One of the most impressive and historic properties on Cape Cod is the former mansion of Samuel Mayo Nickerson, now home to Ocean Edge Resort & Golf Club since 1986 when the august property first started to receive guests. The jewel of Cape Cod hospitality has 337 guest rooms and suites on 429 acres and features three outdoor and two indoor pools heated for winter use, nine tennis courts and Cape Cod’s only Nicklaus Design golf course which is as beautiful as it is challenging.

The resort offers more than just appetizing meals—it offers culinary experiences that will suit everyone’s tastes. Six restaurants across the property ensure that no matter what type of meal you desire, despite the variety of family members of culinary preferences, you will most likely find something that will make your meal memorable. Their Ocean Terrace, perched above Cape Cod Bay with unobstructed 180-degree-views from the South Shore to Provincetown is the perfect place to experience the quintessential Cape Cod day, accented by innovative and refreshing cocktails and first-class service. The elevated New England fare includes grilled lobster rolls with basil aioli, sumptuous clam chowder, and local oysters on the half shell.  As the sun sets on the Bay, extinguishing the last light of a day full of the beach, pools, tennis/pickleball, biking, kayaking, golf, and every other activity Cape Cod has to offer, the conversation and conviviality continue around the fire bowls and comfortable seating found throughout the expansive Ocean Terrace lounge area.

The Roscommon Room, the original families formal dining room, is an indoor extension of Ocean Terrace. It provides a place to settle in surrounded by gleaming wood paneling, encompassed by expansive windows that frame the outstanding view.

Looking for a cozier scenario? Bayzo’s Pub in the lower level of The Mansion features flavorful bar cuisine, large screen televisions, their own craft brew “Bayzo Brew,” exclusively brewed for them by Cape Cod Beer, and fine spirits, all in an old-fashioned pub atmosphere. Signature dishes include prosciutto mac ‘n cheese with Vermont cheddar, craft-beer battered fish ‘n chips, and seared lobster with cognac cream.

From late morning until 9 o’clock at night, Linx Tavern adjacent to the manicured golf course, serves up lunch, light bites and delicious dinners. Menu items run the gamut from roasted local zucchini “guacamole,” grilled watermelon and burrata, pistachio and hazelnut-crusted cod and grilled swordfish fricassee. Two outdoor patios keep the options fresh and exciting.

The Beach Bar, added in 2016, is literally on the resort’s private beach atop a dune. The shaded pavilion has 32 seats for those looking to grab a light bite and regionally inspired cocktails. Unobstructed views make sure everyone is able to enjoy the splendor of the beach, without even getting sand in their shoes!

The most recent addition to the line-up of dining and entertaining options at Ocean Edge is The Front Lawn. Originally debuted during COVID-19, The Front Lawn experience, a pop-up concept that was enthusiastically welcomed in the summer of 2020, is now being embraced for the 2021 season. The Mansion’s front lawn is transformed into an open-air hangout where local craft brews, wood-fired bites including pizzas and other noshes, sailcloth tents with special seating, live music on the weekends and more come together as one. The space offers a relaxed venue for families, couples, or groups of friends to spend that much-needed quality time together in the fresh Cape Cod air. Menu high lights include lobster pizza, fig and prosciutto pizza, fire-roasted chicken wings, vegetable kabobs, blistered corn, BBQ ribs, and s’mores nachos.

Another silver lining of the pandemic, since diners were looking for outdoor options even as the off-season encroached, has resulted in the property shifting from a 3-season venue to year-round. The temporary enclosure with ten heated igloos that enveloped Ocean Terrace, known as “The Frost Bar” prompted a focus on dining that kept the resort open through the winter of 2020/2021.

Executive Chef and Director of Food & Beverage Administration, Philip Flath, who oversees all of the food and beverage at the resort, says the last year has certainly had its challenges. “But my staff is absolutely the best. If we hadn’t had them we would never have been able to increase our offerings, let along just make it through.” That dedication and commitment is evident with every dish and every beverage served across the entire property.

After all of the indulgence in the irresistible food and beverages that are available across the resort, a spa day is also on the menu. The Beach House Spa that is open to the public, is a serene, breezy oasis for couples to pamper and recharge. With massages ranging from classic to immune boosting and the resort’s signature Beach House Massage, to mani/pedis and facials, there’s no limit to the ways guests can unwind and relax. Not only does the spa offer a premiere location right on the Cape, but it is very connected to the community and showcases jewelry and art from local artisans. The spa offers five treatment rooms, including a couples treatment room. The menu offers a range of full body massages, HydraFacials, wraps, manicures, pedicures, waxing, and hair and makeup services. An additional spa highlight is the Side Porch, a beautiful space that groups particularly like to take advantage of with a make-up station, blow-dry bar, and sound system to help set the mood. Aside from group bookings, spa guests can still take advantage of the space by enjoying its complimentary tea, coffee, and fresh fruit bar.

The immaculately manicured Nicklaus Design golf course offers 18 challenging holes nestled into breathtaking natural surroundings. Tree-lined fairways, rolling topography and dramatic elevation changes create an oasis for players of all levels. With a mix of harrowing approaches and dizzying doglegs, the course features 7,011 yards of golf with a par 72. Guests can head to the fairways for leisure play, or through private lessons and half-day golf schools, which are available from a staff of PGA professionals.

Additionally the roster of daily entertainment and activities for guests will keep the entire family occupied throughout the day.  Archery, private oyster bed tours where guests learn about farming and aquaculture on Cape Cod Bay and evening movies around the pool captivate every generation. Fitness classes that run the gamut from  Beach Yoga and Pilates, to Body Bar Plus, to Spin, Zumba and Cardio Strength Interval make sure your vacation doesn’t get the best of you. Live music through out the resort at various venues keeps things loose and relaxing. It seems as though the Director of FUN (a real position) spends most of her day thinking of a bucket list that will make each guest’s vacation one to remember for their entire life.

Leon Bolivar, Director of Marketing confirms the universal commitment each employee has in making time spent at Ocean Edge a time to treasure. “We are in the business of making people happy by helping to create new memories.” Given the depth and breadth of offerings for guests, the culinary and beverage options for locals and visitors, the exquisite and expansive historic grounds, and the un-paralled beauty of the best the Cape has to offer, being in the business of making people happy sounds like a dream job.

Julie Craven Wagner is the editor of Cape Cod Life Publications.

The post Paradise at the Edge appeared first on Cape Cod LIFE.

On April 20, 1957, Mayflower II set sail from Plymouth, England to Plymouth, Massachusetts. The ship was gifted from the people of the United Kingdom to the people of the United States to serve as an emblem of the friendships developed between the American and British soldiers who served during World War II. As it docked on June 13, 1957 in Plymouth, 25,000 people awaited this historic moment, including then Vice President Richard Nixon and senator John F. Kennedy. Since then, 25 million people have stepped aboard to envision what those 102 passengers may have experienced in 1620. 

Mayflower II was constructed in England using plans researched and created by renowned naval architect William A. Baker and commissioned by Plimoth Patuxet’s founder. Beginning in 2014, the 60-year-old reproduction vessel underwent a lengthy, meticulous restoration process using traditional materials and methods in a collaboration between Plimoth Patuxet and Mystic Seaport Museum. 

