Join the Mattapoisett Historical Society and Seth Mendell as he relates the history of this fascinating waterway right on our door step on Wednesday, July 23 at 7:00 pm at the Mattapoisett Free Public Library, 7 Barstow Street, Mattapoisett. Seth’s comments will include:
– Around the Cape or across the isthmus
– August Belmont and the Cape Cod Construction Company
– President Roosevelt and Mattapoisett’s Mrs. Hamlin at opening ceremony 1914
– 1928 the Federal Government takes over
– Army Corps of Engineers – new entrance, new bridges and wider canal
– WWII German submarines and the fortification of Buzzards Bay and the canal
– Cleveland’s Ledge Light and “Uncle Cleve”
A thousand years before the white man came, the Wampanoag called the path across the isthmus “The Trail of the Burden Carrier.” Today thousands of ships carry millions of tons of goods across the same trail as those Native Americans trod.