The sea was meant for buisness, not pleasure

Growing up I always felt like I had two homes. The first was my actual home. It is where I set up a tent in the back yard, built a fort with my brother, had water fights with my father,  was taught to garden and sew by my mom. My second home had 4 wheels, well 8 if you include the car's,  was made of aluminum and came with its own furniture.  It meant my back yard could be the ocean, a river, or the side of mountain. We spent most of our time, though rather close to our real home, at Cape Cod. We would go twice a year, once in June with the Airstream Club and once in the fall with just family and the occasional friends. We would bike the canal, go to museums, go swimming, and so much more.

Today Cape Cod is separated by a dug out canal but wasn't always that way. A hundred years ago that canal opened to boats. By the 1930s the current Railroad bridge, Bourne Bridge, and Sagamore Bridge were built or being built connecting the two sides. It was meant as an easier way to transport supplies from the north of the cape to the south, and was 300 years in the making. In 1627 Governor William Bradford of Plimoth Plantation had a trading post built for trade between them and the Natives in Manomet, known today as Bourne. Captain of the Militia, Myles Standish looked at the trading post and the series of rivers and thought a canal would save time in traveling because first they would take a boat along the shore and go as far as the could by boat and walked the rest of the way. It was quite tedious, but the post was an important resource.

People would continually suggest that a canal be built as supplies would be lost on the shoals of Cape Cod. Light houses were built to warn sailors of the dangerous rocks but when the seas toss you like a toothpick there is not a lot you can do. From 1909 to 1916 crews worked from Spring to Fall digging a narrow canal between Buzzards Bay to the Cape Cod Bay. Boulders left by Glaciers had to be destroyed by explosions before dredging could continue, and when it opened it was wound in such away accidents were common,  and it ruined the reputation. By 1918 the US Army Core of Engineers took over it, dredged it to a deeper point, purchased it in 1920 and worked to widen it from 100 feet to 480 feet. It shortened the trade route from Boston to New York by 64 miles and was a lot safer.

So here is to trade routes that bring us cloth, food, and seeds. To a free trading economy,  and the hope of safety from pirates. Happy 100 years to the Cape Cod Canal.