The Outermost House

[Swimmer]

Just finished reading Beston's book. I have known about it since I was a kid. Foolishly I always thought reading it was silly, because I was just going to find out it was about the same things I discovered all those summer days and nights I spent hanging out at Coast Guard Beach and Nauset Beach. I even stood on the porch of this beach shack several times, because a friend of mine whose parents owned a house back up the road by Doane Rock also owned one of the little getaway beach shacks a short distance away from Beston's Fo'castle on Coast Guard Beach. I just didn't understand the significance, ah youth. My surfing buddy always use to say, thats "the outermost house". I'd look at it and think, but there are other shacks further down the beach toward the opening, much farther away. Anyway, the book gave me more pleasure reading than I have had in a long time. It is no wonder the 1928 book has a cult-like following.

[Soundbounder]

I only got around to reading it about 5 years ago.....and I'm in my forties.

Sometimes it's better that way. You may not have appreciated the book so much if you had read it as a teenager. In high school I had to read Life Of A Salt Marsh and I most likely forgot about it the moment I finished. Read it again last winter and enjoyed it a great deal

[BigFish]

Great book!

[Ed B]

Swimmer, Yes, Good book. If you liked that one I think you'll also like "House on Nauset Marsh" by Wyman Richardson. The Richardson family owned land which is now part of the national seashore in the vicinity of the visitors center in Eastham. It was written around the same time maybe in the 1930's and it includes a fair amount of Richardson's early exploits at surf fishing as well.

[piemma]

Originally Posted by BigFish

Great book!

DITTO!!!!

[Swimmer]

Originally Posted by Ed B

Swimmer, Yes, Good book. If you liked that one I think you'll also like "House on Nauset Marsh" by Wyman Richardson. The Richardson family owned land which is now part of the national seashore in the vicinity of the visitors center in Eastham. It was written around the same time maybe in the 1930's and it includes a fair amount of Richardson's early exploits at surf fishing as well.

Thank you
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[Swimmer]

Originally Posted by Ed B

Swimmer, Yes, Good book. If you liked that one I think you'll also like "House on Nauset Marsh" by Wyman Richardson. The Richardson family owned land which is now part of the national seashore in the vicinity of the visitors center in Eastham. It was written around the same time maybe in the 1930's and it includes a fair amount of Richardson's early exploits at surf fishing as well.

Thank you

Wasn't that Richardson family the same one as in Secratary of State Elliot Richardson's family? I think I remember reading that or hearing that. I was there the day Bobby Kennedy and Teddy Kennedy came in an old black helicopter, landing at the school on Schoolhouse Road, then traveling by limo to the brand new visitor center for the speeches. Bobby waved to me and my buddy at the time, Ted did not. We were the only two people that came to the school.
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[Swimmer]

[QUOTE=Ed B;1029957]Swimmer, Yes, Good book. If you liked that one I think you'll also like "House on Nauset Marsh" by Wyman Richardson. The Richardson family owned land which is now part of the national seashore in the vicinity of the visitors center in Eastham. It was written around the same time maybe in the 1930's and it includes a fair amount of Richardson's early exploits at surf fishing as well.[/QUOTE


Just checked on the book not in Barnes and Noble ordering company
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[Ed B]

Check Amazon, Looks like they have a bunch of copies.

I don't know much about the Richardson family other than the fact that Wyman Richardson was a doctor, and I believe the house on the marsh was a summer home the family used to go to.

[Swimmer]

I did check Amazon and will probably go that route, thanks

[Dick Durand]

Stirring up memories - I read it about 30 or more years ago, but it's still on the bookshelf.

[joebe]

Thanks for this post. My Dad is 75 and spent a lot of time fishing the outer cape. I was trying to figure out what to buy him for his birthday. These 2 books should help him pass a couple of winter days. Just ordered both.

[chrisg]

I agree. The Outermost House is a beautiful book. I had known of it for a few years, but just read it last week because my wife and I moved to the Cape in January.

Another interesting book that a friend loaned me is, These Fragile Outposts. It is "a geological look at Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket." It was written in 1964 by Barbara Blau Chamberlain and is out of print, but used copies are not hard to find online--I paid $10 for one because my friend wanted his lovely first edition hard cover back

These Fragile Outposts gives a very readable account of how the Cape and Islands were formed, outlines the different periods of glaciation, and explains where all those rocks and cliffs and dunes came from. And I learned the history behind that ubiquitous Cape Cod blue paint--pretty cool.