In July 2020, the restored Mayflower II set sail to return from Mystic to Plymouth. A month later, spectators gathered, masked and socially distanced, as the ship made its way through the Cape Cod Canal, and finally, into Plymouth Harbor. One can’t help but notice the parallels between the two voyages in 1957 and 2020, both surrounded by global defining moments—the end of a world war, and 60 years later amidst a global pandemic. 

“The return of the Mayflower II to Plymouth is significant on many levels,” said Lea Filson, President/CEO of See Plymouth. “First and foremost, seeing a replica of the ship allows a real-life experience today about one of America’s founding stories. For the town of Plymouth, its presence in the very place the Mayflower landed contributes immensely to tourism which is the #1 industry in the town and county of Plymouth.” 

The initial discussions of a restoration began almost 10 years ago at Plimoth Patuxet, the offical steward of the vessel since its arrival in 1957. As with any wooden vessel, it was time for a major refit after more than half a century. In 2014, Whit Perry, Director of Maritime Preservation and Operations and Captain of the Mayflower II, was brought on to Plimoth’s staff to lead the restoration. A collaboration began with Mystic Seaport Museum, who had just completed the restoration of the Charles W. Morgan. “They have a great infrastructure for the care and maintenance of wooden vessels. We were very lucky to be able to work with them. Myself and two crew members lived in Mystic for three years, working right alongside the Mystic shipwrights,” Perry says. At Mystic Seaport Museum, Quentin Snediker, Director of the Henry B. duPont Preservation Shipyard, led the project in tandem with Perry.

In the winter of 2014, Mayflower II was brought in to Mystic for an initial inspection. “We did some testing to get an idea for the scope of the work that was envisioned for the major restoration. In the winter of 2016, she came for the full restoration for three years,” Snediker describes.

 “The restoration was pretty deep, right down to the backbone of the ship. About 70% of the ship has been renewed. She still has some original timbers, but a lot was restored from deep inside the hull to the top of the mast,” Snediker continues. 

Snediker, Perry and the rest of the crew closely adhered to the guidelines and procedures set in the preservation world for large wooden vessels. “Even though she’s a recreation from the 1950s, we recognize that the vessel has historic provenance in its own right. We approached it as if it were one of our national historic landmark vessels,” Snediker shares. His observation was confirmed as the ship was named to the National Register of Historic Places in September, 2020.

Materials were transported from across the globe to restore the ship with quality resources. For Whit Perry, the material acquisition was one of his favorite aspects of the process. “I began over seven years ago out in the woods with spray paint, actually marking trees that we would later use in the restoration. I was out in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Virginia and Louisiana. We worked with loggers to get the best wood. We actually took the wood from tree to sea, as I like to say. We had a collaboration with Berea College in Kentucky. They donated white oak trees, and I went down there and cut up the trees a mile into the woods with a portable saw mill. We were also very fortunate to purchase about 20,000 feet of white oak from Denmark that we used for under the waterline planking. It was over three inches thick and up to 40 feet long with no defects. That’s just not available domestically,” Perry says.

When it came to the actual labor, the team blended traditional techniques from the 17th century with modern instruments. The crew utilized electric powered saws and tools when necessary, but once on the ship, only the traditional tools could be used. “We used some tools that have been in use for a thousand years,” Snediker says. The final fit is very custom skilled work, and both institutions are passionate about spreading such traditional knowledge. “No matter what we can do with the modern tools, like taking the logs from tree to sea, from round to dimensional lumber, and no matter what we can use for machinery, once you get it up on the ship and in place, all of the intricate mortise and tenon joints have to be finished by hand as they were in 1957 and in the 17th century. It was very gratifying to pass along some of the skills down to younger folks,” Perry adds.

The Mystic Seaport Museum is dedicated to the visitor experience in the shipyard, where visitors can engage with craftspeople onsite while they explore the museum’s iconic historic waterfront village, collection of ships and historic houses. Throughout the Mayflower II’s restoration, as with all of their projects, curious onlookers were welcome.

After three years out of the water, Mayflower II was ready to set sail in the spring of 2020. Of course, the beginning of the pandemic brought complications, delaying the voyage and cancelling the larger plans that aligned with the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower’s arrival. 

By the summer, the ship passed U. S. Coast Guard inspection and was ready to set sail under the leadership of Captain Whit Perry and 27 crew members. “The actual sailing of the vessel could not have gone off any better than I could have imagined. We sailed for over two weeks out of New London, Connecticut doing sea trials,” Perry says. Since the vessel has no propulsion engines, Charlie Mitchell, who has been towing Mayflower II for over 20 years, brought the ship back to the dock each night with the aid of the Tugboat JAGUAR. The crew closely followed COVID guidelines throughout the journey. Yet another curveball, incoming tropical storm Isaias forced the crew to add a stop in New Bedford for safety.

For its iconic passage through the Cape Cod Canal, thousands of spectators lined both banks. “People that had seen Mayflower II through the canal before, including me, had never seen so many spectators, even with COVID-19. It was amazing,” Perry says.

“We got back to Plymouth on August 10th, and the ship handled better than anything I ever could have imagined. We had sailed it more than it had been sailed all at once since 1957. The first feeling going through my head was relief that we got the ship back safe and sound. Second, bringing Mayflower II back after all that time and seeing the number of people on shore welcoming us amidst the pandemic was incredibly gratifying. It really put home how iconic this historic vessel is. For me, the first boat I ever restored was an Old Town canoe over 40 years ago, so to be able to be in the position of leading the restoration and being Captain of the Mayflower II was a feeling I couldn’t even describe. It was an honor bringing the ship back into its home port,” Perry reflects. 

For Quentin Snediker, the collaboration between Plimoth Patuxet Museums and Mystic Seaport Museum was a fulfilling model between two nonprofits for one common goal. “When I look at a ship, I see it as a huge, collaborative sculpture because there’s not a piece of wood that’s straight or at a 90-degree angle. Everything is curved and angled to get to the beauty and form of a ship. The cooperation of so many craftspeople with the same vision and coming out with the finished product is really the greatest reward for me.”

At Plimoth Patuxet Museums, the Mayflower II is back in her home in her newly restored glory, where visitors can once again climb aboard and imagine the Mayflower’s voyage across the Atlantic 400 years ago. The ship is open daily to visitors from March through November. Thanks to the dedication of the Mystic Seaport Museum and Plimoth Patuxet Museums, she can remain a valuable resource for generations to come to remember our complex history. 

Honoring its extensive restoration, in 2021, Mayflower II received the Paul & Niki Tsongas Preservation Award by Preservation Massachusetts, as well as their People’s Choice Award.

“Culturally and historically, Mayflower II means many different things to many different people. We know that keeping the history alive, and telling the complete story, is how we need to move forward. Mayflower II represents an important part in being able to tell that story,” Perry says.

Visit www.plimoth.org and www.mysticseaport.org to stay in the know about what is currently happening at both treasured museums.

Brenna Collins is the Story Editor for Cape Cod Life Publications. 

The post A Homecoming to Remember appeared first on Cape Cod LIFE.

In Paul Schulenburg’s painting, Soon to Return, a catboat lies canted on its port side upon the sandy tidal flats of Cape Cod Bay. In the immediate background, turquoise green water bisects the sandbar; along the horizon the cornflower blue bay converges with a pink line of sky. Although the time of day is most likely dusk, there’s an ambiguity about the palette that could allow one to register dawn instead. Either way, the metaphor in the painting’s title works, for whether the sun is setting on this particular period or rising to usher in a new one, the theme of returning is most apropos in 2021. 

