The Cape Coddah
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☀ P'town's forgotten winter harvest

☀ P'town's forgotten winter harvest

Plus: The Cape manufacturer making "wall jewelry."

Cape Coddah
February 07, 2025

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Good morning Cape Cod - this is The Cape Coddah. Are you routing for the Chiefs or Eagles on Sunday? Personally, we’d love it if both teams lost. 🏈

In this week’s Cape Coddah:

Farm to school cafeteria
Bay vs. mansion
Events and live music

Let’s get to it.

CAPE DIGEST

🧊 The Lost Trade of P'town's Winter Harvest

Before electric fridges changed everything, Provincetown's winter ponds buzzed with teams of men and horses harvesting massive ice blocks to keep the town's fish fresh and iceboxes cold.

For about 60 years, local entrepreneurs like Stephen Bennett and Marshall Adams turned Shank Painter Pond into a frozen goldmine, carefully cutting and storing thick slabs in sawdust-insulated warehouses that could keep ice frozen for up to two years. While fires and progress eventually melted away this crucial winter industry by the 1930s, the pond's quiet surface still holds memories of the Cape's ice age, when the first "crop" of the year was measured in frozen tons. Read the full story.

🍽️ Chef Brings Farm-Fresh Revolution to Lunch Trays

Falmouth's new community chef Laura Higgins-Baltzley is shaking up school lunches by turning cafeteria food into a lesson in local farming. Working with local farms and the school's own greenhouse program, she's getting kids to actually try things like kale and winter squash through "one-bite" taste tests where students can give honest thumbs up or down reviews.

The initiative, which partners with nearby farms like Coonamessett and Peachtree Circle, isn't just about better food - it's teaching students about sustainable farming and food access, with their tamale pie even snagging a state "terrific tray" award in January. Read the full story.

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⚓️ Inside Mass Maritime's New High-Tech Training Ship

Mass Maritime's shiny new training ship, the Patriot State, is giving 540 students a serious upgrade from the old Kennedy's steam engines and cramped quarters. The $300M vessel isn't your grandpa's training ship - it's decked out with dual bridges, digital navigation systems, and a massive roll-on deck that could help during disaster relief missions.

Students are diving into their six-week Sea Term voyage, where seniors run the show (under watchful staff eyes) as they island-hop from Puerto Rico to St. Thomas. It's a first for the academy too - after 130 years of hand-me-down ships, they've finally got a purpose-built vessel that's ready to train the next generation of merchant mariners. Read the full story.

@THECAPECODDAH

📸 @geegoestothecape | 📍 Cap’t Cass, Rock Harbor Seafood

Tag @thecapecoddah to get your photos in the Coddah!

🚧 Wellfleet's $5.5M Cliffhanger

A $5.5M beachfront house in Wellfleet is playing a dangerous game of chicken with Cape Cod Bay, and the bay's winning. After the original owners lost their fight to build a seawall, the property got flipped to a New York lawyer who sold it to CQN Salvage - and now nobody wants to foot the estimated $1M bill to tear it down.

Town officials are concerned because when (not if) this 5,100-square-foot mansion takes its final plunge, it could wreck the local oyster beds that put Wellfleet on the map. While rising sea levels aren't helping, experts say the bluffs have been retreating about 4-5 feet yearly, giving the house maybe three years before gravity takes over. Read the full story.

AROUND THE CAPE

Cape Cod Mall cinema plans 'Jaws' stage play in former movie theater as final act.

Brewster summer regular among victims in fatal DC plane crash.

Former Harwich kid who rose to Pfizer exec leaves $50M to prep school.

Dead birds keep washing up on Chatham beaches as bird flu concerns mount.

YMCA seals deal on Falmouth land for $35M mega-facility with pools, courts and teen center.

LOCAL BUSINESS

🕰️ Cape Manufacturer Still Ticking After 85 Years

Cape Cod Wind & Weather, the Cape's oldest continuously running manufacturer, got new life when owners Karl Ivester and Paul Vasil bought the joint last September - but kept the real treasures: master craftsmen Blair Nikula and Scott DeMacedo.

The West Harwich shop has been cranking out fancy weather instruments since 1939, with Nikula's surgeon-like precision turning tiny parts into elegant brass and nickel pieces that grace coastal homes up and down the Eastern seaboard. The new owners are jazzing things up by partnering with Cape Tech students and expanding their dealer network, which helped boost sales 50% in late 2024. Read the full story.

THE ISLANDS

20 wild turkeys found dead on MV, bird flu suspected as state issues warning.

Island hockey legends return to celebrate 25th anniversary of historic state championship win.

Vineyard Medical Center faces closure, leaving 1,000 islanders scrambling for healthcare.

Nantucket quahog predicts early spring, takes final shot at Punxsutawney Phil.

MV towns split on vacation rental rules as state eases ADU restrictions.

🫙 THE TIP JAR

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CIVIL NEWS

⚖️ Attempted Drowning Case Ends in 3-Year Probation

A Chatham 15-year-old who tried to drown a Black teen at Goose Pond last summer has been slapped with three years of probation and 723 hours of community service. The teen pleaded guilty to attempted murder after pulling the victim - who was wearing a life jacket and couldn't swim - underwater multiple times while another kid called him "George Floyd."

The judge warned that any slip-up before 2028 would land him in youth services until he turns 21, though his lawyer still claims the case was "manipulated" by the victim. Read the full story.

PET OF THE WEEK

👋 Meet: Jet
🐾 Black Mouth Cur
🎂 1 year old
♀︎ Male
Available to adopt at MSCPA-Cape Cod

WHAT’S HAPPENIN’

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

Fabric & Fiber Sale @ Woods Hole PL | 10 AM
The Curse of the Black Pearl @ Salt Pond Visitor Center | 1:30 PM
How I Became a Pirate @ CC Theatre Co | 2 PM
Nature, Sea & Sky @ Wellfleet Library | 3 PM

LIVE MUSIC 🎸

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

Bart Weisman Jazz Group @ Bleu | Hyannis | 12 PM
Tea Reception @ S. Harwich Meeting House | 2 PM
Mike Garavan Group @ Barley Neck | 2:30 PM

_{Nothing in this section is sponsored. We'll always let you know when something's sponsored.}

WEATHER

Friday

41 🌡️ 24 | 💨 | 💧0% | 💨 W 29 mph

Saturday

33 🌡️ 28 | 🌥️ | 💧 0% | 💨 W 7 mph

Sunday

35 🌡️ 18 | 🌨️ | 💧 75% | 💨 N 23 mph

💧🌡️ Water temperature = 34.3ºF

HOME OF THE WEEK

9 Wigwam Road, Falmouth
Asking $2.55M
4 🛌
3.5 🛀
4,097 square feet 
0.46 acre lot