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Cape Cod

Chapter 2: Using This Handbook
By Robert Finch
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About This Book

A concise handbook surveys the peninsula’s natural and cultural history, explaining its glacial origins, dynamic shores, dunes and marshes, and seasonal rhythms. It documents traditional maritime lifeways, coastal industries, and vernacular landscapes while examining recent environmental changes, erosion, and conservation efforts under national seashore management. The middle chapters explore terrestrial and marine processes and human impacts, supplemented by pictorial features and informational inserts. A final section provides practical travel-oriented reference material, maps, and visitor guidance to help readers appreciate and navigate both the region’s ecology and its cultural heritage.

Using This Handbook

The Cape Cod peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean off Massachusetts is one of America’s prime coastal recreational areas. Cape Cod National Seashore, managed by the National Park Service, extends for 40 miles along the Cape’s outer arm between Chatham and Provincetown. In Part 1 of this handbook, author and longtime resident Robert Finch introduces the reader to the Cape’s rich cultural and natural history and to the National Seashore. In the three chapters of Part 2, Finch more closely examines the land, the sea, and the transformations that have taken place in recent years. Pictorial features on various Cape aspects supplement these chapters. Part 3 presents concise travel guide and reference materials, including a full-color map.

National Park Handbooks are published to support the National Park Service’s management programs and to promote understanding and enjoyment of the more than 360 National Park System sites. Each handbook is intended to be informative reading and a useful guide before, during, and after a park visit. The handbooks are sold at parks and can be purchased by mail from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402-9325.