Harboring: Barnstable

We took our Harboring series onto Cape Cod this week, to check out Barnstable Harbor. Barnstable is Cape Cod's largest town.

Barnstable is home to 45,000 souls, many of whom have boats in the water already.

We've sort of been saving Cape Cod for the summer, and our Cape versions of Harboring should have more rich guy boats for us to gawk at.

Barnstable Harbor is a sweet place to roll into. You can do some gift shop action, eat dinner at the Mattakeese Wharf (free plug for them...they let me shoot some pics off the deck), watch the fishermen, cast a line in the water... and perhaps even go on a whale watch, if I'm interpreting that sign above properly.

Barnstable is the whale watch that you want to go on if you want a longer boat ride for your money. If you go from Provincetown, you're there more quickly and don't have to be seasick as long.

This setup also comes in handy if you're a kid used to slipping unwanted dinnertime vegetables to the family dog. If you can get one of those windows open, you can feed crabs, seals, stripers,,,,

I like to think that if you pulled your boat up to the Wharf and managed to pass some money up. they'd do Boat Takeout. If not, they should... parking boats is a pain in the ass, and sometimes you're too drunk to get out.

This diving ban is more for recreational divers instead of suicidal ones. You'd have a hard time killing yourself with a jump off this bridge, you can almost step down from it.

I advocate hanging on for as long as possible.

There are better ways to go, such as taking one of those boats from the picture below and trying to jump a jetty or something like the M/V Iyanough did.

Skiff Row

Barnstable was Wampanoag for thousands of years, and Mr. White showed up in the 1630s. Barnstable has expanded ever since.

She is the regional center, the largest town in both area and population, and is one of the earlier settlements.

Even in the modern era, you can still get a little taste of how the town was founded if you hang around the harbor long enough.

The pilings in Barnstable Harbor suffered mightily during the glacial winter of 2015. They still have a Pisa-style lean to them that you will hardly notice at all unless you roller-skated there.

Cape Cod has strange weather. You don't have to look too hard to find someone old enough to remember a winter where we had no snow, but you also get winters cold enough for iceberg-style activity.

Barnstable Harbor is sheltered by Sandy Neck to the north. Sandy Neck serves as Barnstable's barrier beach, and is invaluable to the health of the region.

Of course, it only goes so far, which is why everything is on stilts around here.

Mattakeese is a Wampanoag sub-group, and the term turns up a lot in eastern Massachusetts. I saw a lot of Mattakeesett usage growing up in Duxbury, and I have seen the term used in other South Shore and Cape Cod areas.

The basic definition is "fields by the harbor," and it fits well enough everywhere they apply it.

The Mattakeese people were also known as Mashpee and Cummaquid, and you see those names all over the area as well.

Sometimes, a little boat is just as much fun as a big boat.

Barnstable Harbor isn't that large. It does have the advantage of Location, however. One can head right out into Cape Cod Bay, or hook into the Canal to try Buzzards Bay,

You also have the navigational advantage of being able to hit a harbor with a pub no matter which way you sail. It may be Maine if you sail North long enough, but that's on you.

Barnstable has a shellfish harvesting operation going, and we hope to visit it later this summer.

Barnstable, although a fairly well off area, had a busier harbor than some I saw in Dartmouth, Wesport and Duxbury. Barnstable... and I was there pre-4th, too.

One of the side gigs when shooting at harbors is finding and shooting rich guy houses.

Owning a giant house with a dock leading to your luxury boats is pretty much the end game you should be planning for, kids.

Even the whales pitch in to advertise on Cape Cod.

... and the fish fish.

Barnstable Harbor on either side of the marina...