Trying to Make A Little Sense of It All

Though you really don't need to know what I've been up to since the last post, I'll tell you just the same. I'm working on pulling together all the threads that weave the story of Snatch Alley. Some of that is personal, and some of that is History (both town and nation). At some point, it needs to focus upon the Snatch Alley Years, when the Baby Boom came of Age and the road along the beach was packed with teenagers in cars and teenagers on foot and teenagers just sitting on the fences that lined the road. Summer was in the air, and so was the music of the night. But before I can get to that, I thought I'd track down some of the events that eventually led to that road.

In the beginning, after all, there was no road. No Snatch Alley. No Old Wharf Road. No way along the beach whatsoever. This part of the town and the village was known as "The Plashes," and it was mostly woods and beach and bogs. A look at this 1922 map of Dennisport shows us that, as compared with the roads of today.

In 1922, Cape Cod was not much of a destination at all. And the same could be said about Dennisport.

On THIS date some 90 years ago, however, things began to quietly change and property in The Plashes began to change hands. Before there was Ray Grindell from Brockton, or Arthur Chase from Onset, there was Charles B. Long from Dennis. With his partner, Carl S. Ell, Charles formed the Longell Land Trust. At the same time, though, Charles Long also dealt in property on his own. And on 17 June 1926, Charles B. Long sold a large chunk of land in The Plashes to Arthur F. Chase. Here is the record from the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds. There had also been a transaction three days before.

Now, if this were some other time and some other place, you and I would be chuckling at the idea that Long had managed to sell some sort of swampland to Chase, and then he was laughing all the way to the bank. But we already know where this story is going to lead. So, let's get back to the point.

The point of all this is simply that there suddenly became some need for a road. After all, if Arthur Chase planned to do anything with his land, he would need to be able to access it. And so the tale continues.

This is a picture of what this part of town looked like in those days. Sand and pine and water.