Vacationers, tourists, and summer people will come back to the Cape this season, families will reunite, and the tide will flood over these sand flats to buoy that catboat once again. 

Schulenburg says, “During the time of Covid, I have been working closer to home, so I have been doing these paintings alone at the beach at the end of my road, or high and dry in my studio. I’ve used this time to concentrate on my work, doing several paintings of boats on the flats at low tide. The motionless boats allude to how we have been waiting for the pandemic to end; for the tide to return, so that we can all sail back into our normal lives.” Thus, while on the surface this painting may be of a boat at rest on the sand, there is also a deeper symbolic message. “My paintings often will have a narrative quality, but usually it’s a partial narrative; something to pique your interest but not tell the whole story.”

Schulenburg paints a variety of subjects, from scenes in cafes or village streets, to landscapes consisting of beaches and inlets, to people moving through these worlds- exploring, working, or unwinding. Depending on the subject, he will sometimes adjust his style to fit the mood and situation. “For example, if I am painting a serene painting of my wife, there may be more blending, maybe a softer use of color and of paint,” he says. “If it’s an active scene at the Chatham fish pier, there might be more contrast, more color, and there may be blockier, thicker paint in chunkier brushstrokes, which helps convey that rustic feeling of the fish pier.” 

Over his career, scenes of fishermen returning with their catch have been recurring subjects for Schulenburg. He became fascinated with the fish pier in the late 90’s; he says, “I was painting a few local landscapes, like people do. It was springtime, and the weather was still a bit gray on the Cape. I was driving around looking for subject matter when I decided to stop at the fish pier. I was intrigued with the activity, the colors the fishermen were wearing, and the perspective of looking down into the boats.” He had studied figurative painting at Boston University, taking classes in anatomy and classical training in painting the human form. “So painting the fisherman was another way of exploring figurative work,” he says, “and capturing an integral historical part of Cape Cod that is not observed by as many people. It’s the working, gritty part. There’s a beauty in that which intrigued me.”

While sometimes Schulenburg connects with the workers, other times he’s just a face in the crowd. He explains: “The fish pier can be packed with people watching and taking pictures, so the fishermen are used to being observed. If there aren’t many people around I will talk to the workers, but I try not to bother them. Basically they’re working and I’m working, and I try not to get in their way.” Schulenburg’s conversations might also lead to further developments such as finding models who come into the studio to pose for him and for other painters. “I studied a fisherwoman at the pier for quite a while one particular day. Eventually I felt I should explain to her why I’d been watching her,” says Schulenburg. He gave her his business card and explained what he was doing. Since then, he has painted several large paintings of Stephanie, and she has posed in her fishing gear at his studio during one of the many group painting sessions he holds with other artists. 

In addition to fishermen, one of Schulenburg’s favorite subjects is his wife, Pharr. He says, “She’s an attractive woman, and I like spending time with her. We are often together and it helps that she knows the business of art. She’ll pose for drawings and paintings, or for reference photos. Wherever we are, at home or away, I might notice a special light and shadow, or color combination. There might be something special about the scene and the way she looks. I’ll take a few reference photos that might be useful. Sometimes it’s unplanned, at a restaurant or a cafe or out traveling. Sometimes we’ll go out looking for inspiration, and other times it’s just a matter of catching her at the right moment, when we least expect it.”

Although Paul Schulenburg graduated from Boston University with a degree in fine arts and had been drawing and painting since a young age, early in his career he believed that he would become an art teacher at the high school or college level because, he says, “I thought that’s what artists did to make a living.” However, some of his friends had gone into graphic design, which led him to a job in advertising, where he eventually started doing freelance illustration. He worked for local magazines and book publishers, but “then branched out around the country and internationally, taking on a lot of corporate work — brochures, newsletters,” he recalls. “It was conceptual work rather than realism. It’s very different from what I do now. It was problem solving, so if they had a concept they wanted to convey (‘worldwide communication’ for example) I had to come up with a way to convey that idea with an image.” He saw the work as a series of  challenges, and looking back, Schulenburg has been able to see how his early job moves helped his painting career. “Different tools carried over,” he says. “Professionalism, deadlines, working with others.…” Throughout those years, he always thought of himself as a painter. “Painting was my first love, and eventually I went back to it.” But his experience making a living as a commercial illustrator helped in the transition to gallery sales. “Fine art is very enjoyable, but it’s also a business, and it helps to realize that.” 

In the late 90s Schulenburg started the career transition. “It had been about 20 years since I had done much oil painting, and my wife was encouraging me to get back to it,” He recalls her saying: “You studied oil painting in college. Maybe it’s time you started again.” In 2000 Schulenburg approached Helen Addison, at the Addison Art Gallery in Orleans. At the time, he was still working full time as an illustrator but had begun painting again on the side. Helen Addison took about 12 paintings at their first meeting. In the first month or two she sold most of them, and I made the decision to concentrate on painting full time.” Over the past two decades, Schulenburg has also shown his work at galleries in New York, North Carolina, and Maine, but he says, “Addison is my primary gallery for sure; this is my 21st year.”

Paul Schulenburg has painted in watercolor, acrylic, oil pastels, colored pencils…, but he identifies as an oil painter. “I decided to try to become as proficient in oils as I could be. It’s a traditional medium, and I think it’s the best.” For Schulenburg, acrylics dry too quickly, and watercolors can be a frustrating medium, although he has used them at times for sketching. He recognizes the skill required in watercolor painting which he thinks can a fun challenge. He also notes that oil paintings are easier to frame and, “Like it or not, watercolors are harder to sell. I think that there is less perceived value in watercolor versus oil.” Oil also lends itself best to Schulenburg’s overall style, or styles, of painting. “I usually describe my style as ‘painterly realism’. I don’t typically use abstraction in my work, but I also usually try not to go overly realistic and rendered. I like to show brushstrokes and textures; I want the work to look like a painting, but at the same time I like capturing light and life somewhat accurately.”

As Schulenburg heads deeper into 2021, he is looking forward to painting more friends, neighbors, and fishermen, and to the world expanding once again following the lockdown of the pandemic. But he doesn’t have any particular agenda or plan. “What’s coming next?” he asks. “It’s one painting at a time. I’m never quite sure where painting will take me next. It’s kind of an adventure, so we’ll see. I paint whatever is interesting to me at the moment, and I find the people around me are endlessly interesting. Books and movies are about people. Songs are about people. There’s no reason why a painting has to be about a bowl of fruit.”

Chris White is a contributing writer for Cape Cod Life Publications.

Paul Schulenburg’s work is exclusively represented on Cape Cod by Addison Art Gallery in Orleans.

The post Schulenburg’s Rising Tide appeared first on Cape Cod LIFE.

In the center of quiet Dennis Village sits an antique home. From the outside, it simply looks like a well-kept abode of years past, with a simple sign hanging out front announcing itself to the world as FIN. But inside, chic, minimalist décor with local artists’ work hanging on the walls and warm light, keys visitors into the fresh and exciting menu crafted by owner and head chef Mike Scarduzio.

