Students search for the 'first Plymouth Rock'

From the August 24, 2008 issue of The Cape Cod Times
Students search for the 'first Plymouth Rock'

By Robin Lord
rlord@capecodonline.com
August 24, 2008

ORLEANS - It's a mystery that could prove how the Pilgrims set the boundaries for the first Cape Cod towns.

Called "The Cornerstones Project," the effort has already paid dividends for a Chatham man and a group of Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School students, who this spring discovered a boulder etched with a giant "X" in Orleans Town Cove. The rock may have been placed there by Pilgrims as a marker for the southernmost boundary of the town of Eastham.

"It just seems so top secret," said Joey Benedict, 13, of Dennis, who chose the Cornerstones seminar last spring. Read more...

Chatham man helps students unlock history's mysteries

From the August 24, 2008 issue of The Cape Cod Times
Chatham man helps students unlock history's mysteries

By Robin Lord
rlord@capecodonline.com
August 24, 2008

ORLEANS - Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School graduate Henry von Thaden was intrigued when he heard about an eight-week seminar last spring about trying to find the boundary markers the Pilgrims laid for the first Cape Cod towns.

"It was searching for stuff nobody thought would be down there," said the 14-year-old from Orleans during a recent visit to the class' most exciting discovery - a boulder in Town Cove with a giant "X" carved in it. The seminar, von Thaden said, "went over my expectations."

His classmates, their teachers, Daniella Garran and Paul Niles, and their community partner, Michael Farber of Chatham, believe the rock was placed there as a marker for an underwater site that pinpoints Eastham's southernmost boundary. Read more...