In ten years, winter, spring and fall, I have never seen so many cars in the Newcomb Hollow parking lot. The place was packed! And what was everyone doing rushing down the beach? The same thing we were. Sven and I were off to see an old shipwreck from 1920, uncovered by last week’s storm. Old folks with canes, young fathers carrying toddlers, out-of-towners in sleek cashmere overcoats, lots of children – everyone was eager to get a peek at this apparition from the past. Not only did people walk down, they stayed, moved by a bit of history, right there in our own backyard. It was low tide, providing easy access. Who knows how long it will be before the beach swallows up its prize?
Many had read the article in the Cape Cod Times about the former schooner or heard the report on NPR. This part of the coast is called the “graveyard of the Atlantic.” In the olden times, ships washed up regularly, and many of the houses in Provincetown were fashioned out of boards from such wrecks. There even is a word for the salvagers – “mooncussers,” because they cursed the moon since it lit up what was then an illegal activity.
In ten years, winter, spring and fall, I have never seen so many cars in the Newcomb Hollow parking lot. The place was packed! And what was everyone doing rushing down the beach? The same thing we were. Sven and I were off to see an old shipwreck from 1920, uncovered by last week’s storm. Old folks with canes, young fathers carrying toddlers, out-of-towners in sleek cashmere overcoats, lots of children – everyone was eager to get a peek at this apparition from the past. Not only did people walk down, they stayed, moved by a bit of history, right there in our own backyard. It was low tide, providing easy access. Who knows how long it will be before the beach swallows up its prize? 
Many had read the article in the Cape Cod Times about the former schooner or heard the report on NPR. This part of the coast is called the “graveyard of the Atlantic.” In the olden times, ships washed up regularly, and many of the houses in Provincetown were fashioned out of boards from such wrecks. There even is a word for the salvagers – “mooncussers,” because they cursed the moon since it lit up what was then an illegal activity.
