Fabulous Fort Hill: HCT and Eastham Conservation Foundation team up for hike

Does Fort Hill in Eastham have the most beautiful views on Cape Cod? It’s gotta be on the short list!

Lupines in bloom at Fort Hill in Eastham. 

The National Park Service property offers a cornucopia of stunning ocean and marsh vistas, wide-open fields, busy wildlife and a deep connection to people that goes back thousands of years. Oh, and this time of year, the legendary lupines are in bloom!

This magical spot was the setting for a recent history walk, co-sponsored by Harwich Conservation Trust (HCT) and Eastham Conservation Foundation (ECF), and led by Cape hiking expert Mark McGrath. He was joined by Bob Cook, a retired Cape Cod National Seashore wildlife ecologist and ECF Board Member. 

The dynamic duo covered all the bases, and participants were treated to the best combo platter around: a sensational walk under sunny skies, seasoned with expert insight.

We assembled in the lower parking lot and were greeted by Henry Lind, ECF’s Board President. “I hope you’ll enjoy the walk and it’s certainly a perfect day for it,” said Lind, who then added the always-appropriate Cape Cod advice. “Make sure you check for ticks when you get home.”

A lucky helicopter tour

Henry Lind, President of the Board of Directors of the Eastham Conservation Foundation, greets walk participants at Fort Hill in Eastham. Photo by Stanley Selkow

Then, we ascended the hill to the upper parking lot, where we were greeted by a thrilling view. Open fields stretched toward Nauset Marsh, and beyond, the mighty Atlantic crashed onto the barrier beach. Plein air artists were capturing the incredible purple of lupines in bloom, backed by the blue of the sea. We paused and drank in the sweet elixir of natural beauty.

“Thank you, National Park Service, for preserving a place like this, so we can all enjoy it,” said McGrath.

But the Fort Hill area wasn’t originally included in plans for the Cape Cod National Seashore, added McGrath, who then told the famous helicopter story about how this land came to be saved.

According to a National Park Service cultural landscape report, the addition of Fort Hill to the Seashore’s footprint stemmed from a 1961 aerial tour for members of Congress, organized by Francis Burling, then the managing editor of the Cape Codder newspaper.

Burling, a Seashore advocate, arranged to have the helicopter land on Fort Hill, where the members of Congress saw stakes marking the future location of a proposed housing subdivision. According to the cultural landscape report, this did not sit well with the congressional visitors, and led to the Fort Hill area being included within the park’s boundary.

How the land stays open

One of the signature features of the Fort Hill area is the open fields that harken back to the days when the land was used for farming. Bob Cook told us that maintaining the fields was a time-consuming and expensive undertaking.

“If you don’t constantly manage open habitat, it eventually goes through a process known as ecological succession, and starts becoming shrubby and woody,” said Cook. “So, the Park Service, during all of my time here, used a combination of mowing and prescribed fire to maintain the open, early successional habitat, which is mostly non-woody vegetation.”

View from Fort Hill across Nauset Marsh toward the former Coast Guard building at Coast Guard Beach in Eastham. Photo by Stanley Selkow

While the land is maintained to preserve a sense of history, Cook said there were also ecological benefits to the approach. “Not all of the wildlife on Cape Cod are woodland species,” said Cook. “There are a lot of animals that for all or part of their lives make use of these early successional stage habitats. The fact that you can kind of piggyback two management goals–historic landscape preservation and habitat diversity maintenance into one thing is a really good thing.”

The sharpening rock

Long before European settlers arrived on Cape Cod, the abundant resources of the Fort Hill area were important to Native Americans. “They were living here for thousands of years,” said McGrath. “Their civilization thrived here–they fished, they planted, and they lived harmoniously, for the most part, with the other tribes.”

Mark McGrath rests his foot on the sharpening rock at Fort Hill in Eastham and talks about its significance to Native Americans. 

We were gathered around the sharpening rock on Skiff Hill, an amazing reminder of how long people had lived in the area. A nearby Park Service sign set the scene: “As you take in this view, imagine yourself in the company of the First People, the Wampanoag. They have lived with these lands and waters for over 12,000 years. Nauset Marsh owes its name to the Nauset tribe of the Wampanoag who made their homes here, along its shores.”

In its heyday, the sharpening rock was “cutting edge” technology. According to the Park Service, Nauset tribe members shaped tools, including bone fishhooks, on the rock and sharpened stone axes. Grooves on the rock are still visible today, providing a direct connection to the community that flourished here for many generations.

A defense of greenbrier

The group finished up with a satisfying spin along the park’s Red Maple Swamp Trail, a nearly mile-long boardwalk that offers a full immersion into forest and freshwater wetlands. Bob Cook identified various plants, and contributed an interesting viewpoint on greenbrier, the native woody vine that climbs trees and structures, and features thorns that can easily rip pants.

Rosa rugosa at Fort Hill in Eastham. Photo by Stanley Selkow

Folks who have done a bit of bushwhacking on the Cape have likely encountered greenbrier, and this can be a painful turn of events. But Cook provided an intriguing perspective that may have changed some minds about the plant.

“This is another native species that is not fully appreciated,” said Cook. “Many people are not fans of greenbrier because it forms thickets of vines. But from the perspective of a wildlife ecologist, the wildlife of Cape Cod is constantly trying to find places where they’re not going to be harassed by people. God bless greenbrier. Let that take hold of a place and the wildlife has a place they can escape to.”

With more food for thought than a shopping cart could carry, we returned to the parking lot. The dream team of McGrath and Cook covered a lot of ground on the hike, and the spectacular Fort Hill landscape delivered the kind of beauty that lives on in the imagination. If you’re looking for an inspiring walk on the Outer Cape, you’ll be fortified by Fort Hill!

Photo gallery: Enjoy these Fort Hill images captured by HCT volunteer photographer Stanley Selkow and HCT staff:

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