Category Archives: Massachusetts

The Whales of Massachusetts Bay

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wo whales surface in open water, one lifting its tail as it dives, with a large cruise ship and a smaller boat in the distance.

Everyone knows the humpback whales. I’ve chased them from Massachusetts to Hawaii to Alaska. They’re the show‑stoppers — the whales that arch their backs, lift their flukes high, breach like acrobats, and bring their calves right alongside the boats. Sometimes it feels like they’re watching us instead of the other way around. But as dramatic as humpbacks are, they aren’t the first whales to arrive each year. Whale season is opened by a very special group.

The Right Whales Come First

Right whales were named because whalers once considered them the “right” whales to hunt. Their massive heads were filled with valuable whale oil, and they floated when killed — a grim history that left us with a name we still use today.

These whales begin arriving in Cape Cod Bay as early as November, though January is more typical. The wind off the bay is still cold. The days are gray and dreary. The bright summer skies are months away, and the whale‑watch boats are still in dry dock. If you want to see right whales, you watch from shore. No close‑ups. No flukes. Just patience, binoculars, and the hope of spotting that distinctive V‑shaped blow.

Right whales exhale through two blowholes, creating a perfect V in the air — just like we exhale through two nostrils. It’s one of the easiest ways to identify them from land.

A Critically Endangered Visitor

These whales are critically endangered, and seeing them arrive is always an exciting moment. The current estimate is fewer than 350 North Atlantic right whales left, with only around 70 breeding females. And here in Massachusetts, we sit right on their annual migration path.

My 2011 Right‑Whale Day

Back in 2011, on a cold and blustery April day, I took a ride to the Cape just for something to do. The rangers at the National Seashore welcome center were buzzing — reports were coming in that right whales were visible from shore. Of course I had to check it out.

Sure enough, they were traveling along the shoreline in twos and threes. I stood on the sand watching for the blows, watching one pair pass on and another arrive, like a conveyor belt of whales moving steadily along the coast. It’s not a trip I take every year, but I’m grateful I got to witness that spectacle at least once.

Then Come the Humpbacks

As the weather warms, the humpbacks begin to arrive. They bring their calves, and you often get to see a mother and baby traveling together. The calves don’t look small — except next to mom. She teaches her young how to breach, feed, and survive. These are the whales we follow with the whale‑watch fleet.

Breaching Whale

On a whale watch, you can almost always count on humpbacks, but you might also spot fin whales, minke whales, and if you’re very lucky, a sei whale.

If You’ve Never Been on a Whale Watch

• Bring a sweatshirt or hoodie — it gets chilly on the water

• Binoculars aren’t required, but they’re fun if you have them

• If you’re prone to motion sickness, take your Dramamine

• Watch for bubble feeding, breaching, and flipper slaps

• A naturalist will help identify whales and sea life

• You might see Atlantic white‑sided dolphins

• You may spot an ocean sunfish

• Lots of birds near the surface often means whales are feeding

• And more and more often these days, you may see a great white shark. The seal population has exploded, and the sharks follow their food. Sightings from whale‑watch boats do happen — usually just a fin slicing the surface or a quick shadow near a seal colony.

I find the ocean relaxing, sprinkled with moments of excitement when a whale appears.

Thar she blows.

 

From Sand Dunes to Shark Apps

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Old Cape Cod, just as Patti Page imagined it — dunes, salty air, and a quiet stretch of shoreline that still remembers how things used to be.

Old Cape Cod: From Sand Dunes to Shark Apps

If you’re fond of sand dunes and salty air,

Quaint little villages here and there…

You’re sure to fall in love with old Cape Cod.

Patti Page sang those words in 1957, and the song didn’t just become a hit — it reshaped the Cape’s identity. That gentle, dreamy portrait of a sleepy peninsula helped launch Cape Cod into the national imagination. Tourists followed, then developers, and before long those “quaint little villages” gave way to strip malls, big‑box stores, and summer traffic that can test the patience of a saint.

But one thing never changed: the beaches. Crowded or not, they’re still the Cape’s heartbeat. And if we take a little walk through time, we can see just how much this place has transformed since Patti Page made musical history.

A Peninsula Born of Ice

Cape Cod is a hooked, sandy arm stretching 65 miles into the Atlantic — the leftover handiwork of the last Ice Age. It’s narrow in some places, wide in others, bordered by Cape Cod Bay, Buzzards Bay, and the waters of Vineyard and Nantucket Sounds. For centuries, life here revolved around the sea.

Nantucket, in particular, was once the whaling capital of the world. From the late 1600s through the mid‑1800s, whaling was its lifeblood. But as regulations tightened and the industry declined, Nantucket reinvented itself as a quiet retreat for the wealthy — a transformation that still defines the island today.

