Cuttyhunk Island
Posted By auntie on August 17, 2019
3.5 miles; Cuttyhunk Island, MA
I will admit to being a lifelong New Englander who has never been to any of the “Islands.” Never been to Nantucket or Martha’s Vineyard, and I always thought of Cuttyhunk as being halfway to Portugal. Turns out, not so much. It was a short ferry ride from New Bedford, and this hike was a brilliant stroll around this lovely little island in the Elizabeth Island chain with some friends and my beloved sister-in-law and niece.
Beach Roses
The road from the ferry was lined with beach roses on both sides, and a lot of them had ripened to rose hips. More on this later.
Joe’s Pyramid
I have no idea of the significance of this. Joe, apparently, gets around, because his name shows up in other places, too. But the mystery of its naming aside, it’s pretty neat.
Photo Opps Aplenty
It was an overcast day, but the clouds added to the atmosphere, and we all got plenty of good photos!
Yeah, Cell Coverage Wasn’t Bad
This is my niece doing what she does. The cellphone coverage was actually pretty good, considering we were on an island of 580 acres outermost in the Elizabeth Island chain in Buzzard’s Bay with all of 52 (as of the 2000 census) permanent residents.
Cemetery
The cemetery, as most are, is poignant. “Lost at Sea.”
Turtle Rock
It seemed there was some kind of art competition at some point to make interesting painted rocks, and this was my favorite.
Old Stone Tower
This is probably as far as we got from the ferry landing. I forget what this tower was once a part of… some sort of foundry? Dunno. But it makes a nice exclamation point on the sky line.
Police Station
Back in town we noticed this little shack which was, apparently, the police station and harbor master’s office. Note the Police Golf Cart. Golf carts are the primary mode of transportation on the island, and we saw an awful lot of squashed frogs on the roads. Gotta wonder about the evolutionary fitness of frogs that can’t escape golf carts….
Okay, so about the rose hips. I fancy myself not a bad canner and preserver and maker of jams and jellies, and since there were so very many red rose hips in the bushes beside the road to the ferry, on the way back I enlisted everyone in collecting them. My plan was to make “commemorative rose hip jelly” to share.
Turns out, there is such a thing as “Instant Pectin,” which is different from “Pectin.” Unfortunately, they come in very similarly colored jars (orange and reddish-orange), and I did not notice that I had bought and used the wrong kind. All of our painstaking collecting work was for naught. It seems Instant Pectin breaks down when heat is applied. It is strictly for use in making freezer jam. Alas.
You can find out more about getting to Cuttyhunk Island from this website. Just for planning purposes, there really aren’t any sit-down restaurants or bars on the island, but you can grab an amazing freshly-made fish taco or lobster roll on the pier not far from the ferry landing. There’s also a little general store with assorted snacks. As always, click the image above for details about this hike and to download the gps track.
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