The name may sound familiar; FIN is not a new restaurant, rather, Mike and his fiancé Kallie Maxim purchased the restaurant from the previous owner in 2019. While they are new owners of the restaurant, Mike and Kallie are both no strangers to the business. Kallie has worked in restaurants for as long as she can remember, and after attending the Culinary Institute of America in New York, Mike spent four years working in New York City under Michelin starred chefs, training in mainly French cuisine, and also a stint at a sushi restaurant in Union Square. The two then traveled to Europe, where Mike spent some time working and training in Copenhagen. “Kallie and I have worked in restaurants pretty much our whole lives and we traveled the world looking for food for inspiration for our menu,” Mike says. From Boston to New York to Europe to Asia, Mike’s time spent in various kitchens is evident on the menu at FIN. While the Asian influences are clear, with dishes such as the seared yellowfin tuna with Yakisoba noodles, fiddle heads and a carrot ginger sauce, the scallop sashimi with roasted maitake mushrooms and pickled ramps, and the yellowfin tuna tartar with avocado, yuzu soy, wasabi and lotus root chips, Mike and Kallie aimed to make FIN a blend of their experiences and the Cape Cod community. “The menu we came up with is based off what people really like to eat around here and what I was trained in, a blend of the two. You want to please the guests, while also keeping it fun and doing what it is you want to do. There’s a fine line,” explains Mike. 

When it came time to move on from New York City, Cape Cod seemed to be a natural choice. Mike, originally from Central Massachusetts, he and his family spent summers on the Cape, and Kallie is a local, hailing from Bourne. On the Cape, Kallie and Mike are surrounded by friends and family, a built-in support system that they didn’t have in the city. But more than that, they feel at home. “Growing up, I would go clamming and oystering with my dad and we’d come back from the beach and cook amazing meals,” Mike reminisces. “Those are the kinds of memories I have from growing up visiting the Cape, cooking fresh seafood, so there’s a sense of home here.” And that fresh seafood was another deciding factor in choosing Cape Cod. “The seafood that comes out of Cape Cod is some of the best in the world and in New York City, all the seafood was coming from the Cape,” explains Mike. “So, I thought ‘why not go to the source to open the restaurant?’ It’ll be a lot fresher too!”

Once the location was decided, it was a matter of finding a place. “We wanted a small place that was a little more upscale. We didn’t want to start from scratch; we were looking for an established restaurant because we’re young and this is our first restaurant,” Kallie says. “We actually worked for the previous owner for about two months as a transition period prior to taking over to see if it was a good fit, to meet the clientele, and to see if Mike’s food would work well here. And it was a perfect fit.” Mike set out to create a menu of his own but wanted to honor the restaurant that came before. The previous iteration of FIN was seafood focused, much as it is now, but the influences came mainly from French and Asian cuisine. “It was difficult at first; we took a step back and asked ourselves, ‘Okay what do we really want to do here?’” says Mike. “We took some of the staples on the menu, like her oyster chowder and tuna tartar, and we revamped them. We just wanted it to be a new FIN.” And though their is a new chef at the helm, fans of the old FIN will not feel out of place, thanks to Mike’s continued use of proteins like scallops, tuna and swordfish. Mike’s application of what he has learned over the years is like any good recipe; it is a point of inspiration, a jumping off point that is influenced by fresh ingredients at hand, along with a dollop of creativity. It is less of a plan and much more of an experience, with a menu that has been honed down, with a focus on quality over quantity. 

That commitment is evident in Mike’s off-season tasting menu. When the tide turns from the busy summer months to the quieter, cooler autumn, Mike and his team have the time once again to offer an eight-course tasting menu to guests, in addition to their normal á la carte menu. The tasting menu changes every night, depending on what ingredients Mike has available. Reccurring dishes have included Waygu Beef and FIN’s in-house, 23-day dry aged duck. Wine pairings are also offered with the menu. While it’s an option Mike would love to offer guests year-round, kitchen staffing makes it difficult to maintain in the summer season. For now, it will remain a special treat for those who live in the area year-round or make the trek to Dennis Village in the off-season.

Access to the freshest possible seafood is certainly a draw for most chefs on the Cape, and at FIN, Mike strives to make the most of it. “It’s all about keeping up with the trends. As a couple taking over a restaurant at 25, it was a little crazy, but we really knew from our training the trends and ingredients people weren’t using down here but were being used in New York,” says Mike. “Every morning when I was a sous chef in the city, I would go to the farmers’ market and get all the ingredients and adapt the menu as the day went on. I would get to use cool new ingredients.” Mike has brought that adaptive spirit to the Cape and employs it regularly, not just in his tasting menu. “Mike is constantly changing the menu according to the seasons or the fresh ingredients that we get in daily,” Kallie explains. “Whenever people come in, whether they’re regulars or coming in for the first time, there’s always something new on the menu and I think that excites people.”

While embracing the atmosphere and delicacies of the area, Mike and Kallie also hope to bring a bit of the New York flair they picked up to the Cape. “Working in New York City, you get the best of the best. It’s very high end, which I want to keep here at FIN,” says Mike. “That’s something we wanted to bring to the Cape; the focus on fine dining and really doing chef-focused food. I brought the high standards of the kitchens I was trained in to FIN. And the tasting menu we do in the off-season is something I was trained in, and I love doing that to really showcase the menu. It’s fun for us.” The restaurant has truly become a unique blend of the couple’s training and the community that they’re now a part of. “A lot of people who come down in the summer come from New York, so they get really excited to find a restaurant like this. We are in an old, antique home, which you won’t find in New York City, but I think Mike’s food is up to the standards of the city,” Kallie elaborates. 

As the world, and the Cape, start to get back to normal, it’s time to indulge. And there’s no better place to do so than FIN. With the freshest, highest quality ingredients used to make unique yet accessible dishes, Chef Mike Scarduzio has created a menu that perfectly blends his worldly training with local seafood. And together with fiancée Kallie, has put his own spin on an established Cape classic.

Visit FIN at 800 Main Street in Dennis and online at fincapecod.com.

Elizabeth Shaw is the Senior Editor and Digital Editor at Cape Cod Life Publications. 

The post Savoring Every Bite appeared first on Cape Cod LIFE.

A day trip to Duxbury has everything you need for a lasting impression that will have you returning again and again.

A trip to Duxbury is more than just a sojourn, it is truly a departure from the stresses and aggravations of everyday life. It is almost as though the highway signs should indicate an intersection of “Out of this world,” and “In a world of one’s own.”

The beautifully manicured hamlet is rooted in colonial history that is evident in every turn down a tree-lined back road where well-kept homes stand proudly with just a smidge of Yankee propriety, which keeps them from flaunting any supposition of nouveau wealth. In fact, behind those majestic front doors, crested with brass door knockers and bulls-eye glass panes, are residents of a town that is closely-knit, supportive and welcoming.

A good place to start when adventuring to Duxbury is at Millbrook Station. Once the Duxbury stop on the train to Boston all the way back to 1871, this newly developed site offers dining, shopping, professional services and apartment living in one charming location. Any good day trip will involve a memorable and delicious meal. The Oysterman anchors Millbrook Station and fills the bill on the dining front. Chris Schweiger and his partner Dermott Loftus opened the small, but fiercely popular restaurant in 2016 as one of the first tenants in Michael Juliano’s charming mixed-use project. Schweiger, who has a history of working for popular pubs, bars and restaurants in downtown Boston and on the South Shore says his small restaurant features a raw bar but has something for everybody. He jokes, “We used to call it Duxbury’s living room because the place would be packed, there would be a two-hour wait, but no one seemed to mind because all of their friends were at the bar. It was like an adult house party.” COVID did change the four-deep at the bar scenario, but the demand for the great food, inventive cocktails and fresh seafood was satisfied with plenty of outdoor seating during the period of pandemic restrictions. 

