Celebrate the History of Cape Cod Canal

MT. PLEASANT, S.C. - Sept. 13, 2013 - PRLog -- The newest addition to Arcadia Publishing’s popular Images of America series is Cape Cod Canal by Timothy T. Orwig for Historic New England. The book boasts more than 200 vintage images of the canal throughout its history.

For centuries, the shoals and high winds around Cape Cod turned its waters into a ships’ graveyard. In 1623, Miles Standish proposed a shorter, safer passage by building a canal linking Cape Cod Bay with Buzzards Bay and in 1776 George Washington ordered the first of many surveys. All attempts failed until 1914, when the Cape Cod Canal opened as a private toll canal.

The widest sea-level canal in the world, the Cape Cod Canal continues to be an engineering marvel, a vital shipping link and a summer destination. These rare images from the Nina Heald Webber Collection at Historic New England survey the canal’s development from unsuccessful building efforts in the 1800s, through its 1909–1914 construction and subsequent improvements in the 1930s.

Highlights of Cape Cod Canal include:
•   The book comprised of many never before published images, is a way to pay tribute to the Cape Cod Canal and its centennial anniversary in 2014.
•   The vintage images throughout the book illustrate important chapters in America’s engineering, maritime and railroad histories.
•   Discusses how the canal made safer travel possible in an area where thousands of vessels had shipwrecked.
•   Celebrates the engineering marvel of Cape Cod Canal and its status as the widest sea-level canal in the world.

Available at area bookstores, independent retailers, and online retailers, or through Arcadia Publishing at (888)-313-2665 or online.  

Arcadia Publishing is the leading publisher of local and regional history in the United States.  Our mission is to make history accessible and meaningful through the publication of books on the heritage of America’s people and places.  Have we done a book on your town?  Visit www.arcadiapublishing.com.