Initial Impressions 2.0 #5: Self-Checkout, Mutant B.O., Hidden Coyotes, etc.

 #5 Self-Checkout

1. I was at a self-checkout in a grocery store. All of the scanners were full and most of them needed some assistance including me. An older lady(70ish) was standing at the entrance to the self-checkout alcove holding only a newspaper. The employee in charge of that area repeatedly asked her to come over so she could get checked out before they went to assist with the rest of our checkout issues. For some reason, the older lady didn’t want to go over to the extra register. It ended up being like a person trying to feed a wild animal, coaxing it with food, before the employee finally gave up and flat out said in frustration ‘Why won’t you just come here?’ By the time I was finally helped all of the other people at the self-checkout had been helped and that older lady with the newspaper had also left before me.

2. Pulled in the driveway where I live after dark. The homeowners had just gotten home before me. As I walked from my car across the front yard they turned on the outside light. That was enough to light up a coyote standing twenty feet away next to a tree. Luckily my freaking out to get my keys scared it away, but if the lights hadn’t come on maybe I’d have been its chew toy.

Don't worry, it's just me.

3. Did you know there’s no such thing as a seagull? Growing up on Cape Cod I had always called the gray and white birds that live by the water (and dumpsters) seagulls. In fact, most people call them that. However in reality they are herring gulls and there is no such thing as a bird called a seagull. Crazy. Here’s its ID page: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Herring_Gull/id

4. It’s still amazing how much warmer 50 degrees in February feels as compared to 50 degrees in July. One day this week it was sunny and 55 on my way to work and all I thought as I stood on the beach was that I must really like my job because it was a perfect day to suddenly have a 24-hour bug.

Over 50 degrees at the beach on Cape Cod in February hits differently.

5. Had my first infrared sauna experience this week. 28 total minutes in 140-degree heat. I sweat buckets which basically meant I had tons of toxins I needed to get rid of. Also fun fact, my iPhone stayed with me in the sauna (intentionally) and didn’t blow up, so that’s a bonus.

Man it was hot inside that sauna.

6. Getting on the highway I was stuck behind a blue minivan with New York plates. The big issue came from the huge sheet of plywood on the roof. It definitely got a little wobbly the faster they drove. I didn’t want to end up in one of those Red Asphalt driver’s ed videos so I passed them before the plywood could fly through my windshield and pop my head off like a dandelion.

7. I found an old journal I kept during my time living in Las Vegas in 2000-01. It’s amazing to look back now at 46 to the daily thoughts from when I was 22-23 years old. Some problems were definitely not problems. Some obsessions made me laugh and shake my head. I’m about halfway through it and at times I feel like the narrator answering questions I was asking then. Overall a good trip down memory lane.

8. The latest ‘my life is like an episode of Seinfeld’ moment. Remember the guy with the terrible B.O. in Jerry’s car? Where the smell stayed long after the guy left? At the gym, there is a man whose B.O. pours out of him, even through a thick sweatshirt. It is so bad that the stink cloud hovers over the treadmill he uses long after he leaves. Like Jerry says it’s mutant B.O.

Only slightly exaggerating how bad the B.O. was

9. I finally bought myself a new Blender shaker bottle. They’re great for protein shakes and mixing other drinks for exercise, etc. Anyway, I don’t know what the lifespan is on those bottles but I believe that the one I just threw away I had for 12-13 years. Is that too long? If it is let me tell you about a few gym towels I have that are about the same age.

10. Have you ever not heard a song for many many years and then you listen to it and it instantly puts your mind back to where you were when you were listening to it a lot? I had that happen the other night with a song from the band Live. I hadn’t heard the song in well over 15 years but as soon as it started playing my brain went back to 1997 and the lyrics flooded my head. Music is so powerful.

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Charles Henry Davis and America's First Traffic Circle: In Their Footsteps

     It goes by many names, rotary, traffic circle, or roundabout. Whatever it is called it is a common part of daily life not only on Cape Cod but all across the globe. As of 2022, according to Lee Rodegerdt's book Roundabouts: An Informal Guide, there were roughly 9,860 rotaries, traffic circles, and traffic-calming circles spread across America with Florida having the highest number. For as commonplace as these are today they had to start somewhere and that somewhere was Cape Cod and more specifically South Yarmouth. The man behind America’s first rotary was Charles Henry Davis, a man with deep connections to Cape Cod as well. 

