History uncovered at Orleans windmill site

By Susan Milton
smilton@capecodonline.com

ORLEANS - The Jonathan Young Windmill looks at home on Town Cove in Orleans, but the historic landmark has moved around since its construction in the early 1700s.

Yesterday about 15 people walked through the woods to see the windmill's likely first home on a hill in South Orleans. Marking the spot is a circle of large foundation stones rediscovered recently by amateur historian Michael Farber of Chatham.

"Everything fits," said miller and historian James Owens of Eastham, among those who came to see Farber's rare discovery in the town's watershed off Route 28.

Even the stones in the middle of the circle were historically correct, Owens said, describing how four to five-ton millstones "floated" in a support on a central foundation to keep weight off the walls of the mill. Read more ...

Michael Farber moves closer to solving windmill mystery

ORLEANS -- Michael Farber was in possession of a brick, an unusual brick, from a breezy site near what was once called the Namskaket River. He showed it to Jim Owens, who is locally famous as a font of windmill knowledge. Read more ...

Cape boundary hunters get lesson in archeology

From the April 16 2009 issue of the Cape Cod Times
Cape boundary hunters get lesson in archeologyBy Susan Milton
smilton@capecodonline.com
April 16, 2009

BREWSTER - There were no tractor-trailer trucks and cars whizzing by Sam Higgins, Jim Rogers and Tim Doane in 1803 at the Orleans-Brewster line.

But the 1803 trio left enough clues to guide another band of boundary hunters yesterday as they narrowed their search for the same large boulder, marked with an "S" more than 300 years ago.

"I think we're real close to it right in here," Steve Ellis of Orleans said yesterday, as he stood on Route 6A with Lighthouse Charter School students and teachers, historian Michael Farber of Chatham and other searchers. Read more...

Web Exclusive: Pilgrim’s Progress

In 1620, the Pilgrims rounded the north tip of Cape Cod and anchored at what is now Provincetown Harbor, Mass. During the next few days, explorations were made from this harbor by Myles Standish and company culminating in the discovery and subsequent theft of corn at what we now call Corn Hill in Truro. That theft caused the “first encounter” with the Native Americans at First Encounter Beach in Eastham, Mass. Much of this is taught in our history classes and is common knowledge. What isn’t so well known is that William Bradford of the Mayflower noted that “The bay is so round and circling, that before we could come to anchor we went round all the points of the compass.” Read more...

History lives in classic rock

CUMMAQUID — Michael Watson knew his family's restaurant property straddled the Yarmouth-Barnstable town line. But he had no idea it might be playing host to an ancient Cape Cod landmark.

Last week, members of a group investigating how the Pilgrims established the boundaries of the first Cape Cod towns found a large, flat granite boulder nestled in the marsh mud behind Anthony's Cummaquid Inn. Engraved on the top of the rock are the letters Y and B, with a small x in the middle.

Chatham historian Michael Farber and Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School teacher Daniella Garran believe the boulder may have been etched by Pilgrims in the early 17th century to mark the Yarmouth-Barnstable boundary line. Read more.

Tracking history in Pilgrim's footsteps

A group of Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School history students and a Chatham historian are hot on the trail of William Bradford's first perambulation of Cape Cod. Read more ...

Michael Farber presenting at Dennis Yarmouth School

On December 4th, Mike Farber will talk about how the Pilgrims used a sophisticated blend of surveying techniques to subdivide our lands. Our fore fathers knew the importance of the night sky for navigation and getting a bearing. Read more ...

December 13 Cornerstone Forum with Michael Farber and the Lighthouse Charter School

The Cornerstone Forum is returning to town after 375 years! By the 1630s, the Pilgrim Elders knew that Cape Cod was their New Promised Land. Boxed in by Massachusetts Bay Colony to the north and barren ground to the south and west, they could only head eastward! They came to Bound Brook at Quivet Creek to establish the Cape's first land survey. Read more...

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...