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In spring of 2019, American artist Sandy O’Connor was awarded a Copley Society of Art Visual Arts Fellowship at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts from Aug. 26 through Sept. 22, 2019. Her focus is the subject of climate change and its impact on the coastal landscapes of the Outer Cape. By researching, sketching and painting the natural beauty of vulnerable landscapes, she hopes to engage others in their protection and support ongoing efforts by scientists, residents and concerned organizations. Follow along as she continues to record her painting and research progress from her time spent in the historic art colony of Provincetown. 

Exhibition Deadline, View From the Top at High Head, Restoring East Harbor

A bit slow this week on posting. In between working on this study of High Head at East Harbor, I worked for several days straight to make a deadline for an unrelated winter exhibition. Exhibition deadlines can be tricky, especially seasonal ones when you’re painting summer landscapes in winter and vice versa! 

On September 20th on my way back to Provincetown from the Climate Change Strike at Truro Community Center, my car decided to turn off into the dunes at High Head, part of the Cape Cod National Seashore. I needed more photos of that spot overlooking East Harbor, also known by locals as Pilgrim Lake when it was closed off in 1910. Although it was late afternoon the brilliant sun was still hanging high in the sky. I drove as far as I could and pulled into a little parking area and then decided to walk down an off road vehicle path towards the ocean. On my left the dunes rose up about 30 feet. There were tracks on a path to one of the highest points so I went for it. I was rewarded with a breathtaking 360 degree view of Cape Cod Bay and Provincetown in front of me, the Atlantic Ocean to the right and High Head glacial bluff behind me. Heaven. 

This spot is actually documented as the original geologic end of the Cape after the glaciers receded thousands of years ago. Glacial deposits exposed in these eroding bluffs are often mistaken for dunes. The entire bluff section of Cape Cod retreats at an average rate of about 3 feet per year. During the past century, major storms, variations in sediment supply to the coast, and human activity have had direct effects on shoreline change.

For the better part of modern history, the eastern part of Provincetown Harbor was connected to East Harbor. East Harbor was the most protected mooring place in the outer Cape for boats using Cape Cod Bay and the Gulf of Maine. East Harbor had a 1,000 ft. wide inlet from Provincetown Harbor.

Until the late 19th century, there was not a single road leading in or out of Provincetown – the only land route connecting Provincetown to points beyond was along a thin stretch of beach along the shore to the north (locally called the "backshore"). A wooden bridge was erected over the East Harbor in 1854, only to be destroyed by a winter storm and ice two years later. Although the bridge was replaced the following year, a traveler using it still had to traverse several miles over a sand route, which, along with the back shore route, would occasionally be washed out by storms. This made Provincetown much like an island, in that it relied almost entirely upon its harbor for its communication, travel, and commerce needs.

In 1868 the mouth of the East Harbor was diked, to facilitate the laying of track for the arrival of the railroad; the wooden bridge and sand road were finally replaced by a formal roadway in 1877.  The East Harbor thus became a lake, connected to Provincetown Harbor only through a culvert in the dike, and in 1910, the U. S. Geologic Survey officially renamed it Pilgrim Lake.

In the ensuing years, the dike became clogged with vegetation, beginning a trend of desalinization and oxygen-depletion that resulted in the demise of native wildlife populations, occasionally in the form of fish kills. An oxygen depletion and fish kill in September 2001 prompted the Town of Truro and Cape Cod National Seashore to investigate options for restoring the East Harbor system. Attention turned to the drainage pipe that connects East Harbor to Cape Cod Bay. This ~700-ft long, 4-ft diameter culvert had been fitted with clapper valves that allowed freshwater to drain out of East Harbor, but prevented marine tides from flowing back into the system. 

An oxygen depletion and fish kill in September 2001 prompted the Town of Truro and Cape Cod National Seashore to investigate options for restoring the East Harbor system. In 2004, tidal flow was successfully restored by the National Park Service working together with other local, state, and federal agencies. In the following year, for the first time since Abraham Lincoln was president, legal-size clams were found in East Harbor. In 2008, the USGS officially renamed Pilgrim Lake, restoring the original appellation of East Harbor.

Cheers  ~Sandy

Credit: Some information was gathered and excerpted from the National Park Service, Cape Cod National Seashore’s Web site, publications and Wikipedia