FALMOUTH——
The “Marrying Town” For
New England’s Greatest
Military Camp
When New England’s greatest military camp was developed almost on Falmouth’s doorstep, this very picturesque old community, with its rich store of whaling lore and seafaring color, became the busiest and most exciting center on all Cape Cod.
Falmouth has had a notable number of wartime marriages in the New England area. Many and many a Camp Edwards soldier, before embarking for foreign duty has been joined in wedlock. And, these young people who made the most of a few fleeting hours have come from widespread parts of the country.
The time factor also was precious in Falmouth romances of olden days. There’s the story of the sailing-ship master of the last century. His wedding plans were all arranged when he received orders to sail out of New Bedford to Germany with a cargo of oil. A friend arranged to have his beloved and the parson ready at the hour when the vessel would arrive off Falmouth.
No time was lost. The skipper rowed ashore and sped to the new house he had built for his bride. The ceremony was performed, he kissed his bride farewell and an hour later was over the water again, resuming a voyage to Bremen.
OUTSTANDING IN HISTORY
Falmouth is one of the most interesting places, historically, on the Cape. The first house was built in 1685; the town meeting custom was established in 1686; the first church was erected in 1796. The Village Green, most attractive feature of the town, is linked with the colorful course of Falmouth history.
Opposite the Green is the old meeting house; in its spire is a bell cast by Paul Revere. An inscription reads: “The living to the church I call; And to the grave I summon all.” A faded receipt is in a local bank, bearing the date 1796 and giving the purchase price as $338.94. The Green had its whipping post. Not many years ago the top of the post was found in the attic of a house facing the Green and was removed to the Public Library to go on exhibition.
Outstanding in Falmouth’s story is her rich fund of whaling lore. The Town’s Museum has a generous assortment of articles reflecting the great activity in this line: navigation instruments, revolvers used to put down mutinies, logbooks, handcuffs, harpoon and many ship pictures.
Elijah Swift, who began as a carpenter, is rated the most useful citizen in Falmouth history and he is credited with first bringing prosperity to the town. Elijah Swift knew wood, hence his services were highly valued when he was engaged to supply live oak for the shipbuilding program of the American Navy after the War of 1812. He recruited a large number of Falmouth men to go South on the live oak operation and, incidentally, he was successful in fighting the dreaded “yellow jack” disease in the swamp country. This business was destined to run into the millions.
INTERESTING PERSONALITIES
A living reminder of Elijah Swift’s works are the beautiful, tall trees surrounding the Village Green. He was permitted by the town, in 1832, to plant, at his own expense, the saplings that developed into these giants. The first summer after the planting was unusually dry. Elijah Swift hired a man to carry water daily from Shiverick’s Pond to keep life in the saplings, and this loving care he gave at the outset makes this scene today “a glory to the community.”
Falmouth has had, and still has, many people who have done distinctive work in their lifetime. Katherine Lee Bates, who wrote “America, the Beautiful,” was Falmouth-born. Edward Herbert Thompson, great American archaeologist, who did some of the most important work of bringing to light the facts of ancient American life and culture, was a Falmouth native.
Coonamessett Ranch, in the township of Falmouth, is said to be the largest ranch east of the Mississippi. Charles R. Crane of Chicago started cultivating it in 1915, to demonstrate the agricultural possibilities of Cape Cod. But he had an idealistic aim that was thwarted by the outbreak of the last war. The great acres were to have been settled by carefully selected families of the Russian peasantry, and the owner was intent upon carrying through his ideas for developing the possibilities of the less fortunate Russian folk.