Preserving the Cape

On the mainland, conservation took center stage. In 1961, the federal government created the Cape Cod National Seashore, protecting miles of shoreline from development. Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge followed, safeguarding critical habitat for birds and marine life.

Then came a turning point: In 1972, the Marine Mammal Protection Act granted federal protection to seals.

That’s when the Cape’s story took a dramatic turn.

The Return of the Great Whites

As the seal population exploded, so did interest from a very different kind of visitor. In 1975, the blockbuster Jaws gave the world a fictional taste of shark‑infused terror — but it also foreshadowed reality. Over the next few decades, great white sharks began returning to Cape waters in growing numbers, drawn by the booming seal colonies.

The shift became undeniable on September 15, 2018, when Arthur Medici, a 26‑year‑old from Revere, was fatally attacked while boogie boarding at Newcomb Hollow Beach. It was the first deadly shark attack in Massachusetts since 1936, and it marked the beginning of what many now call the new Cape Cod.

Today, great whites are summer regulars. We have:

  • Spotter planes and research boats
  • Electronic shark‑detection buoys
  • Beach warnings near seal haul‑outs
  • And yes — an app for that. The Sharktivity app lets you track shark sightings in real time.

Even whale‑watch boats report seeing sharks, and whenever a whale carcass washes ashore, you can bet the great whites will arrive shortly after.

And they’re not alone. In 2025, a fisherman off Mashpee reported the Cape’s first confirmed tiger shark sighting. Offshore charter captains share videos of sharks stealing fish right off the line. There’s even shark cage diving now — something once associated only with South Africa or Australia.

A Personal Note: The Cape’s Own Shark Celebrity

The Cape has its own celebrity in Dr. Greg Skomal, author, marine biologist, and the face of modern shark research in Massachusetts. He’s been a champion of the great white’s return and a pioneer in tagging and tracking them. You’ve probably seen him on Discovery Channel’s Shark Week, leaning over the bow of a boat with a tagging pole in hand.

I’ve had the privilege of meeting him and hearing several of his presentations. He’s charming, funny, and completely approachable — the kind of scientist who makes you feel like you’re part of the adventure. The sharks couldn’t ask for a better advocate.

Is This Still “Old Cape Cod”?

Somehow, the Cape feels less like Patti Page’s quiet seaside escape and more like a place where nature has reclaimed its throne. The dunes and salty air are still here, but the cast of characters has changed. Tourists still flock to the beaches — but so do apex predators.

Cape Cod isn’t sleepy anymore. It’s wild, unpredictable, and very much alive.

And maybe that’s part of its magic.

 

Summer on the Cape: A Visit to Marconi Beach

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A roadside “Welcome to Cape Cod” sign surrounded by tall green trees, featuring a lighthouse illustration and the text “Massachusetts – Cape Cod & Islands – 2026.”

Crossing the Bridge Into Cape Time

It’s summer in Massachusetts, and that means my brain automatically drifts east toward the Cape. Or Cape Cod for all of you visiting from away. Around here, we just say “the Cape,” and everyone knows exactly what we mean. We’re heading over the bridge—doesn’t matter if it’s Bourne or Sagamore—once you’re south of either one, you’ve officially crossed into Cape Time.

Lunch, Seals, and Fresh Catch

After weaving through the inevitable bridge traffic, the whole Cape opens up like a choose‑your‑own‑adventure book. One of my favorite early stops is Chatham Pier Fish Market. I swear, nothing tastes more like summer than fresh fish eaten with the sun on your shoulders and gulls arguing overhead. The fishing boats unload right in front of you, the seals pop up hoping for snacks, and I’m sitting there humming “Yummy Yummy Yummy” because yes—I’ve got fresh catch in my tummy and a whole day ahead of me.

Heading Into the National Seashore

With lunch behind me, I can wander anywhere along the Cape Cod National Seashore. Miles of dunes, beaches, and history—yes, history. Cape Cod isn’t all sun and sand and sharks. It played a very real part in developing the wireless technology we rely on every single day.

Marconi Beach: Where Wireless Communication Was Born

A Little Science, A Little Drama

Guglielmo Marconi built the world’s first successful wireless transmitter—basically the ancestor of every text message you’ve ever sent. Thanks to his invention, the RMS Carpathia heard the Titanic’s SOS and raced to help, saving more than 700 people. Not bad for a guy tinkering with radio waves.

Why Cape Cod?

To send signals across the Atlantic, Marconi needed stations positioned just right. He built them in Poldhu, England; Glace Bay, Nova Scotia; and—surprise—South Wellfleet, Massachusetts. Yes, right here on the Cape. On January 18, 1903, the South Wellfleet station made history by completing the first two‑way wireless communication between Europe and America. Before long, ship‑to‑shore messages became big business. You could send a social note or a business update for fifty cents a word, which makes today’s texting bills look pretty good.

