History
Originally settled by the
Nauset tribe, Eastham was the site
of a hunting expedition of the
Mayflower on the Cape Cod Bay side
of town, which led to the first
encounter of the
Pilgrims and the local Nauset tribe.
It would not be settled, however, until
1644. The original lands included the
towns of Truro, Wellfleet, Eastham,
Orleans and a small portion of Chatham.
The town was officially incorporated in
1651. Fishing and especially farming
were early industries in the town, and
writers and artists also came to the
town. In fact, it was in Eastham that
Henry Beston wrote
The Outermost House. The town is is
discussed at some length in
Henry David Thoreau's
Cape Cod as the somewhat rugged site
of one of New England's largest summer
"camp-meeting" evangelistic gatherings
in the mid-1800s. The gatherings were at
times attended by at least "one hundred
and fifty ministers, (!) and five
thousand hearers" at a site called
Millennium Grove, in the northwest part
of town. (The area is now a residential
neighborhood, the only reminder being
Millennium Lane.)
Today, Eastham is mostly known as the
"Gate" to the
Cape Cod National Seashore, which
was founded in 1961 by President
John F. Kennedy to protect Cape
Cod's coast from erosion and
overpopulation. The town is the site of
many beaches, both on the Atlantic and
bay sides, as well as the
Nauset Light, which was moved to the
town in 1923 from its old location in
Chatham, and the Three Sisters
Lighthouses, which have since been moved
away from their now-eroded perches on
the coast to a field just west of Nauset
Light
