A Century Ago

I would rather walk to Halibut Point at the end of a summer afternoon than to any other place on Cape Ann. Sitting on one of the great heaps of waste stone, you can see against the sky the network of cables supporting the deserted derricks, or watch the lights of the big hotels across the bay, or look down on the flat rocky shore, deserted now to herons and gulls, where years ago there was built, at the expense of many trusting and innocent investors, a plant to extract gold from sea water; and there you can meditate comfortably upon the labors and vanities and credulities of man.

Charles Boardman Hawes, Gloucester By Land and Sea, 1923

 

Charles Hawes bequeaths us one of the vivid neighborhood tours of the back side of Cape Ann from bygone days. Each of these walks or drives is worth a look for the variety of the authors' fascinations revealed: Thoreau's natural history trek of 1858; Reverend Leonard's humanistic observations of 1873; and the Procter Brothers' pleasure drive in 1896.* Hawes in particular is on the lookout for local color and idiosyncrasy. He acknowledges in his preface that "there are admirable histories and guidebooks of Gloucester" but he promises an immersion "for the general reader who cares little for genealogical tangles and nothing for a catalogue of the annual changes in the personnel of a town government." He wants more  robust adventures. 

For Hawes, to write is to aim for literature. In his other books he takes up adventures at sea with an "on-deck" style reaching for Melville. He moves to Gloucester at an early point in his career to absorb the gritty maritime culture. He enjoys an atmosphere of foreboding tension in his stories as Jack London did, an intimacy with peril and endurance. Down by the Harbor he takes us inside the Fishermen's Institute and a net factory. 

In the chapter "From Annisquam to Folly Cove" we ramble with Hawes through the north-side villages encountering local lore and personalities: A few years ago the city marshal came home to Bay View one night, completely tired out. He had flung himself down in his chair, when someone pounded fiercely on the door and burst into the house. "For God's sake, marshal!" the man cried, "come down to Lanesville quick! A man's murdering his wife." We are taken into a lamp-lit domestic scene of quick tempers, hard drink, and steely resolve. It contrasts with the village's generally laconic atmosphere:

            There are men in Lanesville who live still in a world of the past. I found one of them in his store of a winter day, where I went to try to persuade him to play chess. I am told that he made money in the old days of the town and that he has no real need to continue keeping his store, where he now does almost no business at all; but his whole life has centered on the one interest and the habit of keeping store is too strong to be broken....

            When he looked round the store, my eyes followed his. I had stepped into a scene out of lives that had ended long ago. The big room with its counters and show cases was a place of shadows. The dim light made it seem browner, older, unreal.

            I had trespassed on an old man's memories; I stood bodily, an alien, in a lost world. That man was living in the past. His face showed it. For the moment I stood in a borderland between two existences.

            "I don't think I want to begin again," he said.

            I was strangely relieved. It would have been downright profane to play chess with that man in that place." 

After his worldly entanglements in Bay View and Lanesville Hawes arrives at Halibut Point, grateful to be refreshed by solitude. His meditation there reflects some circumstances particular to his day as well some timeless ones. The panorama of sea and sky over the granite headlands amidst bygone, monumental industries of man, still silence many a visitor's turbulent state of mind. 

* Henry David Thoreau, The Journal Vol. VIII-XlV, ed. Torrey and Allen, 1906; Henry C. Leonard, Pigeon Cove and Vicinity, 1873; Procter Brothers, Pleasure Drives around Cape Ann, 1896.

Cranberry Sauce

It's that time of year to combine tangy cranberries with maple syrup into a Thanksgiving relish. This year we picked the cranberries at Halibut Point.

The principals

The cookbook

The recipe

The sauce steaming with grated orange rind



Cranberries flowering in a bog

Berries ready for picking

Wishing you all a holiday of gratitude and delight, 

Martin

The Military History of Halibut Point

Next Monday evening at 7:30 John Ratti, for thirteen years the Halibut Point State Park Interpreter, will present "The Military History of Halibut Point" at the Rockport Library. The Sandy Bay Historical Society sponsors the program with free admission to the public.

Military endeavors fascinate us when they involve mortal tests to individuals or nations. At the time of declaring its independence from the English Crown the United States stood in a precarious situation. Joshua Gott  was among the Cape Ann citizens who went to Boston to join Washington's fledgling army in 1775.