Cape Cod: The First “Voice of America”

For about fifteen years, the South Wellfleet station was the powerhouse of North American wireless communication. Skilled telegraphers tapped out messages at about seventeen words a minute, and the station—known by its call sign “CC” for Cape Cod—became the unofficial voice reaching out across the ocean.

Erosion, War, and the End of an Era

Nothing on the Cape stays still for long, especially the coastline. The cliff under Marconi’s station was eroding at roughly three feet a year, inching the towers closer to disaster. By 1917, with World War I underway and new technology replacing spark‑gap transmitters, the Navy shut the station down for security reasons. It never reopened, and by 1920 the whole operation was dismantled.

What Remains Today

Most of the original site has been claimed by the Atlantic—those cliffs don’t play around. But the surrounding land is protected as part of the Cape Cod National Seashore. If you stand on the bluff on a cold winter day, looking out over the ocean, it’s easy to imagine the crackle of early radio signals leaping across the waves. This quiet stretch of coastline is where global wireless communication truly began.

 

Everyone Loves a Parade

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The giant turkey float wearing a blue top hat in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, moving past crowds and tall city buildings.”

Massachusetts: More Parades Than You’d Expect

New Orleans has Mardi Gras — and truth be told, probably a parade for something every other week. They’re America’s party town for sure. But Massachusetts has more parades than you might think. We’ve got the big national ones, yes, but we’ve also got some wonderfully quirky, uniquely‑ours traditions.

A Quick Roll Call of Bay State Parades

Here are the ones that come to mind without much effort:

  1. First Night, Boston (New Year’s Eve)
  2. St. Patrick’s Day, South Boston
  3. Patriots’ Day Parade, Concord
  4. Ducklings Day Parade, Boston
  5. Memorial Day Parades, Every Town
  6. Fishtown Horribles Parade, Gloucester
  7. Fourth of July Parades, statewide
  8. Carnival Parade, Provincetown
  9. Haunted Happenings Parade, Salem
  10. America’s Hometown Thanksgiving Parade, Plymouth
  11. Christmas Eve Parade, Lynn

Championship Duck Boats: Our Modern Victory Marches

And then there are the Championship Parades — our modern‑day victory marches. The crowds gather, the duck boats roll out, and the players ride through Boston like triumphant warriors returning from battle. No chariots, but close enough.

St. Patrick’s Day: Southie’s Biggest Tradition

Boston’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Southie is one of the oldest and largest in the country. Bagpipes, marching bands, Irish dancers, politicians shaking hands, and half the city wearing green — it’s a celebration that feels like Boston down to its bones. If you’ve never seen South Boston on March 17, you haven’t truly experienced St. Patrick’s Day.

Patriots’ Day: A Parade You Won’t Find Anywhere Else

See that Patriots’ Day Parade? That one is truly unique. Patriots’ Day is strictly a Massachusetts holiday — and some years we even get an extra day to file our federal taxes because we’re special like that.

Ducklings Day: Boston’s Sweetest Tradition

One of the sweetest parades is the Ducklings Day Parade, celebrating the Make Way for Ducklings statue. It’s traditionally held on Mother’s Day and is pure Boston charm.

Fourth of July: Cannons, Fireworks, and Local Flavor

Everyone has a Fourth of July parade, but we go one better with the concert on the Esplanade, complete with cannons and fireworks. And up in Gloucester, they celebrate with the Fishtown Horribles Parade — a wonderfully chaotic, satirical tradition where floats poke fun at political figures, local issues, and whatever else needs a good ribbing.

Provincetown Carnival: Color, Creativity, and Community

Head to the tip of Cape Cod and you’ll find Provincetown’s Carnival Parade, a joyful celebration of diversity and creativity that the town is famous for.

Salem’s Haunted Happenings: Halloween Done Right

Rounding out the unusual lineup is Salem’s Haunted Happenings Parade. Other places may have Halloween parades, but there’s no place like Salem in late October for witches, goblins, and costumed chaos.

Plymouth’s Thanksgiving Parade: History Marches On

And while America crowds around the TV to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, our own Plymouth — home of the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving — holds its America’s Hometown Thanksgiving Parade, a tradition all its own.

Take That, New Orleans

So yes, New Orleans may have Mardi Gras, and Disney may have a parade every time someone sneezes — but here in Massachusetts, we do things our own way. Who else has cannons on the Esplanade, championship duck boats rolling through Boston like returning warriors, and a parade for just about every season? Take that, New Orleans.

