Fifteen years before the Pilgrims landed on Cape Cod, French explorer Samuel de Champlain sailed down the Atlantic coast from Canada in search of new lands. On July 20, 1605, he entered here what was then a shallow bay. He named it Port de Mallebarre, "port of dangerous shoals."
Surrounding the bay the explorers found the thatched houses of the Nauset Indians. Besides each house were fields planted with Indian corn, beans, squash, and tobacco. Unfortunately, an Indian stole one of the explorers' copper water kettles, and a sailor was killed in an ensuing skirmish.
The French did not settle here, but Champlain left us the first written descriptions of the land and people, and the first detailed map. The bay he called Mallebarre has since been transformed by the tides into today's Nauset Marsh and Harbor.
Comments 0 comments