Memoriam to Revolutionary War veteran Joshua Gott
Gloucester Telegraph, September 18, 1850

Gott came from a family that had settled on Halibut Point in 1702. Their homestead was part of Gloucester until Rockport set off as a separate town in 1840.

Postcard courtesy of the Sandy Bay Historical Society

Coming from a maritime community Joshua left the ground battles to sail aboard a series of privateers for the remainder of the Revolutionary War. His acquaintances admired his fortitude in military and civilian life.

Memoriam to Revolutionary War veteran Joshua Gott

(continued)

Not many years later the United States and Great Britain were once again embattled on American soil. In September of 1814 British marines landed in longboats near Halibut Point. A  militia known as The Company of Exempts joined the forces that marched from Gloucester to repel them at Gallup's Folly Cove.

A logistical report from the Captain of the Company of Exempts
Gloucester City Archives
With thanks to Sarah Dunlap

Men from Sandy Bay initiated the defense with a contingent known as the Sea Fencibles. Many years later the local newspaper reprinted this account by participant Thomas Thompson who subsequently shipped out on privateers and was captured twice. He survived the dismal Dartmoor Prison to return home for a life in the coasting and fishing trades.

                  "When the War of 1812 broke out, I enlisted in a company called the Sea Fencibles. One day a large English vessel was seen in the offing, headed directly for Sandy Bay. It soon became evident that she intended to sack and pillage the village. Bells were rung, and the little company of Fencibles mustered, determined to do their best to defend their homes. Couriers were hastily despatched to Gloucester and adjoining towns for help. The frigate sailed by Folly Cove and anchored near Halibut Point. A boat's crew made an attempt to land, but were repulsed by the Fencibles, who were reinforced by companies from Gloucester, Salem and Newburyport and elsewhere, who were on the spot within 12 hours of the first alarm. The ship then sent another fleet of boats and tried to effect a landing, but were again beaten back. General Appleton of Gloucester marched 1500 men down on Halibut Point, which had the effect of overawing the commander of the frigate, and he soon after got underway and sailed off, firing some parting shots which struck perilously near some of the men.

Cape Ann Advertiser, December 7, 1888

 

USS Chesapeake engaging HMS Shannon off Halibut Point, June 1813

John Ratti will expand on the significance of naval battles fought off the coast of Halibut Point. Our shores were not threatened again until German submarines crossed the Atlantic during World War 2 when the federal government constructed coastal watch facilities at Halibut Point.

Coast Guard Tower under construction at Halibut Point, 1942
Nancy Erkkila Bollinger photo courtesy of
John and Betty Erkkila, Souvenirs of Pigeon Cove

Radar station, beginning 1953

With the advent of radar the Halibut Point station became linked into the electronic coastal defense network. During the Cold War of the 1950s these facilities were managed closely between the U. S. Air Force and the academic corporation Massachusetts Institute of Technology Research (MITRE).

165-foot high transmission and receiving tower constructed in 1958

Whirlwind 1 computer at MIT, 1950s

John will trace parts of this story that underpinned Digital Age technological developments such as the modem and the computer mouse.

Parasitism in Plants

Orobanche uniflora - One-flowered cancer root

When I came across this oddity growing on the woodland floor of Halibut Point it set off an investigative trail into the subject of parasitism. All parts of the Orobanche uniflora were white or essentially colorless which meant that it lacked chlorophyll and was incapable of making its own food. Therefore it had to be living at the expense of others.

I considered the negative associations of the word parasitism in art and science. I reflected on my own whiteness, lack of chlorophyll, and inability to make my own food. A parasite to plants? The paths of art and science blinked with caution lights. I didn't want to be associated with something small, creepy and invasive that takes without giving in return.

Research brought me to a distinction between parasites, which are typically much smaller than their hosts, do not necessarily kill them, and often live in or on their hosts for an extended period; and predators, which kill and devour right away. Honest predation seems the cleaner, if more lethal, individual existence, when considered one meal at a time.

Our prolific species requires billions of meals a day from our host organism Earth, living at the expense of others. I consider adjustments to my notions of parasitism. Possibly from the lighter side entomologist E. O. Wilson characterizes parasites as "predators that eat prey in units less than one."

