Breakwater Days

Abstract

This story by James Redwood fondly recounts memories of boyhood summers spent at the Breakwater Hotel in Woods Hole Massachusetts between 1954 and 1960. With vivid descriptions of the Cape Cod setting, and augmented by photographs and illustrations provided courtesy of the Woods Hole Historical Society, Redwood introduces a variety of local characters while reminiscing about experiences in life “too fleeting to remember yet too valuable to forget.” The narrative focuses on the author’s youthful perceptions and adult reflections upon a microcosm of innocence as the America moved forward from the “last decade of innocence” to a new era marked by war, assassination, scandal and technological innovation. The closing of the Breakwater Hotel is analogous to America’s evolution and the inevitable passage of time which fades many things into obsolescence. Nonetheless, Breakwater Days reminds its audience of the intrinsic value behind things long abandoned and oft overlooked.

Keywords: Cape Cod, Breakwater, Memoir