Not many people open a second restaurant right next door to their existing one, but Schweiger and Loftus took Juliano up on his offer for another restaurant next door. At first The Anchor served breakfast and lunch offerings, but as Schweiger says, “As the business evolved we realized there was still a need for another place to have dinner, so we expanded the hours and the menu. For a while it was like it was the little brother to The Oysterman, but now it really stands on its own.” Schweiger says the success in both businesses is equally shared between the clients and his staff. Both restaurants are small, leaving scant extra room for the kitchen staff. “At the Oysterman, someone is behind the raw bar, behind that person is a wall with someone making salads and in that same space is our grill,” Schweiger explains. “People ask why we don’t serve dessert and I tell them we don’t even have a freezer. Besides, I opened a restaurant across from Farfar’s so why would I ever offer dessert?”

Farfar’s, across St. George Street, is a Danish ice cream shop that has been serving up a frozen dessert for 42 years that surpasses what Americans have come to know and love as ice cream. With an increased milk fat (14%) the ever-changing flavors of Farfar’s ice cream will stop you in your tracks. A popular seasonal attraction, local school kids, families and retirees can all be found, sitting in the shade of a large tree with a euphoric expression on their face as they savor their cup of heaven. Next door to Farfar’s is a bespoke consignment shop, B Home. Related to the popular furniture consignment in Chatham, At Home, the charming space offers coastal finds and furniture for your home.

Additional shopping at Millbrook station includes other Cape connections. Three Buoys and a Mermaid is a small boutique offering women’s fashions, tableware, jewelry and small gifts. The owner also has a location on Main Street in Harwich. A few doors down, the popular Chatham beach and casual clothing shop, White Marlin also has a small boutique. When you stop in, Emily, a junior at Roger Williams University will most likely be helping you decide which pair of Slyk Shades (another Cape Cod brand) look best.

SOUTH in Duxbury

A small shop that makes a big impact, SOUTH offers unique gifts for your hostess as well as the perfect pair of jeans and luxurious cashmere. Tabletop items, candles, and fashionable accessories for both you and your home will make your visit memorable.

36 Railroad Avenue | 781-452-7656 | southinduxbury.com

Anchoring the sidewalk of the tony boutiques, is SOUTH in Duxbury, an accessories shop owned by Sarah Rhinesmith and Erica DeZitter, The two women also had a shop together in Chatham, Midsummer Nights that was very popular with their clients. Now with SOUTH, the two women bring a worldly sense of sophistication to a very small space, 600 square feet, making the careful curation of stock essential. Rhinesmith says, “We sell a lot of table top items. I think this year, with people being home, people really got into cooking and they want to make their meals a special event. Our pieces just make anything feel extra special.” The shop also offers a selection of high-quality casual clothing and Rhinesmith says that the jeans and cashmere items have been popular as women decide to abandon their yoga pants from the past year.

Frost and Found

This newly opened shop in Milbrook Station offers fresh floral and plant options as well as sustainable subscriptions and container garden planting services. Owner Bonnie Frost has built a reputation for unique and inventive arrangements often presented in unexpected heirloom or antique containers.

28 Railroad Avenue | 339-217-2171 | frostandfound.com

Another unique and intriguing shop in the complex is in the stand-alone building that resembles the Station Agent’s office of the former railroad. Frost and Found is a stunning floral shop that opened at the beginning of 2021. Owner Bonnie Frost has been providing a variety of floral and décor services for her discerning clientele online for a few years and now is welcoming customers into her uniquely appointed setting that is full of inspiration. “We are sort of known for using unusual or antique items to create floral displays,” Frost says referring to antique silver trophies and champagne buckets that spill forth with cut or planted greens and flowers. Frost and Found also offers sustainable subscriptions in a variety of options allowing clients to have regularly scheduled arrangements that change monthly and with the season.

Snug Harbor Wine

Interesting wines from around the world for budgets large and small.  A full-service wine shop with personalized service, offering in-store shopping as well as curbside pick-up. Complimentaru tastings on Saturdays 3-6 p.m.

459 Washington Street | 781-934-2033 | snugharborwine.com

One of the wonderful things about Duxbury is the variety of small enclaves for shopping and dining. The harbor front includes special shops like French Memories, a bakery and patisserie with scrumptious European pastries, Snug Harbor Fish Company, where fresh is never a question, and Snug Harbor Wine where owner Richard Marble is the man behind the popular Duxbury Food and Wine Festival each fall. Marble, who brings a formidable understanding of viniculture to everything he touches, whether it is the thoughtful selection of fine wine in his shop or one of scores of events he sponsors in this tightly-knit community, says the business has built a great reputation for being involved in most major events in the town.  Duxbury residents embrace their community and relish any opportunity for good living. There is a long list of sponsored activities and events (even during COVID when most transitioned easily to virtual presentations) that Snug Harbor is proudly supporting with valuable product and knowledge contributions. 

One of those partners Snug Harbor collaborates with is Mix It Up Kitchen, a unique culinary business that offers recreational cooking classes to kids, teens and adults. Owner Cheryl Farhat’s passion has always been cooking. When she left her corporate job nearly 8 years ago, she decided to pursue some baking classes with kids. It really took off and within a year, she and her architect husband rehabbed a former law office to create a commercial kitchen. Farhat’s Depot Street space is a sun-splashed, bright spacious venue that offers something for everyone: cooking/baking classes, camps and birthday parties for kids (for which she won Best of the South Shore), and with the help of a small team of chef-instructors, evening workshops and celebrations for adults—all sharing Farhat’s creativity and passion for the culinary arts. 

Mix It Up Kitchen

Culinary classes for children, tweens and adults. Workshops and themed parties make getting together, learning new recipes and techniques a fun way for cooks of any age to share a delicious time together. Industrial kitchen space available 7 days a week for classes, special events and private parties.

19 Depot Street | 617-794-5191 | mixitupkitchen.com

STRAND, the Boutique

An intersection of West Coast meets East Coast style. The perfect stop for women’s clothing and accessories for a night out, a weekend away or just snuggling at home. High-quality, bespoke fashions for every generation of the classic, discerning woman. 

35 Depot Street | 339-217-2938 | stranddux.com

Depot Street is the main business district of Duxbury, adjacent to Hall’s Corner, which spools various businesses off of its rotary style intersection. On Depot Street, Strand, an upscale women’s boutique has an eclectic and stylish selection of elegant, yet casual clothing. Owner Caroline Widman opened the storefront in the fall of 2020 after her original opening in May was postponed due to quarantine. “We quickly realized we had to build our website in order to launch the business without a store,” Widman recalls. “Actually, it established the brand and immediately we found ourselves shipping orders all around the country. Strand in German means beach, a fitting moniker since Widman’s carefully chosen stock epitomizes the laid back vibe coastal communities like Duxbury embrace.

Also on Depot, Rock Paper Scissors Toy Store is an award-winning delight for kids of all ages. Recognized year after year as being the best toy store on the South Shore, owner Kim Panton who has been in business for 10 years says, “Since we are a specialty toy store, we carry lines like HABA from Germany and Hape, another European brand, that you can’t find in larger or national stores.”  The store moved across the street in May, 2021 effectively doubling their square footage. Panton says the Micro Kickboard Scooters are one of her hottest sellers and one of the best quality scooters she has ever seen.

