from overcrowding or excessive hype. “We are not a big, sprawling festival with hundreds of films to show,” Curran says. “Our festival is five days long and gives audiences a nice mirror to look at film.” For tickets, visit nantucketfilmfestival.org.

Movies, Music, Science, and More!

Courtesy of : Woods Hole Film Festival

Now in its 24th year, the mission of the Woods Hole Film Festival is to showcase the work of emerging and independent filmmakers, to highlight films that are relevant to Cape Cod, and to foster a creative and independent film community both at the festival and on the Cape.

“The festival gives audience members the opportunity to share experiences and opinions not only with the filmmaker, but with each other,” says Judy Laster, the festival’s founder. “Filmmakers also relish the opportunity to screen their film for the first time with an audience. It’s a truly unique occasion.”

This year’s festivities get underway Saturday, July 25 with a screening of Maya Forbes’ 2014 film, Infinitely Polar Bear, at Redfield Auditorium on Water Street. The film depicts the life of a father who is struggling with bipolar disorder. Over the following week, more than 100 films will be screened at various venues including the old Woods Hole Fire Station, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI), Redfield Auditorium, and Falmouth Academy’s Morse Hall.

One special event on this year’s lineup is a presentation titled, “The Kissinger Twins, Cinematic Labyrinths—Interactive and Transmedia Storytelling Showcase.” This event features film and photography duo, Dawid Marcinkowski and Kasia Kifert, and shows how they mix classic film, photography, and the latest digital technologies to create interactive, web-based cinematic storytelling.

Laster also offered details on an event from a recent festival that emphasized the importance of providing the audience with an original experience they can not find elsewhere. “Cultural icon, Wavy Gravy, attended the 2009 festival’s screening of Saint Misbehavin’, the Wavy Gravy Movie, directed by Michelle Esrick,” Laster says. “The fact that Wavy was there added to the authenticity of the screening. You could feel the audience smiling throughout the film.” The film went on to win the festival’s coveted Audience Award, the voting for which allows those who attend festival screenings to voice their opinions.

“Audience members can vote on the films they see,” Laster says. “They can create a buzz for various films by selecting them for specific awards such as the Audience Award, Best Comedy Short, Best Cape Cod Section, and Best Narrative Feature Film.”

The festival also features a loaded lineup of live music, including a performance by 6 East, a Cape Cod acoustic guitar duo. Tickets—including passes, ticket packages and tickets to individual films—go on sale July 1, at woodsholefilmfestival.org. For more information, email info@woodsholefilmfestival.org, or call 508-495-3456.

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