Monomoy Point Lighthouse

Monomoy point off Cape Cod is the visible product of the tidal conflicts between the ragged Atlantic Ocean and the gentler Nantucket Sound. What land is carved from Chatham or Nauset,often in large chunks during a winter nor'easter, becomes part of Monomoy, stretching for over eight miles south from Chatham. Captain Bartholomew Gosnold, who named Cape Cod for the fish he caught there in great profusion, visited this sand spit in 1602. Four years later Champlain arrived, ran afoul of both the Indians and the shoals, and named the point Cap Mallebarre. The Mayflower, en route the Virginia area, became entangled in the shoals and tiderips on November 9, 1620 and turned back into Cape Cod Bay. In a very real sense Plymouth was settled because of these shoals.