Rock Paper Scissors

For 10 years, Rock Paper Scissors has been the go-to choice for baby showers, birthdays or even just rainy days. Their new location has double the space for toys, games and distractions for kids and kids at heart. Voted best toy store on the South Shore year over year.

45 Depot Street | 781-452-7376 | rockpaperscissorsdux.com

South Shore Sotheby’s International Realty

We are a small business in a small town with deep roots going back 40 years. We live where we work, we love what we do. We are your guides to home buying in Duxbury.

459 Washington Street | 781-934-2000 | southshoresir.com 

Whether your goal is to play, shop, explore or indulge, a day trip to Duxbury will have you checking your calendar for your next visit.

Julie Craven Wagner is the editor of Cape Cod LIFE.

The post Day Trip: Duxbury appeared first on Cape Cod LIFE.

When relating the story of how her grandfather, Cummaquid resident Bernie Wilber, secured his first mortgage, The Cooperative Bank of Cape Cod’s First Vice President and Controller Katie Hartley is a little fuzzy on the details. Like most stories shared between the generations, the details aren’t as important as the lessons that the tale imparts.

“As a student, I used to spend summers working on the Cape because I was very close with my grandfather, who was a builder,” says Hartley, a native of Rhode Island. “One day I asked him why he didn’t bank with the Bank of America like I did.”

As Hartley recalls, Wilber’s response went something like this: “We don’t need big banks here. We have small banks on the Cape, and I bank at The Coop. When I went to get my first mortgage at another bank, they denied me. So I went to the bank next door, which was the Cape Cod Cooperative Bank. I told them what I did for a living, how much I earned and how hard I work, and they gave me a mortgage.”

While the bank’s name has changed slightly in the ensuing decades, The Coop’s collegial, customer-centric and supportive spirit remain the same as the bank celebrates its 100th anniversary this summer. 

In fact, The Coop’s generous culture is encoded in the bank’s DNA, as outlined in the bank’s mission statement, which reads, in part, “We are fully committed to the communities where we live and work and support them with resources–human and financial–to help them flourish.”

As a result, The Coop is flourishing like never before. “I don’t think that a community bank like ours could survive–and be as strong and as vibrant as we’ve ever been – without a culture that’s primarily focused on helping our customers and potential clients to solve their problems and achieve their financial goals,” says Lisa Oliver, President, Chair and CEO. “Our purpose is to help people buy homes, start and grow businesses and build stronger communities.”

As Oliver and Hartley point out, the fact that The Coop is a mutual bank–not a shareholder-owned, publicly traded institution–enables it to focus solely upon its customers and community. By definition, anyone who opens an account with a mutual bank is an “owner” of the bank–and is treated as a shareholder. So when The Coop generates a profit, the “dividends,” so to speak, go right back to the community, whether it’s in the form of new loans, financial support for community events or charitable donations to nonprofit organizations that benefit Cape Codders.    

“Where we don’t have shareholders, we don’t have to worry about our share price or pay a dividend,” notes Lee Ann Hesse, Senior Vice President and Chief Engagement Officer for the bank. “As a mutual bank, we have this wonderful opportunity to take the money that we make and reinvest it in the Cape Cod community, whether it’s in the form of providing great careers for our employees or supporting our customers and communities.”

$100K in 100 Days

To commemorate its 100th, The Coop will be celebrating in a way that might seem a bit unorthodox, especially for a bank. In the 100 days leading up to its July 19 birthday, The Coop will donate $100,000 to local nonprofit organizations.  

“It’s wonderful to have a celebration and give other people gifts,” says Hesse. “When we were thinking about how to celebrate our 100th anniversary, we didn’t want to simply say how great we are. We wanted to take this opportunity to reinforce who we are by showing how much we love and support the communities that we serve.”

To be eligible for an award, a non-profit organization must be based in Barnstable County, serve Cape Cod residents and address the needs of one of the Coop’s four philanthropic focus areas for 2021:

• Financial literacy
• Covid-19 health support
• Housing initiatives
• Social justice and equity

The bank has formed a committee to oversee distribution of the funds. In addition, bank leadership has earmarked $10,000 that will be distributed to nonprofits based upon a company-wide vote. The giving decisions will be announced on July 19th.

While philanthropy has long been a bank hallmark, The Coop cemented its status as one of the region’s most generous institutions when it launched The Cooperative Bank of Cape Cod Charitable Foundation Trust in 2018. The Coop Foundation serves to enhance and expand upon–not replace–The Coop’s existing community giving program.

“We’ve always given to the community, but we gave out of our bank’s income statement,” says Oliver, the bank’s fifth–and first female–leader. “Now, if we do a good job of running The Coop Foundation, we’ll be able to make an even greater impact by helping local organizations address the region’s most pressing social needs.”

Coop Cornerstone: Always Put the Customer First

If philanthropy has been a hallmark of the bank’s business approach through the decades, then The Coop’s customer-first approach is the organization’s cultural cornerstone. 

When the First National Bank of Yarmouth, a commercial bank, reached its maximum statutory limit to write residential loans in 1921, a number of bank officials, led by Director Frank Howard Hinckley, formed Cape Cod Cooperative Bank to continue providing mortgages to the community. 

When The Coop first opened inside the First National Bank of Yarmouth, the new banks’s assets were a modest $1,611. Hinckley artfully guided The Coop through its infancy–which included surviving the Stock Market Crash of 1929, the Great Depression and World War II–and oversaw the building of the bank’s first physical branch in 1949. By the time Hinckley retired in 1956, The Coop boasted $4.5 million in assets.

After the brief presidency of Roswell Nye, Nye Crowell was named bank president in 1961. During Crowell’s tenure, the bank steadily grew, opening branches in East Dennis and West Barnstable. Having worked summers at the bank as a co-op student from Northeastern University, Joel Crowell would go on to succeed his uncle as bank president in 1983. Other changes were implemented when 14 years into Crowell’s 34-year leadership term, The Coop began to offer commercial loans for the first time. When the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) was passed in 1999, it overturned the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, and the runway was cleared for The Coop’s financial takeoff. 

“Prior to the passage of GLBA, banks couldn’t sell insurance or investment products,” says Hartley. “The GLBA really opened the door for us to add to our existing suite of products and services.

“When I first started working for The Coop in 1996, we had $300 million in assets and three branches,” adds Hartley. “Now we have about $1.2 billion in assets, nine branches and a bank headquarters.”

According to Hartley, the one guiding question that has driven The Coop’s remarkable 21st-century growth is, “How can we better serve our customers and the community?” 

In recent years, one of the more visible ways that The Coop is serving the community–the Outer Cape, in particular–is by partnering with the Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum (PMPM) on the Bradford Access Project.

An inclined elevator designed to transport passengers between Bradford Street and the PMPM campus, the Bradford Access Project aims to strengthen the commercial and cultural connection between the monument/museum and Provincetown’s bustling commercial district. 

“We needed to do something to rejuvenate the monument and museum, and bring more foot traffic to our campus,” says David Weidner, Ph.D., executive director of the Cape Cod Pilgrim Memorial Association, the Cape’s oldest nonprofit. “We wanted to secure a long-term financial partner who supported our mission of acceptance, tolerance and truth.”

Initially, The Coop/PMPM relationship began as a typical business arrangement, with The Coop winning the bid to provide financing for the Bradford Access Project. But over the past year-plus, the relationship has evolved. 