America's first traffic circle at River and Pleasant Street in South Yarmouth, MA

     Davis was born in 1865 and lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as a child. His father and grandfather were both involved in road construction which led to him later in his life becoming co-founder of the National Highways Association in 1911 along with Coleman DuPont. The first initiative of this organization was to publish a map of a 50,000-mile National Highways network for the country. It also began the system of numbering major state roads as can be seen all across America.

     Davis moved to South Yarmouth in 1902. He amassed quite a large fortune in the early years of the 20th century. This came about as his family owned several plots of land in the coalfield area of Harlan County in southeastern Kentucky. Davis bought up all of these plots as well as several pieces intertwined through these plots. This meant that he owned most of Harlan County as well as having the rights to its coal and lumber. He created the Ketenia Mining Company. 

Charles Henry Davis(Federal Highway Association)

    These land holdings proved valuable to Henry Ford the visionary automobile entrepreneur who was looking for a way to produce an affordable vehicle. Davis leased the entire Ketenia properties to Ford for ten years. Ford did all of the mining and provided Davis with a set price per carload of coal as well as a set royalty on each car Ford sold. This contract provided Davis with a mass of wealth that he put to good use. 

     Shortly after coming to the Cape Davis purchased land surrounding Bass River. At the intersection of River and Pleasant Streets in the South Yarmouth village of Bass River, he created two things to cement his legacy here. The first was his home. 

     Davis purchased a piece of property containing three old Cape-style houses and a barn. These buildings were connected into one forming a larger estate. Years later, after his six daughters were born, Davis added a sleeping porch and a runway to the already massive home. This made the house a complete square with a courtyard in the middle. It was known as the House of Seven Chimneys. Though it did have seven chimneys the home in its entirety had at least twice that number of actual open fireplaces. It also had 217 windows and 17 front doors.

House of Seven Chimneys in the early 1900s.(Historical Society of Old Yarmouth)

     The House of Seven Chimneys was a unique and highly spoken-of property. It was featured in House and Gardens Magazine four times in the span of a year between 1908-1909. The compound had no electricity. However, it did have a cellar with furnaces and water heaters that ran under the entirety of the buildings. This was affectionately referred to as the ‘Bass River Subway.’

     The second piece of Davis’ legacy which exists in Bass River is America’s first traffic circle. It was originally an old brick watering trough but was transformed by Davis to help handle traffic in the area. The signage denoting which road one is traveling on still stands today, however, the three ship lanterns which originally hung there to act as makeshift traffic lights were vandalized and have long since been removed. The rotary was known as the National Highways Circle paying homage to Davis’ role in the National Highways Association.

     Despite having set up deep roots on Cape Cod, Davis did not stay put for long periods. He chose to travel extensively around the country in his Hudson automobile. This was decorated with forty-eight license plates, one for every state in the Union at the time, each with the plate number ‘25.’

     Charles Henry Davis’ legacy on Cape Cod extends far beyond his estate and the country’s first rotary. In 1928 he constructed Ship Shops Marina, originally at the foot of his estate along Bass River. It now operates a half-mile north along Bass River on Pleasant Street. 

     Just across the river, the popular West Dennis Beach is named Davis Beach in honor of the man. He owned the entire property and sold it to the town for $50,000($589,900 in 2024) just before he died in 1951. He also purchased the Bass River Golf Course in 1946. In the 1920s it doubled as a dairy farm with cows roaming the links, though fenced in somewhat to keep them off the fairways and greens. At one point in time, Davis could walk from Nantucket Sound to Cape Cod Bay and never leave the property he owned. 

     Though not responsible for it, Davis was one of the first to propose a Mid-Cape highway. His proposed route along the ‘crest’ of the peninsula was not far removed from where the highway was eventually laid out. 

     In 1947 he proposed that one of the cornerstones of the new United Nations building be from Cape Cod, Debs Hill in South Yarmouth specifically. The sixty-ton boulder on the property of Fannie Holloway took more than two months to unearth and was not used for the project with then-Mayor of New York City William O’Dwyer saying that if the stone was brought to the city he’d have it dumped in the East River. Instead it today sits appropriately at a traffic circle inside the New Seabury development in Mashpee.