 

Massachusetts. First in Ideas, First in Innovation

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Massachusetts Wasn’t First… Until It Decided to Be First in Everything

Jamestown may have gotten the early bragging rights in 1607, and the Pilgrims didn’t step onto Plymouth soil until 1620 — and then, just ten years later, Boston was founded in 1630. And once Massachusetts finally entered the race, we behaved exactly like Golden Tempo: lally‑gagging along at the rear of the pack for a while, just taking our sweet time… and then in the home stretch, POW. Look out world, here we come.

Some places take centuries to build a legacy.
Massachusetts took about five minutes.

And once we hit our stride? We didn’t just join the party — we started inventing half the things in the room.

🌳 1634 — Boston Common: First Public Park AND First Botanical Garden

People remember the “first public park” part.
Almost nobody remembers the “first botanical garden” part.
And here’s the kicker: the botanical garden portion sits on reclaimed marshland — Boston literally reshaped the landscape so people could stroll among curated plantings. We were cultivating beauty before most cities even had sidewalks.

💡 1716 — Boston Light: First Lighthouse in the United States

Before America had a country, Boston was already lighting the way. Built on Little Brewster Island, Boston Light guided ships into the harbor starting in 1716.

And when the British evacuated Boston in 1776, they didn’t leave quietly. They blew up the original lighthouse on their way out — a dramatic “if we can’t have it, no one can” exit.

In true Massachusetts fashion, we rebuilt it.
Stronger. Taller. Ready for another few centuries of service.
Boston Light. Still Standing, Still shining

Boston Light on Little Brewster Island

🔫 1775 — Lexington & Concord: The Shot Heard ’Round the World

And then came the big one — the first that changed everything. On April 19, 1775, in the quiet towns of Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts fired the shot heard ’round the world and officially kicked off the American Revolution.

The first battles.
The first resistance.
The first spark of a brand‑new nation.

Massachusetts didn’t just make history — we started it.

🍫 1765 — First Chocolate Factory… and the Cookies That Came Later

Long before Hershey dreamed up a chocolate bar, Dorchester was grinding cacao and running the first chocolate factory in America. Massachusetts was sipping hot chocolate while the rest of the colonies were still figuring out how to boil water.

And many years later, just down the road in Whitman, Ruth Wakefield would bake the very first Toll House cookies — the chocolate chip cookie that changed dessert forever.

Hot chocolate and fresh‑baked cookies.
Massachusetts really understood the assignment.

🏖 1896 — Revere Beach: First Public Beach in the U.S.

Revere Beach wasn’t just a place to swim — it was a radical idea: the shoreline should belong to everyone. America’s first public beach, right here in Massachusetts, proving once again that we don’t just make history… we make it accessible.

A detailed sand sculpture of the U.S.S. Constitution on Revere Beach, surrounded by carved crates and barrels, with beachgoers and the ocean in the background.

🚇 1897 — The Tremont Street Subway: First Subway in America

Boston didn’t just build a subway — it built the first subway in the United States. The Tremont Street Subway opened in 1897, whisking commuters underground while other cities were still arguing about horse‑drawn traffic.
Boston Transit-First in the Nation, Last to Arrive

🪒 1901 — Gillette’s Disposable Razor: A Shaving Revolution

King Camp Gillette wasn’t born a mogul — he was a traveling salesman with more ideas than money, always tinkering, always trying to solve everyday annoyances. One boss once suggested he invent something people would need to replace often — the kind of product that keeps customers coming back.

Gillette took that seed of an idea and turned it into a whole new way of shaving. Instead of sharpening the same blade forever, he imagined a razor with thin, inexpensive blades you could swap out and toss. Safe, simple, and endlessly replaceable.

It was the birth of the disposable razor — and honestly, the birth of the “use it, replace it, repeat” model long before today’s built‑in obsolescence became standard in everything from appliances to earbuds.

Gillette didn’t just change grooming.
He changed how America buys things.

📸 1948 — First Polaroid Camera Sold in Boston

Edwin Land unveiled his instant camera at Jordan Marsh, and when the photo developed right in people’s hands, the crowd gasped. Boston didn’t just witness the moment — it was the moment.

 

☕ 1950 — First Dunkin’

Our Dunkin’ addiction officially began in Quincy in 1950, when the very first shop opened its doors. Back then it was called Open Kettle, but the idea was the same: coffee, donuts, and a way of life.
Is it any wonder America runs on Dunkin.

And that’s the thing about Massachusetts…

We may not have been the first to arrive, but once we got moving, we became first in everything that mattered — from chocolate to coffee to beaches to botany to photography to shaving your face without slicing it open… and yes, even the Revolution.

We weren’t early.
We were excellent.