Cape Cod NS Dune Shack District Preservation and Use Plan / Environmental Assessment

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Cape Cod National Seashore Superintendent George Price has announced that the public comment period for the Dune Shack Historic District Preservation and Use Plan/Environmental Assessment/Assessment of Effect (EA) has been extended from June 10 to June 17, 2011.

The Dune Shacks of the Peaked Hill Bars Historic District is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. Its approximately 1,500 acres includes both the dune shacks and the dune landscape. Eighteen of the 19 historic buildings (dune shacks) are owned by the National Park Service (NPS) and currently occupied by different groups and individuals under a variety of management tools. The seashore is beginning a planning process to establish how the buildings and adjacent landscape will be protected and interpreted, and how visitors will use the historic district in the future, consistent with the qualities for which the district was determined eligible for the National Register.

The National Register determination of eligibility found that the district is an important historical cultural landscape significant for its architecture; its role in the development of American art, literature, and theater; and its association with the life of the American poet Harry Kemp.

The purpose of this project is to develop a Dune Shack District Preservation and Use Plan/Environmental Assessment that provides clear direction and conistency for NPS managers, dune shack dwellers, users, and advocates. Action is needed at this time to provide for the long-term protection of the historic district as a whole, including the structures, cultural landscape, and natural environment. A sustainable plan is needed that is economically feasible, confoms to applicable law and NPS policies, and can be implemented with available federal administrative instruments.

The national seashore is collaborating with the Cape Cod National Seashore Advisory Commission, its dune shack subcommittee, and the Consensus Building Institute (CBI) to facilitate public input and develop a range of alternatives.


Contact Information

George E. Price, Jr.
Superintendent
Cape Cod National Seashore
99 Marconi Site
Wellfleet, MA 02667