Cape Cod Canal from the Bourne Side

Bourne Bridge (note the heavy traffic headed on Cape).

There are 3 vista points along the Scenic Highway in Bourne.  In all the years I lived here, I'd never stopped at any of them before. 

No locks required in the Canal.

Sagamore Bridge.

Tons of powerlines to carry the hydroelectric power from the Mirant Plant in Sandwich (formerly known as Canal Electric).

These two windmills just went up on the edge of the Massachusetts Military Reservation.

Sagamore Bridge

You can walk and bike along both sides, from one end to the other.

Hy-Line offers Cape Cod Canal Cruises, which leave from Onset and travel to the other end in Sandwich, and back.  I haven't been since the 1980's.

I shot these the day I went to Scusset Beach.  Tug towing a barge out to the Bay.

Bay side entrance/exit to the Canal.  That's Town Neck Beach in Sandwich on the other side of the breakwater.

Looking back towards the power plant in Sandwich

I had planned on walking this breakwater to the end, but the jetty stones aren't placed in such a way that makes this an easy stroll.  I decided with my bad knees and ankles, I should play it safe, so I bailed on the idea.  

This is the view behind me, looking towards the parking lot for Scusset Beach.

Coast Guard Station Sandwich

My dad owned a boat for a brief period of time in the early 70's and this part of the Canal kind of scared me because it's always so choppy as all the currents meet along with the boat wakes.

When I was visiting in March, I shot a photo of a boat called "American Beauty".  This one is called "Terrapin".  Deadheads, methinks?

The weather was still warm, but there are signs of fall finally showing!

It's Big. It's Purple. And It's In My Yard.

One Friday afternoon last month, my sweetie decided it would be more prudent to bring his semi to the house, rather than go to Sandwich to drop it off and have to back track to over the bridge to our house.  Friday traffic on the Cape is a horror show. 

It practically towers over the house!

Buzzards Bay Railroad Bridge

More pics of the train bridge that lowers to let trains cross the Canal to get on and off Cape, taken on two different days.

Cape Cod Canal

The solid cement wall looking thing in the center is one of the counterweights that moves up the tower to let the deck down and up.

The bridge stays up to allow ship traffic to pass unimpeded, as there are way more boats than trains.

The gold emblem is the Army Corp of Engineers, who maintain the Canal and its bridges.

I checked the schedule for the Scenic Tour Train and discovered that the Bridge would be lowered around 11:30 in the morning, so I headed back down there to watch.  There goes the engineer, into the Bridge to start the process.

While I waited, I checked out the informational plaque.

I had no idea that there was a bridge that preceded this one, when the Canal was much narrower.

Finally, the warning horns sounded to alert ship traffic that the Bridge would begin it's descent to track level.  Here's a slideshow of the Bridge being lowered and then lifted.  Incidentally, no trains ever showed up in either direction so I didn't get to shoot a train crossing the Canal.  

Quintessentially Cape Cod

We live in the village of Buzzards Bay, in the Town of Bourne, Barnstable County.  On the west coast, you identify yourself by what county you live in, but here it's village first, then town.  I consider myself to have been raised in East Sandwich, my village in the Town of Sandwich.  There has always been debate about whether or not you are considered 'on Cape Cod', if you haven't crossed the bridge.  However, since Bourne straddles both sides of the Canal, and is part of Barnstable County, I have revised my opinion on this issue.

Bourne Bridge and Cape Cod Canal on a gorgeous August day.

Sadly the theatre was demolished years ago.  I saw "Jaws" here in the 70's.

Barlow's Clam Shack along the Scenic Highway, next to the Canal.

The expression "wicked good" originated in Massachusetts in the 1970's and spread to the rest of New England pretty quickly. 

A scrimshawed sperm whale at Barlow's

Have your photo taken as a boiled lobstah