Davis' boulder at New Seabury.(Google Maps)

     Davis died on June 3, 1951, in New York City at the age of eighty-six after two years of failing health. He left behind a huge legacy not only on Cape Cod but in the country as well. His contributions to the Cape are numerous yet slightly below the surface. Whether circumnavigating America’s first rotary in South Yarmouth, walking the sandy shores of West Dennis Beach, or driving any of the numbered routes across the United States Charles Henry Davis’ impact is difficult to ignore. 

 

In Their Footsteps: Cape Cod History - The Story of Mid-Cape Highway Exit 6 1/2

    Cape Cod in the summer can be a slog when it comes to travel. Even on the most picture-perfect days weather-wise the man roads of Rt. 28, Rt. 132, and especially Rt. 6, can be choked with vehicles all looking to visit the same locations.

    In the current era where GPS is common even the side-roads that used to take locals away from the crowds are not of as much use. What can be done to alleviate the traffic jams? Unfortunately not much. Route 28, Route 132, and the like are set in stone. As far as Route 6 goes, it’s not as if new exits can just be created to break up traffic jams. Or can they?

    For decades the idea to do just that was a major talking point in the Mid-Cape area. The ultimate goal of developing a new exit along the highway has come close to fruition several times. Though not currently in existence it is not far from the minds of those longtime Cape Codders who look for ways to avoid the crush of summer traffic. This is the story of the elusive Exit 6 ½.

What Exit 6 1/2 could have looked like.

    The story of Exit 6 ½ is intertwined with the history of Hyannis’ Independence Park. Located in between Rt. 132 and Mary Dunn Road, the industrial park was originally 680-acres of highly sought after land. It began its life as Parkland Properties owned by Paul Lorusso in the early 1960’s.

    Lorusso, who had risen to prominence on Cape Cod in the 1950’s by creating affordable housing for World War II veterans, had to battle for a decade to get Parkland Properties to officially open as Independence Park in 1975. The first official tenant of the property was Marken Brothers grocers wholesale outlet.

    More and more businesses opened up in, or moved to, Independence Park. Being somewhat quieter nearly a half century ago it was only natural that Lorusso would look for ways to increase vehicle traffic through the enormous industrial park. This is where Exit 6 ½ first comes to life.

    The first idea Lorusso had to bring more eyes to Independence Park was via extending Old Townhouse Road in West Yarmouth. In 1975 the road ended at an intersection with West Yarmouth Road. Lorusso had the thought to extend Old Townhouse Road west nearly three miles. It would intersect Higgins Crowell Road and ultimately end up connecting to Mary Dunn Road which abutted Independence Park. In an attempt to push the project through Lorusso even offered to have his company foot the bill for the road extension. This would have cost Lorusso an estimated $800,000($4.27 million in 2022).

    In early 1979 local newspapers ran stories about ways to alleviate the increasing traffic in and around the Mid-Cape. In addition to mentioning the extension of Old Townhouse Road again the story mentioned the creation of a new highway interchange between Exits 6 and 7 on the Mid-Cape Highway. Preliminary specs called for the so-called ‘Exit 6 ½’ to be constructed at the Mary Dunn Road overpass.

    Paul Lorusso was a big proponent of the new interchange as it would shepherd vehicles right through Independence Park. The fact that it was being mentioned as being mostly state and federally funded made it an even better idea. Concrete plans for a new exit went slowly with potential water quality issues around the interchange becoming a major sticking point.

    In 1981 the Old Townhouse Road rumor sparked back up. When nothing came from it this time it was shelved. A few years later it was decided to use the open space to create the Bayberry Hills Golf Course which opened in 1986.

    A study in 1983 showed there were an average of 30,000 vehicles per day in the summer passing in the vicinity of the Barnstable Airport. The data was there that something was needed to give at least a little relief to the traffic. Momentum seemed to be rising when in 1984 rumors started to swirl of plans to build a new hospital in Hyannis. This was seen as a perfect fit for Independence Park. The addition of the hospital on the grounds could make the creation of Exit 6 ½ a little easier. At the time at least one person interviewed in the newspaper felt confident that at least one next exit would be created for the Mid-Cape Highway within the coming decade.

