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 To some vacationers, the Cape really begins at the Orleans rotary—a nod to the outer Cape’s panoply of beaches. Orleans lies just as the Cape begins its northwestern jog towards Provincetown and is the Lower Cape’s commercial hub. It is also the “gateway” to the outer Cape. While there are detractors, many believe that intrepid explorer Leif Erickson landed at Nauset around 1003AD—centuries before the next explorer to land here, Bartholomew Gosnold in 1602, the explorer who effectively named Cape Cod. In 1605, French explorer Samuel de Champlain sailed to the vicinity of Orleans. It was off the coast of Orleans that the first European shipwreck ever recorded occurred on December 17, 1626 when the Pilgrim’s ketch, Sparrowhawk, was wrecked near Pochet, as the Orleans portion of the Eastham settlement was originally named. In 1644, when the first colonists settled in Eastham, Orleans was part of the land grant. Eastham’s South Parish was established in 1718 and was destined to become the town of Orleans. Orleans is the only Cape town without an English or Native American name. It is believed that a committee whose purpose it was to decide a name for the town refused to consider an English name, opting instead for the name of the French Duke of Orleans, Louise-Phillipe de Bourbon, who in 1797 fled to the area which today comprises Orleans to escape the French Revolution’s ire. (Ironically, four decades later, he returned to France, triumphantly, as its sovereign and ruled from 1830-1848). During both the War of 1812 and World War I, Orleans was fired upon by the enemy, the only US town to claim this distinction. In 1898, Compagnie Française des Cable Telegraphique laid a trans-Atlantic cable between Orleans and Brest, France (from Orleans, the cable ran to New York). Orleans was also the site of Cape Cod’s first canal, Jeremiah’s Gutter, a 3½-mile hand-dug trench created by townspeople begun in 1717 connecting Boatmeadow River, off Cape Cod Bay, through the marsh with Town Cove on the ocean. The town also has the distinction of being the only Cape town fired upon—first by the British during the War of 1812 and then by Germans during both World War I and II. Early Orleans settlers eked out a living in shellfishing, agriculture, shipbuilding, coastal trades and deep-sea fishing. In the late 19th century, the Industrial Revolution brought a factory to Orleans and, in 1873, the Cummings-Howes clothing factory opened. In 1890, the factory employed 125 to 200 people using more than 100 steam-powered sewing machines to manufacture trousers. There were also more than 50 salt works in Orleans. Orleans is also the first Cape town with true ocean beaches. It contain southernmost portions of Cape Cod National Seashore, a 40-mile, 27,000-acre preserve running the entire outer length of the Cape from ten-mile long Nauset Beach, with its low dunes and memorably large waves, to Provincetown’s Race Point. The nearby Nauset Marsh has a rich ecosystem worthy of exploration. Bay swimming and water sports can be enjoyed at Skaket Beach—where Orleans breaks through to Cape Cod Bay—where the water is warmer. This beach is a wonderfully sandy stretch with very calm waters. The town comprises three villages: Orleans, with a center near Main Street and Route 6A; East Orleans, with a center on Main Street two miles from Nauset Beach; and South Orleans, with a center near the junction of Routes 28 and 39. The landscape begins a dramatic metamorphosis from here outward towards Provincetown. Thick woods become scanty then disappear, the sky seems to open up, sand dunes, silver marsh grass in salt marshes and windswept moors are revealed. It is here in Orleans that Cape Cod’s main roadways—-Routes 6, 6A and 28—merge at a rotary directing drivers in as many directions. The town’s Main Street features purveyors of nearly every variety interspersed with restaurants, the occasional rare book store, clothiers and antiques shops. There’s even a birdwatcher’s general store and a French Cable Station Museum. There’s also plenty of local color, including a restaurant whose kale soup is so remarkable the recipe can be found in the pages of Gourmet. Rock Harbor, two miles from the town center, is picturesque and full of all manner of craft (and a 12-year waiting list for slips) has an excellent shallow beach ideal for waders or beginning swimmers. It is also home to one of the Cape’s biggest charter fishing fleets. And at the end of a beautiful sunny day, the sunset is heavenly. Orleans offers a premonition of the even greater glories which follow further out on the Cape. Main Beaches: Pilgrim Lake, Herring Brook Road (fresh water) Museum of Orleans Historical Society, River Road at Main Street. This 1833 meetinghouse cum museum exhibits sea, farm and Native American artifacts and Orleans memorabilia. French Cable Station Museum, 41 South Orleans Road between Cove Road and Route 28). International communications center from 1891-1959 this was the key communications link between Europe and America. Messages were sent, via a 4,000-mile heavy underwater cable, directly from Orleans to Doelen, France. Original equipment is on display. Among the messages relayed this way were Lindbergh’s 1927 successful trans-Atlantic flight and arrival in Paris and Germany’s 1940 invasion of France. Open afternoons July-August, by appointment at other times. Academy Playhouse, 120 Main Street. When the town outgrew its circa 1873 town hall in 1949, the space was converted to use as an arena stage. The Academy of Performing Arts stages performances here all year—primarily musicals in summer and dramatic performances during the non-summer months in addition to poetry readings, concerts and dance. |