Orobanche uniflora, the One-flowered cancer root, has no use for leaves because its roots invade other plant species for water and nutrition. It does have pretty flowers that produce seeds for self-perpetuation, which it has to be good at because it's an annual. Being categorized as a parasitic plant means it leads a one-sided robber's life. I wonder if we know the whole story about Orobanche uniflora's ecological relationships. Endurance in my experience isn't typically designed around one-sided behavior.

Monotropa uniflora, - Indian pipe, corpse plant

Indian pipe is a similar-looking plant with a more charming name and mode of existence. Until recently I thought it a respectable saprophyte, deriving its energy from dead organic matter. Modern investigation reveals that it has short stubby roots that harbor fungi. The fungi extend their organic threads through rotting humus to connect up to the roots of conifers. Termed mycorrhizal they maintain a mutualistic relationship with the tree, helping it absorb nutrients from the soil. The conifer in turn manufactures sugar which it shares with the fungi. Indian pipe may be parasitic to what we know of this process, but maybe not. At any rate it attaches to the fungus and not directly to our friend the tree.

 

Comandra umbellata - bastard-toadflax, a hemiparasite

Many shades and degrees of 'parasitism' have developed in the diversified quest for life. One of Halibut Point's plants Comandra umbellata is classified a "hemiparasite'  because it has both green leaves that use photosynthesis and also attaches specialized roots (haustoria) to the roots of a host-plant to derive some of its nutrients. Comandra's energy balance sheet is complicated by the fact that it produces edible fruits for consumption by animal species.
 

Agalinis purpurea - Purple agalinis

Another Halibut Point native Purple agalinis disguises its hemiparasitic operations by appearing to be pretty and innocent above ground. Meanwhile its haustoria are busy transferring sugars and proteins from the subterranean tissues of host plants to its own benefit.

Cuscuta epithymum - Clover dodder
Photo from the GoBotany website

If you prefer a more horrifying version of parasitism look for dodder, which lacks the respectability of roots and leaves and wraps its vampire strands around defenseless plants.

If the 'host' contains food it senses to be beneficial  the dodder inserts haustoria into its vascular system. The original, now unnecessary root of the dodder in the soil then dies. The dodder can drape itself over multiple plants.

Life's myriad processes tumble along. Is it a neutral game? All I know for sure is the importance my own defense system, and the satisfaction of my next meal.

Gallery of Flora 2

Enjoying the plants of Halibut Point

(with Notes from Science appended)

Watershield on pond, blooming

Emergent mushroom, fruiting

Catbrier tendrils, reaching

Rockweed at low tide, frosted

Cinnamon fern, fall

Blue flag iris, shoreline



British soldiers, rooftop

Scarlet oak, reflected

Water lily, opening

Notes from Science

 
I received these edifying comments on last week's posting. I'm keeping with my visually-centered Floral Gallery intentions, supplemented with these insights to the natural order from orderly science.
 
From C. L.
·        Fungi, lichens and gall parasites are not Flora (i.e. Plants)
·    There is now broad consensus that there are (at least 5-6) Kingdoms of living organisms: Plants, Animals, Fungi, Protists and Monera (sometimes split in two). The cladistics folks conceive of many more Kingdoms (I won’t go there). Main point: Fungi are in their own Kingdom.
·    Lichens are a mutualistic combo of 3 organisms in 3 different Kingdoms!: (a fungus, an alga and/or cyanobacterium). The fungus provides the structure, the alga photosynthesizes nutrients, and I forget what the (recently discovered) bacteria do.
·    The lichen in your photo is a fruticose (vs foliose) species. Contra L. B. I don’t think it’s growing amidst a foliose lichen, but rather in its own “sod flakes.” There are a number of species of “pixie cup” species that occur here. I could probably nail the species if I had a specimen.
·     L. B. is right of course that lichens don’t bloom. However they do “fruit” (though not the way flowering plants do.)

From L. B.

Too long to go into…but not ‘mutualistic’ symbiotic.

It IS growing separately, as C. L. says, it is still NOT a flowering of the other species of lichen it is living amidst.

YES, they often ‘congregate.’

Don't you just ♥ lichen!!