    None of those plans came to fruition and the chatter about Exit 6 ½ quieted down. It bubbled back up in 1992 this time with an idea to remove the Airport Rotary as well. Then-Massachusetts State Representative John Klimm wished to have plans for the maligned highway interchange drawn up to potentially be included in a major state transportation bond bill in 1993. In August 1993 the Barnstable Town Council finally endorsed the creation of Exit 6 ½. A major hurdle had been crossed.

    It was rumored that even with state funding that taking the interchange from planning to finished product could take as long as ten years. The rejection of a proposed Sam’s Club store in Independence Park in February 1994 was an ominous sign for Exit 6 ½. Despite that one million dollars was set aside in the state transportation bond bill for design studies and environmental impact studies surrounding the proposed new highway exit.

The Exit 6 1/2 plans from 1998(Barnstable Patriot Archives)

    Plans changed when in June 1994 the state purchased 357 acres of undeveloped land that was part of Independence Park via eminent domain for $5.2 million. This land was to be protected and threw a huge monkey wrench into where a potential Exit 6 ½ could realistically be built.

    A feasibility study was conducted in 1995 and public support was sought. Besides the potential environmental concerns those who lived along Mary Dunn Road and the surrounding neighborhoods felt the new interchange would add traffic to their relatively rural area. Talks would heat up and cool down over the next several years. Alternative locations for the exit were discussed as well as other ways to alleviate the thick traffic along Rt. 132.

    Finally in March 1998 an official design for Exit 6 ½ was approved by the Massachusetts Highway Department. It was all systems go. Or so it seemed. Years passed and no movement was made on Exit 6 ½. It remained stalled in the planning stages. By 2002 focus had shifted to widening Rt. 132 and talk of Exit 6 ½ slowly faded away.

    Twenty years after talk of Exit 6 ½ faded into the background traffic in Hyannis, and on Cape Cod in general, in the summer has only increased. In a report from the Cape Cod Commission, in 2018 the total number of vehicles crossing the Bourne and Sagamore bridges on an average day was 131,583. With traffic woes as prevalent as ever perhaps the talk of a potential Exit 6 ½ will bubble to the surface again sometime in the near future.

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Previous Blog Posts:

Cape Cod History - West Barnstable Brick Company

Cape Cod History - Charles Megathlin's Drug Store

Be sure to check out my website: Christopher Setterlund.com

Zazzle Store: Cape Cod Living

In Their Footsteps: Cape Cod History - The Story of Route 6's 'Suicide Alley'

 

The Mid-Cape Highway, known as Route 6, extends 63 miles across Cape Cod from the foot of the Sagamore Bridge to Herring Cove Beach in Provincetown. It passes through every town on Cape Cod except for Falmouth, Mashpee, and Chatham. First designated in 1926 this road has been consistently improved and redeveloped over the subsequent century. It is now the main highway and busiest road on the Cape.

Throughout its lengthening and widening, eventually connecting the entirety of Cape Cod Route 6 has remained a quite normal highway. It is a double-barreled road from Sandwich to Dennis, while becoming more of a traditional surface road between Eastham and Provincetown. However there is one section of Route 6 that has become a world unto its own. This 13-mile section connects Dennis to Orleans and has been witness to an unusually high number of fatal auto accidents. So much so that this section of road has had its own unique and chilling nickname. It is known by locals as 'Suicide Alley.'

This section of Route 6, extending the highway to the Orleans Rotary, was initially completed in 1959. In 1954 the highway was widened from two to four lanes up to Hyannis, it took until 1971 for it to be widened to four lanes into Dennis. However that was where the widening stopped. The section between Dennis and Orleans remained two lanes, one in each direction, and has right up until the current day.

