Where the Cape's environmental movement was born

The Whitlock home; another Seashore dereliction, now meant for demolition

Insult to injury: The birthplace of APCC, abandoned by the National Seashore

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If the saga of the little Kuhn house in Wellfleet (as told in the previous two Voices), slated for demolition by the Cape Cod National Seashore, is a failure of stewardship but a solo event, there would be a sense that hey, no bureaucracy is perfect, resources are finite, and sometimes sad one-offs happen.

But the Kuhn house is far from alone.

A decades-long strategy employed neglect as a management tool to slow-motion destroy structures in the Park, “let nature take its course.” Demolition becomes inevitable, ending generational responsibilities, eliminating vestiges of human activity that predated the Seashore – expressions its founding legislation promised to respect.

One concentrated example is “Highland Center,” a former Air Force base that served as a link in the nation’s Cold War early warning perimeter defense system against Soviet missile attack.

Once upon a time the base was a small town, scores of buildings housing servicemen, high-tech (for the time) equipment, a hopping bar, bowling alley and ballfield helping pass the time.

When the base closed and the Seashore assumed control, many buildings were still in decent shape and could have been repurposed; repeated local efforts advocated for affordable housing, community centers, or non-profit headquarters. While the Seashore refurbished a few structures, the sprawling base was left to rot — which happened with a vengeance.

The intent became clear:

Return to “nature” a fascinating remnant of American military history that existed long before the Park came into being in 1961, that some found worth preserving and repurposing.

Sporadic demolition continues.

But for irony and tragedy, another example resonates far more:

In Eastham, the Seashore maintains an area around “Doane Rock” with parking and hiking trails. The rock is named for a family who created a homestead in 1644, the site acknowledged with a sign.

Yards away, an abandoned home is inundated with crawling vines, windows smashed, tagged with spray paint, vandalized. The only Seashore acknowledgement is a warning to keep out.

This was the homestead of Herbert and Helen “Bobsie” Whitlock, built in 1961, like the Kuhn house a “modernist” design that the Seashore agreed qualified for the National Historic Register of Places.

The Park abandoned the home, allowing nature and people to destroy it, leaving no option now but demolition.

Here’s insult to injury:

This is where Cape Cod’s environmental movement was born.

The year was 1968, and the United States Army Corps of Engineers announced big plans:

A channel would be cut through Great Nauset Marsh from Eastham into Town Cove in Orleans. It would be 100 feet wide, 16 feet deep. Large vessels would traverse, oil barges and tow boats, piers and jetties constructed to facilitate access and industry.

A group gathered in the Whitlocks’ living room. It was a fitting place; large windows looked to Nauset Marsh, where the channel would cut.

They plotted community resistance.

Given the home’s overlook, it could be said this was a “not in my back yard” NIMBY effort. But the Army Corps’ vision was so far from what people saw as natural Cape Cod that this small group soon mobilized Cape-wide.

The Association for the Preservation of Cape Cod, APCC, was born in that living room, and membership grew into the thousands. The Army Corps was defeated, and APCC (name tweaked to the Association to Preserve Cape Cod) has come to champion many efforts: defining the Cape as a “sole source aquifer,” creating the Cape Cod Commission, pushing for environmental cleanup at the military base (and opposing a firing range), championing cleaner bays and ponds, standing in the way of dumping radioactive water into Cape Cod Bay.

The Whitlocks sold to the Seashore in 1973, with a lease-back to 2007. As recently as 2016, when Seashore interns celebrated the historic house, it was handsome, in decent shape. See for yourself:

With different federal leadership and priorities, the Whitlock house could have become a wonderful museum overlooking Nauset Marsh, accessible from Seashore parking and trails, embodying the Modern House expression while celebrating the genesis of the modern environmental movement.

Or perhaps it could have served as great workforce housing.

Instead it hulks, ruined, defiled, waiting to be leveled.

For all the ways we love the Cape Cod National Seashore, this piece of its history is worse than a black eye.

It’s a tragedy. And a travesty. See for yourself:

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