The great beach

I suppose that anyone writing another book about Cape Cod can be convicted of temerity, in the face of such predecessors as the three Henrys--Thoreau, Beston, and Kittredge--as...

A small seaplane flew by at low altitude, parallel to the shore. A sliver of a moon appeared and then a star; and then single lights began to shine on the horizon, while from th...

All of us are drawn to the sea’s edge as to a fire. Its vast reaches roll and heave in the light. There is an incalculable weight of waters withheld just beyond us, a roaming ke...

The danger attracted the attention of the Colonial Government as early as 1714, when an act was passed to preserve the trees. In 1727, Provincetown was incorporated, and a dozen...

Many of the lights that welcomed sailors, or warned them off, are now gone from the headlands and from houses along the shore that no longer have to worry about their men any mo...

This seaside country often gives you the feeling that the sky is the limit. One opening beyond the trees, another mile revealed, and the earth and sea from the top of a dune, th...

This also happens occasionally on land. We all know that the sea is out there, that the wind swirls over us, and the storms carry more traffic than planes, but strangers sometim...

Having left the age behind when venison was our essential meat, we now have an odd relationship with the white-tailed deer. In some states more deer are killed by cars than by h...

Night or day, the sea and sea beach offer their changing spaces of light. One afternoon in January, halfway between hours of warmth and hours of cold, rain and snow, morning and...

The shoulders of the low cedar-studded land slope down to the edge of the marsh with a neat, trimmed look and neat houses, seemingly confident of being in residence indefinitely...

The tides run the channels with an almost sentient, purling calm during the burning days of summer and early fall. They lift into marshy shores and over sandy flats, and then su...