The Mid-Cape Highway in the 1950's.(Sturgis Library)

Initially this two-lane highway maintained the 55mph speed limit of the rest of Route 6 up to that point. To allow faster traveling vehicles an easier time 22 passing zones were also included on this part of the road, meaning it was possible for passing vehicles to be face to face with those coming in the opposite direction. Likely sensing impending doom the Massachusetts Department of Public Works discussed plans to widen Route 6 to four lanes all the way into Orleans. However environmental concerns halted these talks by 1974. The proposed widening would impact some wetlands, several ponds, and potentially town drinking water. The state did lower the speed limit from 55 to 50mph in 1974. This did little to slow the increasing rash of severe accidents.

It was not until the late 1970's that this part of the highway got its morbid nickname. First seen in a printed capacity in 1979 'Suicide Alley' was bestowed upon the 13-miles of road. This was due to the high number of fatal vehicle accidents. Between 1973-1979 alone there were 17 deaths and 174 injuries along Suicide Alley. It was easy to understand why as the two lanes had hardly any separation between them with vehicles commonly traveling far above the posted 50mph speed limit. This was a cramped section of road where on an off-season day the highway can see upwards of 55,000 vehicles. It only exacerbated in the summer when those numbers could easily double. Traffic jams heading west on summer days are frustratingly normal even to this day.

In 1979 there were renewed talks over widening Route 6. The environmental concerns were raised again though the idea of getting the towns involved (Dennis, Harwich, Brewster, and Orleans) on the same page seemed to be just as difficult. It was said at the time that a 'united front' would help get the project funded. By 1981 again talks had quieted down. Instead locals gave ideas on how to make Suicide Alley safer without widening it. Some of these included traffic lights at all on ramps and a concrete barrier along the entire stretch of road. The barrier was also nixed due to environmental concerns.

An interesting note on Suicide Alley was the fact that despite the fatalities along it being higher than the state average for highways, the number of accidents in general was lower. In the mid-1980's some state police officers referred to the Dennis to Orleans section of highway as the most dangerous road in Massachusetts.

'Suicide Alley' in Brewster c.2005

An environmental impact study was green-lighted in January 1986 with a Route 6 task force suggesting again to widen the highway to four lanes in September 1986. In addition to the environmental worries some locals theorized that a wider Suicide Alley could lead to a faster development of the areas it passed through. This time though the project actually gained steam. By the end of the 1980's 36 people had died on the road in the previous two decades. The tipping point was the horrific accident in April 1989 when Brewster mother Lois Ann Scholomiti and her 2 children died in a head-on collision with a truck.

In an attempt to appease all sides a $7 million($13.7 million in 2021) project was completed in 1991. A three-foot wide berm(artificial embankment) and three-foot tall reflectors were added for the entirety of Suicide Alley. The passing zones were also removed and the two lanes slightly widened. Despite these safety improvements the talk of making the road four-lanes remained and had its closest pass to date in 1994.

The Massachusetts Highway Department submitted three proposals for the maligned Suicide Alley. They all included some form of widening the road, though each with different end points of said widening. A 'full-build' to the Orleans Rotary was estimated to cost $45 million ($81 million in 2021). The project even had design plans drawn up by the Highway Department. In the nearly 3 decades since though the project has never moved beyond design plans and speculation. It must be said though that the two Cape Cod Rail Trail bridges over the highway in the years since have left room for the addition of more lanes.

The proposed changes to Suicide Alley in 1994(Mass. Highway Dept.)

For more than 40 years a 13-mile section of Cape Cod highway has been alternatively known as 'Suicide Alley' by locals. Is the name justified? There are drivers and police alike who say it is not. The Bourne Scenic Highway is one such road seen as more dangerous than Suicide Alley. According to a study by the Cape Cod Commission in 2004 the crash rate on Route 6 in Eastham is the highest, nearly triple any other section of the road, including Suicide Alley.

Those safety measures implemented in 1991 have reduced the accident rates on the road. However the rumblings of extending the four-lane Route 6 all the way to Orleans are always just below the surface. Anytime a terrible accident occurs, or a several-mile traffic backup occurs in the summer, those talks will again come bubbling up. Until it is officially no longer two lanes 'Suicide Alley' will maintain its name among locals, even if it has not been truly fitting in three decades.

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Previous Blog Posts:

In Their Footsteps: Cape Cod History - How Mashnee Island Became A Village

Child of the 1980's - Introduction to Music

Be sure to check out my website: Christopher Setterlund.com

Zazzle Store: Cape Cod Living