America the Beautiful
Katharine Lee Bates, the author of the poem "America the Beautiful," was born right here on Cape Cod, on Main Street in Falmouth in 1859. If you ever come to visit the Cape, you can find out more about Miss Bates's life at the Falmouth Historical Association's Museums on the Green, a lovely grouping of sea captains' homes and gardens overlooking the town green where militia men paraded during the Revolutionary War.
Falmouth revers Miss Bates; the beautiful Falmouth Public Library is located on Katharine Lee Bates Road, and one of the most popular sites in town is named after a line from her most famous poem.
The Shining Sea Bike and Walking Path follows the coast from downtown Falmouth to Woods Hole, skirting the harbor. It continues through a shady, tree-lined walkway, then passes through cranberry bogs, ponds and woods. Closer to the coastline, you emerge along the water, where you can see ferries making their way across the ocean to Martha's Vineyard. A few miles later, the path reaches the harbor at Woods Hole, where you can stop to browse the shops and Oceanographic buildings and have a cold drink or cup of espresso at Coffee Obsession. On a nice day, the path is filled with the friendly bustle of walkers, skaters and bicyclists, and you can rest at benches and small bridge vistas along the way. My mother, sisters and I love nothing more than taking this walk together, and, if ever pressed, I'd chose Shining Sea as my favorite part of Cape Cod.
America the Beautiful
Words by Katharine Lee Bates,
Melody by Samuel Ward
O beautiful for spacious skies, Melody by Samuel Ward
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare of freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!
O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!
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ciao, ho appena scoperto il tuo blog e ne sono molto felice. adesso mi trovo a kingston nel ri ma fino a tre giorni fa ero a cape cod per la nostra vacanza americana. ho scoperto che cape cod e' bellissimo. lo abbiamo visitato quasi tutto ed e' tutto meraviglioso. abbiamo dormito a orleans e ci e' piaciuta tantissimo. complimenti per il tuo blog. ti leggero' ancora.
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