Monday, June 04, 2012

Hyannis 'Portes Public Beach

The day we drove to the Cape was absolutely gorgeous.  Clear. Light breeze. Cool.  Somewhat to my surprise, we drove all the way out the "arm" and up to Provincetown.  But before we went that far we stopped on the ocean side in Hyannis.  We drove by a Kennedy Museum/Memorial as well as lots of small town public libraries.  We aimed for the ocean on Sea Street and found these homes and a beach with public access.

Like lots of places with wealthy residents and "public" sea coast, there had apparently been some controversy about how to keep part of the beach accessible to the public.  I am glad that Eugenia Fortes did whatever she did go keep this little strip of sand available. Turns out that she was a long time civil rights activist, renting her home to Thurgood Marshall, hosting Martin Luther King for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and delivering papers from them to various Kennedy's. There was also a granite bench with a different couple's name carved into it and the recommendation:  "Enjoy the view."  Done.
The sand here is definitely mostly granite (not "just" silica like California) and I enjoyed the variety of mollusk shells that had washed up.  I even liked the salty smell of the washed up and deteriorating sea weed.  DH just thought it was stinky.
I don't know what this house is like to live in, but the porch looked promising, and the eagle was eye catching.
The Truro Center for the Arts had Iceland poppies AND Clematis.

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