Cocktails by the Cape Cod Canal

Often during the summer months, Rich and I will pack our folding beach chairs into the car, fill a cooler with drinks and hors d’ouevres, grab the dog and head for the Cape Cod Canal for what we like to call “Cocktails by the Canal”. It’s a great way to wind down after a busy day at the inn. Positioned on the grass near the Cape Cod Canal Visitors Center, we set up our chairs, pour our cocktails, and settle back for an hour or two of “canal watching”. Rich spends his time watching the fisherman cast for stripers or hauling lobster traps up from the side of the canal. I like to scan the horizon for the next approaching yacht, dreaming of the day when it will me onboard swirling my martini and eating canapes. Casey just likes to sniff whatever and wherever she can. It’s a true family outing.

Many of our guests are intrigued by this modern marvel and often ask us questions about its history. Here, in my humble opinion, is the best article written about the canal and its history *:

“When William Bradford and Myles Standish were exploring the area around Plymouth in 1626, they discovered that two rivers, the Manomet on Buzzards Bay and the Scusset on Cape Cod Bay, were separated by only a short distance of land. The Pilgrims realized the advantages to trade and transportation of digging a canal that would connect the two bodies of water; however, the idea was not acted upon. In 1776 General George Washington, hoping to avoid a British blockade and to enhance security, sent an engineer to conduct the first feasibility study of the area, but still no canal was constructed.

Well into the late 1800s, attempts to organize this mammoth construction project continued to be thwarted until 1904, when New York financier Augustus Belmont considered the project. He purchased the Boston, Cape Cod and New York Canal Company. By July 1907 his newly formed Cape Cod Construction Company moved its first shovelful of dirt, and digging was underway. Over the next seven years the men and machinery removed earth. In 1912 two large dredges began digging toward each other from Bourne and Sandwich.

Workers completed the Buzzards Bay Railroad Bridge in September, 1910, and finished the two vehicle bridges within the next two years. The finished canal became the world’s widest sea-level canal at 480 feet across. It was 17.4 miles long and 34 feet deep. On July 29, 1914, exactly seven years to the day since work first began, the Cape Cod Canal officially opened, heralded by a parade of ships and boats, among them Augustus Belmont’s private 80-foot yacht and the U.S. Navy destroyer McDougall, which carried Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The Cape Cod Canal beat the opening of the Panama Canal by 17 days.

In 1915, canal traffic numbered more than 2,600 vessels, but it never achieved the volume of traffic that Belmont had hoped for. When a German submarine attacked and sank the Perth Amboy off Nauset Beach in Orleans, President Woodrow Wilson ordered a readily compliant Belmont to permit the government to operate the canal. Eventually, Belmont sold the canal to the American government for $11.5 million, and the Army Corps of Engineers took charge of its operation and maintenance. Although the canal was technically a success, it never brought the commercial prosperity to Upper Cape towns that its planners anticipated.

During the Great Depression, the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 provided $4.6 million to build the present three bridges, employing some 700 workers for two years. These modern bridges were completed in 1935. The Bourne and Sagamore Bridges, with a span of 616 feet, became among the longest continuous truss bridges in North America. The railroad bridge, at 544 feet, remains the third longest vertical lift drawbridge on the continent. You can admire the workmanship of the bridges from the 7-mile paved service road that lines both sides of the canal.

If you are taking a boat through the Cape Cod Canal, you’ll move along at a good clip in the direction of the tide but seem to be fighting an uphill battle when you go against it. One reason for this is that Cape Cod Bay waters are about 5 feet higher than Buzzards Bay waters, so a tremendous current is created as they merge and flow through the narrow passageway. Average high tide waters move through the canal at 4 to 5 mph per hour. When high tides are accentuated by a full moon or other conditions, the water’s speed can reach more than 7 miles an hour.”

You can learn more about the history of the canal at the Canal Visitors Center where you’ll find a 46-seat theater showing continuous presentations on canal history, flora and fauna. You’ll also find interactive monitors, as well as displays of maritime artifacts, historic photos and a retired 41-foot US Army Corps of Engineers patrol boat. Throughout the summer, park rangers offer guided walks, “bike hikes” and evening campfire programs. Check with the Visitors Center for scheduled events. The visitors Center is located just off Tupper Road in Sandwich; telephone 508-833-9678.

When we’re not enjoying cocktails by the canal, we take our bikes to ride the level seven-mile service roads on either side of it. Great for biking, walking, jogging, and rollerblading, the service roads are maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers. Benches along the service roads invite visitors to sit and watch some of the 20,000 vessels that pass through the canal annually.

* Reprinted with permission from Inside Cape Cod.