1938 Handwritten Diary Scrapbook Wellfleet Cape Cod MA

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This is a really wonderful vintage handwritten summer vacation diary that would be perfect for anyone interested in or living around Cape Cod and Wellfleet Massachusetts . I actually found an article on the web of Wellfleet which was published in 1938, same year as this diary; http://capecodhistory.us/books/SWellfleet-1938/SouthWellfleet-1938.htm As stated above the diary represents the year 1938 and it’s a trip taken by two women whom I believe are artists as they do quite a bit of painting while in the area. Plus they attend the Provincetown Artist Association fair. I didn’t see her name written but with a little bit of research I’m sure it would be easy to find. Not only do you get the handwritten travel information but there are about 30 pieces of scrap/ephemera from the trip and 10 original photos. Also, on one of the pages is a drawing of a tomb stone from a cemetery located “in the back of Taylor Hill.” The handwritten pages number 21 but each page measures about 8” x 10 ½” and every page is full so there’s a lot of information between the covers of this diary. Following are a few examples of her entries…… 1938 “The record begins with the afternoon of Monday, August the fifteenth at two-forty o’clock when Mazie and her mother and Josiah rolled up to the house on Court Street and with the assistance of Mrs. Nelson, grandpa, Billie and the twins we were started on a very welcome trip to Wellfleet. We were most fortunate to have been invited by Toni Nyquist to come up there and spend our vacation with her and the children. Having unloaded the two parcels containing the bulk of our wardrobes and belongings, at the Post Office, Mazie landed us at the depot with at least twenty minutes to spare.” (They arrive in New York and then take the S. S. Laconia to the Fall River Pier) “We were wakened at 5:30 so as to have breakfast on board at 6:00, after which we packed and each snapped the other’s picture with Evelyn’s Kodak, loaned to us for the trip. In this process we were assisted in selecting backgrounds by our nice fat porter. We boarded the train for Yarmouth which was waiting conveniently right beside the boat. Between Fall River and Yarmouth we were getting our first view of Cape Cod . One of the thrills was created by passing through the village of Sandwich . To our great surprise and joy, Tone met us at Yarmouth so we didn’t have to worry about a bus. Our route then took us out over the King’s Highway. Our eyes were very busy taking in all the quaint and interesting places along the way and one house, the Col. Jacob Thatcher place, was too much of a temptation to resist. We went in and assisted by a very attractive boy, saw all the antiques and come out with a twenty-five cent package of Windmill chocolates. We stopped at the Cape Playhouse at Dennis and purchased tickets for Friday’s matinee. We finally wound around through Wellfleet and along the edge of the bay ending up at the cottage on top of the hill……” (Picnic at Indian Neck, Cemetery in the back of Taylor Hill, Highland Lighthouse, Gull Pond, and Dennis.) “Saturday was a beautiful day and the program for that day was a picnic lunch at Gull Pond. All were dressed in bathing suits except Clara who were shorts and we all shampooed our heads in the lake, (photo of that) all yelling for the bottle of dissolved soap which the mamma brought. All the Nyquists, big and little, had a swim also. The lunch consisted of fried onions and steak……That afternoon the small scene, showing the view from the side porch, of hill, pines and bay, was painted. Monday morning, the twenty first, was artists day, Clara and F.P. painting in oils, and Helen and Alfred drawing in crayons, all doing the dune and beach on the Atlantic Shore past Gull Road…..” (Provincetown , Turo and Cahoons Hollow) “On Tuesday morning the twenty third, Helen went riding and the rest of us took a look at Cahoons Hollow. Marvelous beach below high dunes and a coat guard station. Naps filled pa... read more

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