![]() ![]() “It’s the simple thing of making sure you’re out in nature,” Demeo says. The younger generation carries on the same traditions as their parents-fishing, sailing, going to the Chatham Fish Pier to see the seals, playing Scrabble in the evenings. It is the place where ideas can begin, decisions can be made or life can be understood.” “It is a place of peace, contemplation, reflection and communion with the sea and all its power to heal. “These walks whether alone or with others center the mind and nurture the soul,” she writes. When she was young, her entire family would often walk the beach at low tide after dinner-a timeless pleasure. Much of the appeal of Demeo’s recollections in her book comes from the absence of today’s often-jangling technology: cell phones, the Internet, binging on Netflix. “To me this ritual, the passing on of treasured memories, of sustenance from one generation to the next is what bonds us to the sea to this place we call Cape Cod,” Demeo writes. First Demeo’s brother, then her son mastered this chowder recipe. An elderly man living in a cottage near the water in Dennis shared his chowder recipe with Demeo’s grandfather in the 1950s. It is important to her that the pleasures and skills acquired at the seashore are passed down through the generations. In her book, Demeo touches upon timeless activities as delightful today as they were over half a century ago when she first discovered them-flying kites, making sandcastles and beachcombing. We’ve always done that, even when young.” “We can see the water from the house,” Demeo says. Demeo’s mother is the member of the oldest generation. “I thought of other families-their stories may be the same.”įor two weeks each July, Demeo’s extended family, now with children ranging in age from five to 21, still rents a large house together in the Ocean Avenue neighborhood. “People pass away but the next generation carries on that tradition,” she says. “The skill that you learn strengthens you to your inner core,” she says.ĭuring the more than 30 years since they first began vacationing in Harwich Port, Demeo and her siblings have married and had children of their own. Eventually their father bought a larger boat, which Demeo’s brother now cares for. They also learned to sail in “a little Pelican” after paddling out of Saquatucket Harbor. ![]() She recalls their original landlord, who lived next door, would take them out fishing. Also waiting in Dennis were Demeo’s aunt and her cousins.Īfter Demeo’s grandfather died, the family began vacationing in Harwich Port. As the family approached the Cape Cod Canal, anticipation of the vacation mounted. ![]() She recalls that she packed her small flowered suitcase weeks before the trip. Setting out in the wood-trimmed station wagon were her parents, sister and two brothers. “I wrote the book to honor a place that has so many memories,” Demeo said during a recent telephone.ĭemeo, who grew up in Cheshire in the Berkshires, began vacationing in South Dennis at her grandparents’ house over 50 years ago. The short book is designed to help other visitors make their own memories in Harwich Port. ![]() Scholz Demeo’s mother used to say.ĭemeo, a member of a four-generation Cape Cod summer family, has published “Harwichport: Three Harbors, One Port: An Inspirational and Historical Guide to this Seaside Haven,” a 33-page valentine to Harwich Port. “Everything seems to taste better at the beach,” author Kristen H. ![]()
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