“Working with The Coop throughout the pandemic, which was remarkable, we were able to secure tax-free state bonds that saved us about $800,000 on the project,” says Weidner. “Now, we’re working with The Coop on business modeling and fundraising initiatives, which will help our institution to grow.   

“We’re elated to have The Coop as our financial advisor and counsel,” adds Weidner. “The Coop has truly demonstrated that it’s a stakeholder in our organization and in Provincetown. Thanks to The Coop, the Bradford Access Project will allow more people to enjoy the gorgeous view of the harbor from our campus, and appreciate the beauty and energy of downtown Provincetown.”

Joe O’Shea is a contributing writer for Cape Cod Life Publications. 

The post A Century of Giving Back appeared first on Cape Cod LIFE.

Although a work of fiction, “American Gods” explains how the cultures of the old world, from Europe and Africa, took root in the land that would become the United States. The account above is actually as historically accurate as any; Gaiman retold the story from “The Saga of the Greenlanders” written by an anonymous scribe in 14th century Iceland. “The Saga of Erik the Red” tells yet another ancient version of the Vikings’ arrival in the new world. Historians have debated the validity of the sagas—were they written as literal accounts, travel logs? Or were they, like “American Gods” centuries later, essentially works of fiction? Either way, the Viking sagas tell of Leif Erikson, who established Leifsbudir, or “Leif’s Camp.” In his wanderings, Leif discovered an abundance of grapes, and thus named the new country “Vineland.” He moved on, but soon thereafter, his brother Thorvald arrived; he and his band of sailors found a group of nine native people and killed all but one. The survivor mounted a war party, avenging those deaths by mortally wounding Thorvald. Two more expeditions would follow, each as unsuccessful as the last. In the Erik the Red’s version, there was only one expedition, not four, but two facts remain consistent: the new world and its native peoples ultimately rejected the Vikings, and many other explorers until the Pilgrims arrived. Just as the versions of history are contradictory, so too are the theories of the actual location of Vineland. The most commonly held conclusion is that Vineland is in Newfoundland, but tales in Gloucester, Massachusetts, claim that Leif made his camp on Cape Ann. Yet another theory that gained some prominence—along with skepticism—postulates that Leifsbudir was built on Cape Cod, on the shores of Follins Pond in Dennis.

According to the “Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History,” a project in association with the Department of Canadian Heritage, “One of the most interesting cases for Vineland being on Cape Cod has been made by Frederick J. Pohl, a high school teacher in Brooklyn, N.Y.” Pohl’s ideas circulated fairly widely in 1951, when an article documenting his efforts ran in the Saturday Evening Post. A good deal of attention has been paid to his claim that the Cape is Vineland, a deduction that Pohl made based upon a few calculations and observations. First, the Canadian Heritage project notes that Pohl surmised that the Vikings likely sailed at a rate of “six knots or 150 miles per day—a total distance of 1350 miles.” When Pohl applied this number to geographical appendages along the Atlantic coastline, including places in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, he concluded that Cape Cod was the only feasible landing spot. Upon further examination, Bass River best fit descriptions from the sagas, and “Pohl was delighted to find his theory confirmed by the presence of ‘mooring holes’ in rocks in the river and on the shore of the lake. These, he believed, were tangible proof that Leif had anchored there. He was then able to identify the areas where Leif would have had his houses, and where his ship would have been hauled ashore.” Historians believe that Vikings used mooring holes—which they drilled into rocks on shore—to fasten their ships. The sailors carried iron pins shaped with an eye for securing a mooring line; they would insert the pin into the rock, attach the line, and this system would hold the ship in place. When they left, they would remove the pin and take it with them. Pohl’s discovery of three mooring holes around Follins Pond and another at adjacent Mill Pond led to his findings of sites that could have been the houses and great hall of Leif’s Camp. A 1973 article by Brigitta L. Walace in “The American Anthropologist” points out, however, that some of Pohl’s “identifications reflect more wishful thinking than astute observation” and notes that he concluded that one site was Norse simply because of an “absence of colonial artifacts.”  

History is a fluid science that ebbs and flows with the times. Stories that Americans have long taken as fact, such as the “First Thanksgiving,” are now pretty commonly understood to be more myth than reality. Did an alliance form between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag people? Yes, but nothing like what “traditional” picture books have taught generations of children; Thanksgiving didn’t even become a real concept until the presidency of Abraham Lincoln. And whether the Vikings were the first Europeans to make contact with the “People of the First Light,” as the Wampanoag are known, the Pilgrims most certainly were not. Residents and visitors to Chatham may know from the monument in his honor that Samuel de Champlain explored Stage Harbor first in 1605 and again in 1606. After a deadly altercation with the Nauset People, Champlain ventured forth to “found” Quebec City. Prior to these events, the New England Historical Society states that, “In 1517, 50 European ships were counted along the coast of Newfoundland. French explorer Jacques Cartier estimated he saw 1,000 Basque fishing boats off the Gaspe Peninsula in 1534.” Thousands of French, Irish, English, Portguese, and Basque ships had taken up a regular fur and fishing trade with the coastal peoples of North America by the mid-16th Century. It’s reasonable to believe that many of these stopped over on the Cape, and the reason that Squanto spoke English was that he had been captured in a slaving raid and brought to Europe against his will. That he would return to his native land in time to parley with the Pilgrims is one of those strange twists of fortune that led to a permanent European presence on these shores, but it was another botched settlement that led to the genesis of the naming of Cape Cod—that of Bartholomew Gosnold. Gosnold was an English lord, educated at Cambridge, and a lawyer by profession. In the late spring of 1602, after exploring the coast of Maine, his ship the Concord set anchor in what’s now called Provincetown Harbor. This he named “Shoal Hope.” Of this adventure, he wrote, “Near this cape we took great store of codfish, for which we altered the name, and called it Cape Cod.” While early maps of the area, traders and fishermen acknowledge “Cape Cod,” according to Wikipedia the name, ”…applied only to the very tip of the peninsula. It remained that way for 125 until “The Precinct of Cape Cod” (or Province Lands) was referenced in the incorporation of Provincetown in 1727. Thus the curved arm shape we have come to associate with the iconic area, was largely referred to as Barnstable (or old-world Barnftable) until the late 1700s. 

An understanding that still takes hold today, Wikipedia cites early settlers as associating the name “Cape Cod” with the land east of the Manomet and Scusset Rivers, essentially the path that the future Cape Cod Canal would acknowledge. Cape Cod Bay, as we know it today, was known as Barnstable Bay on most maps until a few decades in the 19th century. The Cape’s unique position as it juts out into the Atlantic Ocean, positioned the region to become a hub of seafaring industries including fishing and whaling. With increased trade over the first couple hundred years, the Cape also became a navigational hazard, laying claim to over 3000 shipwrecks. To improve safety conditions and facilitate trade, colonists dreamed of creating a waterway for ships to avoid the shoals of the outer Cape, and then nature nearly did the work for them when in the ocean rushed through a series of waterways called Jeremiah’s Gutter between Orleans on the bay side and Eastham on the Atlantic. Out of concern that the split might become permanent, residents turned out to fill the breach. Then, during the war of 1812, Cape Codders reversed course and dug something of a canal that was navigable, but only at high tide. Ed Maroney, in a 2019 article for the Cape Cod Chronicle, notes that American ships used Jeremiah’s Gutter to circumvent the British blockade of Boston. But when Henry David Thoreau made his trek to Provincetown, shifting sands had filled in the passageway. Today, only a small craft such as a kayak or a stand-up paddleboard can cross the Cape via this early canal.

