John Hay (nature writer)

John Hay (August 31, 1915, Ipswich, Massachusetts – February 26, 2011, Bremen, Maine) was an American author, naturalist, and conservation activist. Hay co-founded the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History in Brewster, Massachusetts and served as its president from 1955 to 1980. He composed 18 books from his "writing shack" on Dry Hill at his home in Brewster, Massachusetts, including two autobiographies, "A beginner's faith in things unseen" (1995) and "Mind the Gap: The Education of a Nature Writer." (2004).
Hay was born in Ipswich, Massachusetts in 1915 and grew up in New York City. His grandfather was Secretary of State John Milton Hay. He attended Harvard University and served in the army during World War II. During most of his career, he lived in Brewster, Massachusetts and Bremen, Maine, and he worked on conservation in the northeast. In 1955, he helped co-found the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History and served as its president from 1955 to 1980. He later served on the Brewster Conservation Commission, where he worked on conservation of the town's salt marshes.