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Community Corner

HENRY BESTON'S CAPE COD: INSPIRATION FOR A NATIONAL SEASHORE

Don Wilding, author and co-founder of the nonprofit Henry Beston Society on Cape Cod, will speak on Beston and his book, “The Outermost House,” written in 1927 after Beston spent a solitary year in a tiny cottage on Eastham’s outer beach.  Wilding’s presentation includes over 100 slides of the author and his famous cottage, telling how the Quincy native, still shaken by his experiences as an ambulance driver in France during World War I, took to writing fairy tales and eventually found the peace of mind he was looking for on Cape Cod’s outer beach. In doing so, he not only found himself as a writer, but his prose found its way into National Park Service reports about Cape Cod, which sealed its establishment as a national treasure.


 


Wilding published his own book, “Henry Beston’s Cape Cod,” in 2003, shortly after co-founding the nonprofit Beston Society with his wife, Nita.  He and the Society are now producing a documentary film about Beston’s story and his influence on the Cape Cod National Seashore, in association with filmmaker Christopher Seufert and Mooncusser Films of Chatham.  Wilding will be available to sign copies of his book and of the new DVD, “Henry Beston’s Cape Cod: Meditations of the Outer Beach.”  The DVD, a fundraiser for the documentary film project, includes samples of interviews and scenic footage that have been gathered so far.  For more information on the project, contact the Beston Society at 508-246-7242, or visit henrybeston.org.

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This talk is free, but registration is requested.

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