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Pilgrim Returns to Cape Cod
A chronicle of Snow's seven-week hiking tour of Cape Cod in 1946, combining history, human-interest stories, and legends to make the Cape and its people come alive.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published June 15, 2003
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About the author
Edward Rowe Snow
104 books18 followersEdward Rowe Snow was an American author, lecturer, and historian. He spent most of his life studying the legends, lighthouses, and islands of New England. He wrote many pamphlets, books, and articles, and made lecturers and tours throughout the area with his wife.
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October 4, 2021
While visiting Cape Cod, I picked out A Pilgrim Returns to Cape Cod from my library’s virtual stack of Libby offerings about the Cape. A writer and broadcaster of New England history, Snow researched his own Pilgrim ancestors while gathering information for this book. He covered the Cape on foot in the early 1940s, flying in by private plane. Staying at long-gone locations with long-gone people, Snow created a history of his own time as well as looking into his past. For me, this unintentional history of the 1940s was the best part of the book.
Imagine flying into Provincetown from Boston and landing in a field, without asking permission from anyone. Then proceeding on foot to the various lighthouses and chatting with their keepers. Then walking south, zigging and zagging, to visit historical landmarks and individuals whose memories reached back into the 1800s. Deciding which route to take to cover all of the important places and people in every town on the Cape, as well as every village in every town. Enjoying the stories and hospitality of others. No way could this be done nowadays.
What was less interesting was the emphasis on shipwrecks. True, this was a big part of Cape Cod’s past, especially as viewed from the 1940s. My eyes started glazing over trying to tell one wreck from another, and not being especially interested in disaster history. However, his discourse on the Pilgrims and Native Americans held my interest, even as from his 1940s perspective he tended to hold Native American cultures as static. His privileged white man expectations were that these cultures stay as they had always been, rather than fitting into modern society. At least he spent time interacting with the remaining Natives, and telling their stories.
Enjoyable read for Cape Cod history and geography buffs. Particularly good if you’re into New England shipwreck details.
Imagine flying into Provincetown from Boston and landing in a field, without asking permission from anyone. Then proceeding on foot to the various lighthouses and chatting with their keepers. Then walking south, zigging and zagging, to visit historical landmarks and individuals whose memories reached back into the 1800s. Deciding which route to take to cover all of the important places and people in every town on the Cape, as well as every village in every town. Enjoying the stories and hospitality of others. No way could this be done nowadays.
What was less interesting was the emphasis on shipwrecks. True, this was a big part of Cape Cod’s past, especially as viewed from the 1940s. My eyes started glazing over trying to tell one wreck from another, and not being especially interested in disaster history. However, his discourse on the Pilgrims and Native Americans held my interest, even as from his 1940s perspective he tended to hold Native American cultures as static. His privileged white man expectations were that these cultures stay as they had always been, rather than fitting into modern society. At least he spent time interacting with the remaining Natives, and telling their stories.
Enjoyable read for Cape Cod history and geography buffs. Particularly good if you’re into New England shipwreck details.
Displaying 1 of 1 review