What we're about ...
The Henry Beston Society evolved from a series of projects about Henry Beston and The Outermost House. The first project was a web site, which grew into a 32-page publication, On its Solitary Dune, for Eastham's 350th Anniversary celebration. In 2003, the smaller publication turned into a 106-page book, Henry Beston's Cape Cod. During that period, it was determined that the information and resources that had been gathered should be used for further education about Beston and his famous beach cottage, leading to the establishment of the non-profit organization known as the Henry Beston Society. The late Nan Turner Waldron, author of the book Journey to Outermost House, was a guiding light for the organization and its projects in the early days, and her research and photographs are now an important part of the Society's archives.
Why the establishment of a society? With the exception of two small public displays on the Outer Cape, there is little to find about Beston. Prior to the Beston Society's establishment, there wasn't much that could be found online about him and the Fo'castle. Google Henry Beston these days, and the Beston Society site and related sites are at or near the top of the results.
The Beston Society is not a "get back to nature" organization. Beston realized that we lived in a modern and ever-evolving civilization. It was man's relationship to the natural world that was deteriorating -- as it was in 1928 and still is today. The story told in The Outermost House: A Year of Life on the Outer Beach of Cape Cod, lays it all out for us -- why that relationship is critical to our peace of mind and survival. The Beston Society takes those philosophies and lessons and presents them in its various programs to the public.
We can yearn to "save the earth" all we want, but it has to mean something to you and relate to you in a personal way. No one helped us to understand that relationship to the natural world of Cape Cod better than Henry Beston. To understand the man and his "year on the beach" can bring us closer to that "great truth" that Beston sought on the dunes of Eastham. This has become the organization for people who feel like they never really "got it" until they spent some solitary time on the Outer Beach.
In just a few short years, the Beston Society has presented slide lectures and related talks and activities to 15 different organizations, including the Eastham Historical Society, the Cape Cod National Seashore, and the Massachusetts Audubon Society. A museum and media projects are in its future plans, but its immediate concern is to have a new Outermost House built in Eastham overlooking the Atlantic. A builder has been found for for the "new" Outermost House, and a "play house" version of the Fo'castle is about to be constructed and put up for raffle as a fundraiser. The final hurdle to clear is finding a location for the new house on the Outer Beach; the house’s former location was covered by the waves of the Atlantic shortly after the Fo’castle was carried away by storm tides in February 1978. Although the National Park Service “applaud(s) (our) ongoing efforts to keep Beston’s philosophy foremost in people’s minds,” they “are unable to support the concept of reconstructing the Outermost House on seashore property.” Other options are now being explored.
Many who remember the original Outermost House may not like the idea of a restoration, feeling that "it wouldn't be the same" -- but younger generations and future generations never saw it and will never be able to experience it -- unless there is another version. A new Outermost House, while not the original many so fondly remember, will serve as a valuable educational tool to further promote the philosophies and works of one of Cape Cod's greatest writers -- all while it is subjected to the sun, sand, and sea elements that the original house was from 1925 to 1978.
Other replicas exist -- Appomattox Court House in Virginia, Thoreau's cabin in Walden, the Mayflower II in Plymouth Harbor. Henry Beston is the spiritual father of the Cape Cod National Seashore. His book was referred to time and time again when the Park Service was evaluating the area for National Park status.
Some background
Henry Beston's book, The Outermost House, is now considered a classic of American Literature
and has a small (compared with some other literary works)
but devoted following among its readers. Beston wrote the
book after spending a solitary "year" in a 20x16
house on the dunes of Eastham, using the house as a base
while studying and observing the wonders of the elements
in this glorious maritime setting. Beston died in 1968,
and the house was washed away nearly 10 years later. Yet,
the spirit of Beston's work continued in the pages of Journey
to Outermost House by Nan Turner Waldron.
"The little house is gone. Henry Beston and the high
dunes of Nauset are gone, as all things eventually are in
this temporal passage," Mrs. Waldron wrote. She went
on to say that Beston's book "is about a setting alive
with the living ... It is less about either the place of
the people and more of how Cape Cod makes you feel and what
it does to you, and I would add 'for you," because
I believe that being close to the natural environment inspires
a quest, perhaps inherent in Man, to understand human nature."
