ct it from all of the dangers that a shack on the beach might face. The move actually changed the direction Fo'castle faced. This was something Beston noticed upon a later visit to the shack as he quipped that somebody had 'moved the ocean.'
|Henry Beston (Henry Beston Society)|
Though he grew distant from Cape Cod in his later years Beston remained important. He wrote the introduction for the 300th anniversary of the incorporation of his second home Eastham in 1951. The Outermost House author might have become settled in Maine but the shack itself remained. For those heading along Rt. 6 through Eastham one could lay eyes on Fo'castle out on the sandy spit in a clearing near the Eastham Town Hall.
Beston retained ownership of the Outermost House throughout the 1950's. Though he was rarely there he allowed friends to stay there and bask in some of the inspiration he had relished. In 1959 he donated the shack and the fifty acres he owned to the Massachusetts Audubon Society. The nonprofit organization began renting the famed beach cottage to bird watchers among others. It is believed that Beston's donation and the general importance of The Outermost House and Fo'castle itself may have helped to spur on the creation of the Cape Cod National Seashore.
The Seashore was created in 1961. Three years later in 1964 Fo'castle was designated a national literary monument by the United States Government. That same year on October 11, 1964 was Henry Beston Day at the Seashore in conjunction with the Audubon Society, National Park Service, and Massachusetts Governor Endicott Peabody. The ceremony was a success with a parade of beach buggies driving guests out to the shack. There would be an interpretive trail-side exhibit in the area surrounding the Outermost House for those venturing out to see it. It was a fitting tribute to a man that had put the natural beauty and wonder of Cape Cod on display for all of the world to read. This ended up being Henry Beston's last trip to the Cape.
Beston died April 15, 1968 at his home in Nobleboro, Maine only a few weeks shy of his 80th birthday. His death sparked renewed interest in The Outermost House the book and shack. People traversed the Great Beach to gaze upon the inspiration for Beston's greatest work. Though erosion had been its greatest threat it was something totally unforeseen that spelled the end of Fo'castle.
Between February 6-7, 1978 one of the most historic blizzards in New England history caught the region mostly by surprise. It was snow that covered most of the region, however it was wind and storm surge that affected Cape Cod. The high tide of 16-feet tore through the Outer Cape, briefly making the area north of Fort Hill in Eastham an island. Coast Guard Beach in Eastham was decimated. The vast 350-space parking lot collapsed forever changing the landscape of one of the Cape's most popular beaches. South of the Coast Guard station Fo'castle was pulled into the ocean by the raging waves. It was pushed back into the marsh and eventually torn to pieces.
The Outermost House was claimed by the very sea that Henry Beston romanticized in his book. Today there are no remains of the shack on the sandy spit south of Eastham's Coast Guard station. Since 1969 the beach has lost over 300-feet of shoreline making the Outermost House's original resting place under water now.
Despite the changing shoreline due to erosion the solitude of the beaches on the Outer Cape are still soothing. They are a tremendous reminder of a simpler time on Cape Cod and in the world. They are also a reminder of how small we as humans are in this world. Henry Beston captured much of the allure and spirit in the Outermost House. Luckily one can still enjoy the expanse of sand and sea even if Fo'castle itself is all but a memory.
In Their Footsteps: Cape Cod History - Bill Cox's Sea Grill
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