Editing Eastham, Massachusetts (section)

==History==
Originally inhabited by the [[Nauset]] tribe, Eastham was the site of the 1620 landing of a hunting party from the sailing vessel ''[[Mayflower]]'', which had stopped in [[Provincetown, Massachusetts|Provincetown]] harbor on Cape Cod Bay after a rough crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. This led to the first encounter of the [[Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony)|Pilgrims]] with the local Nauset people at what became known as First Encounter Beach. The area would not be settled by Europeans, however, until 1644. The original lands included what are now the towns of [[Truro, Massachusetts|Truro]], [[Wellfleet, Massachusetts|Wellfleet]], Eastham, [[Orleans, Massachusetts|Orleans]] and a small portion of [[Chatham, Massachusetts|Chatham]]. Eastham town was officially incorporated in 1651.

Eastham is the birthplace of Freeman Hatch, who in 1853 set the world record for a single-hull wooden sailing vessel from [[San Francisco]] around [[Cape Horn]] to [[Boston]] at the helm of the clipper ship ''[[Northern Light (clipper)|Northern Light]]''. Fishing and especially farming were early industries in the town, and writers and artists also came to the town. [[Gustavus Franklin Swift]], born in [[Sagamore, MA]], began his first meatpacking business in Eastham. It later moved to [[Brighton, MA]], [[Albany, NY]], and eventually started the meatpacking industry in [[Union Stock Yards|Chicago]].  It was in Eastham that [[Henry Beston]] wrote ''[[The Outermost House]].'' The town is discussed at some length in [[Henry David Thoreau]]'s ''Cape Cod'' as the somewhat rugged site of one of New England's largest summer "[[camp-meeting]]" evangelistic gatherings in the mid-19th century. The gatherings were at times attended by at least "one hundred and fifty ministers (!) and five thousand hearers" at a site called Millennium Grove, in the northwest part of town. (The area is now a residential neighborhood, among the only reminders being Campground Road and Millennium Lane.)

Today, Eastham is known as the "Gateway” to the [[Cape Cod National Seashore]],<ref>''Discover Eastham, Gateway to the National Seashore.'' https://www.eastham-ma.gov/discover-eastham/pages/gateway-national-seashore {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200520194918/https://www.eastham-ma.gov/discover-eastham/pages/gateway-national-seashore |date=May 20, 2020 }}</ref> which was founded in 1961 by President [[John F. Kennedy]] to protect Cape Cod's coast from erosion and overpopulation. The town is the site of many beaches, both on the Atlantic and on Cape Cod Bay, as well as the [[Nauset Light]], which was moved to the town in 1923 from its former location in [[Chatham, Massachusetts|Chatham]], and the Three Sisters Lighthouses, which have since been moved away from their now-eroded perches on the coast to a field just west of Nauset Light.<ref>''Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Street Atlas.'' South Easton, MA: Arrow Books Inc., 2004, p. 43.</ref>