While Cape Cod, by any name has been in existence since long before Gosnold’s visit of 1602, its history continues to evolve, and its geography continues to morph. According to the Army Corps of Engineers, George Washington commissioned the first Cape Cod Canal Survey in 1776, but it would take another 133 years before shovels began excavating the first canal project where it stands today. August Belmont Jr. purchased the Boston, Cape Cod, and New York Canal Company, and from 1909-1914, he oversaw the construction of the canal and bridges; the canal opened as “a private toll waterway” on July 29, 1914, just seventeen days prior to the opening of the Panama Canal. The Cape Cod Canal transformed the peninsula into an island, and would evolve and change hands through various governmental agencies until 1940, when the Army Corps of Engineers completed its renovation into the waterway of today. 

Like discussion of the chicken and the egg, which debates what came first, the beginning of Cape Cod is guaranteed to spark a spirited discourse.

Chris White is a contributing writer for Cape Cod Life Publications.

The post The Cod-ification of the Cape appeared first on Cape Cod LIFE.

In 1979, Cape Cod Life Publications was founded by Brian Shortsleeve with two specific goals in mind. First, to share his love for the Cape & Islands with readers around the world, and second, to do so through beautiful photography. 

One man’s passion to has since turned into a regional publication company dedicated to serving Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket. In homage to Brian’s original mission to share his love of the Cape, our Annual Photography Contest was born to share the magic of the Cape & Islands with the world, by honoring the hard work of local photographers who continue to capture quintessential Cape Cod moments and share their undeniable connections to the Cape. 

Combing through the thousands of photo submissions we receive each year, and categorizing them by Kids & Pets, Cape Characters, Seascapes, and Recognizable Places, then narrowing the submissions down to a select few to be honored as winners in each category, is no simple task. Most of the submissions encompass the spirit and overwhelming beauty of Cape Cod & the Islands, so doesn’t that make them all a winner? As this year’s Annual Photo Contest has come to a close, our deliberations have ended, and the 2021 winners have been published in our June 2021 “Best of” issue of Cape Cod LIFE. But, our staff at Cape Cod Life Publications really can’t get enough of these wonderful photos, so we share a few more of our favorite submissions in hopes you hunger for more as well. 

In our July Photo Portfolio, we have chosen to continue the celebration of our local photographers who continuously participate in our Annual Photo Contest every year, sending us thousands of breathtaking, whimsical, and often adorable photo entries from across the Cape & Islands. ~ Christina Galt 

Thanks again to all who participated in our 2021 Annual Photos Contest! To check out the 2021 Annual Photo Contest winners visit stg-capecodlifecom-staging.kinsta.cloud.

The post Photo Portfolio: Capturing the Cape appeared first on Cape Cod LIFE.

With a vista akin to the world’s largest wide screen presentation, the drama and intrigue on display with each day’s setting sun is like seeing your favorite Broadway show, or a live musical performance over and over. You know the ending, but somehow as you witness the familiar process over again, it is always slightly different.

Philip Flath is the Executive Chef at Ocean Edge and oversees all of the Food and Beverage operation of the resort. With six restaurants, each with its own bar, his knowledgeable and adventurous staff has made it their mission to provide a unique world-class experience to every person that sits in their restaurants. While many assume Ocean Edge is a vacationer’s destination, in fact, visitors and locals can enjoy most of the food and beverage options at the AAA 4-Diamond awarded property as well. Translation: You can feel as though you are on vacation, even when you have worked a full day and your home is only a short drive away.

Donnine Wilson who works both afternoon and evening shifts at Ocean Terrace, has made the bar her domain. She deftly dominates the large open rectangular space, which sits like the jewel in the crown of this spectacular outdoor dining experience. A Jamaican native, Donnine has been on the Cape and at Ocean Edge since the spring of this year. She proudly proclaims her Caribbean heritage as being an integral part of her ability to create the kind of cocktail that takes you to far away, exotic locales, while also appealing to a sophisticated and spirited palate.

A curated menu, utilizes distinctive brands and varieties of alcohol, and is accented by an imaginative harvest of local fruits, herbs and garnishes. Featured drinks at Ocean Terrace are arranged in groups of Vintage (really new versions of the beloved classics), Featured (which are intrepid interpretations of the finest ingredients when combined with a creative composition) and Frozen (which soars well past the standard Piña Colada.)

Donnine’s savvy sensibility, as she navigates the thousands of options that swirl in her brain, like a well-made Maple-Bourbon Smash, produces unexpected, yet enthusiastically embraced, cocktails that occupy memories of an evening in Brewster for a long time to come.

A quick turn off of Route 6A is all that is needed to transport you to a beachside cocktail emporium that is usually reserved for an annual winter getaway to an island resort.  ~ Julie Craven Wagner

Ocean Terrace at Ocean Edge Resort & Golf Club 2907 Main St, Brewster, MA 02631.

508-896-9000 | oceanedge.com

The post Ocean Terrace at Ocean Edge Resort & Golf Club appeared first on Cape Cod LIFE.

Following her passion for healthy living, Rotunno found herself studying nutrition at UMASS Boston gaining an overwhelming appreciation for fresh local ingredients. While away at school, Rotunno was alerted of the news that her father had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, knowing in that moment nutrition had to become a priority, “When you have cancer, nutrients and food becomes very important. Growing up in an Italian household, there was always an abundance of fresh ingredients along with a plethora of meats and cheese,” shares Rotunno. “Every holiday there would always be some kind of extravagant display of cheeses – the healthiest thing on the menu? Probably not,” laughs Rotunno, “But it was so delicious! My father and I both shared a love for cheese.” 

Her idea for bringing grazing tables to the Cape started to arise in 2017, “I saw these wonderful grazing tables in Australia and California,” shares Rotunno, deciding she wanted to bring grazing to the Cape community. In 2018, Rotunno’s father lost his battle with cancer, but through that grief, Grazing Cape Cod was born. “Grazing really loves to focus on the fresh and local aspects of things, taking advantage of seasonal fruits and vegetables,” explains Rotunno. A Cape Cod native, Rotunno has found the Cape Cod community to be a constant inspiration, she shares, “Eating locally grown food supports our local farmers and in turn helps grow our local economy.” With artisan breads, hand selected premium cheeses, locally harvested honey, fresh foliage and more, Grazing Cape Cod has revamped the traditional charcuterie board. 

Grazing Cape Cod offers a selection of hand crafted, locally sourced artisan grazing boxes, tables and boards. Their grazing boxes are perfect for feeding an intimate 1-6 guests, followed by their grazing boards, which feeds 4-12 guests and if you’re expecting 15 or more guests, they recommend checking out their grazing tables. The team at Grazing Cape Cod will arrive at your desired time before your gathering, ensuring the ultimate Cape Cod grazing experience and will even take care of the cleanup afterwards. “It’s been quite the journey,” remarks Rotunno. “We just started doing luxury picnics in 2020,” she shares. “Providing our customers with a sense of intimacy as they take in the views of Cape Cod without having to lift a finger.” 

To see more from Grazing Cape Cod, visit grazingcapecod.com or call 508-817-2282 for more information.

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