Mrs. Waldron too is now gone, having passed away in November
of 2000. Yet, she also wrote that "in my mind's eye
remains the mystery and the wonder of it all ... While the
journey lies ahead."
The journey continued along its way on Jan. 19, 2002, when
the process of establishing The Henry Beston Society began
in a small apartment near the downtown area of North Attleboro,
Massachusetts. The Henry Beston Society, Inc., is now a
non-profit, tax-empt organization as described in Section
501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
There are many folks out there who believe
in that quest, as Beston and Waldron did, "to understand
human nature." In all walks of life, there are those
honoring the earth, "her plains, her valleys, her hills,
and her seas," the "solitary places" that
Beston writes so eloquently of. Wherever they may live,
so many understand how "the beauty of this earth and
outer sea so possessed and held (Beston) that (he) could
not go."
While Beston's book is cherished by many, there are countless
others who have never heard of it. Yet, even in today's
world, Beston's words still ring true. Here was a man who,
tired of his work as an editor, still shaking from the horrors
of World War I, and looking for his place in the literary
world, found some peace in an otherwise mad world. Today,
so many more yearn to do so. His book is also considered
to be one of the seminal works of today's environmental
movements; even in the 1920s, he lamented over the devastating
effects of oil slicks on the birds and other wildlife of
the sea.
A Web site paying tribute to Beston's book emerged online
in September of 1999. "The beauty and mystery of this
earth and outer sea so possessed and held me that I had
to build a Web site," was the reason, playing on Beston's
words, given for its establishment.
Right around that time, Beston Society co-founder Don Wilding had the opportunity
to meet with Mrs. Waldron, and she was more than happy to
share her experiences and philosophies. It was Mrs. Waldron
who first informed us of the town of Eastham's plans to
host a 350th Anniversary celebration in 2001. A chance meeting
with Cape Cod author Robert Finch, who wondered "I'm
surprised that no one's ever done a biography on Beston,"
added fuel to the fire of this quest.
Then came contact with the Eastham 350 committee, and the
32-page magazine tribute to Beston and The Outermost
House, titled On its Solitary Dune, was printed
in January of 2001. Many friends of Beston, along with Mrs.
Waldron, the Eastham Historical Society, and the Thornton
W. Burgess Society, provided many photographs and other
information for the booklet.
Unfortunately, Mrs. Waldron, who saw the earliest page models
printed out and contributed many ideas to the project, never
saw the final product. She passed away on Nov. 8, 2000.
On its Solitary Dune was dedicated to her memory.
Lectures in Eastham and, later, Sandwich, given by the Solitary
Dune author, followed, and the book, Henry Beston's
Cape Cod, followed in 2003. Meanwhile, many others from
around the country and beyond were writing and calling,
expressing enthusiasm for the renewed interest in Beston
and his beloved "Fo'castle." "Nice work --
Beston needs to be better known," many of the notes
and e-mails have read.
Since that day in the winter of 2002, the Henry Beston Society
has slowly but steadily grown. As its mission statement
reads, the Society's goal "is to honor Henry Beston
by stimulating interest in and promoting education about
his life, works and philosophy -- with emphasis on his time
spent on Cape Cod in Massachusetts -- and his place in his
world and ours, by coordinating research on his life and
writings, by acting as an archive for material relevant
to Henry Beston and by advocating for the preservation of
the memory and historical importance of The Outermost
House."
More information on the progress of the Beston Society will
be available on the Society's Web site at
http://www.henrybeston.org
. Web hosting is being graciously provided by Cape
Cod Today.
Like the landscape of Nauset, the Beston Society won't take
shape in a day -- it will take many months and years of
day-to-day work. There will be sunny days, bouts with fog,
and severe storms. With hard work, and the help of many
different groups and individuals, this goal will be realized.
In the words of Mrs. Waldron, "Beston's sensitive understanding
of a man's need to recapture his relationship with the total
environment is a timeless message, something which every
human can seek no matter where he or she roams." It
is along those lines that, The Henry Beston Society will
function.
For those interested in The Henry Beston Society, send
e-mail to henrybestonsociety@yahoo.com
.
