You all may not be familiar with the Dennis Historical Society. I believe it is one of the more active on the Cape (maybe I'm just partial, let's hear about the other societies). They publish a monthly newsletter and sponsor wonderful events and historical properties, a maritime museum and a library, you can join for $15 (Sep 1 thru Aug 31) per year, Dennis Historical Society, PO Box 607, South Dennis, MA 02660-0607 On Wed Mar 23, 7:30 PM you can hear The Quaker Settlement in Dennis by Jim Gould, noted Cape historian at the Dennis Senior Center, 1045 Rt 134, East Dennis (hey, that's right near Air Line Rd that I was talking about the other day- Just south of Rt 6 - You know, the fastest way from East Dennis to South Dennis) Wed Apr 27, 7:30 PM hear Salt of the Earth by Jim Perry- Salt works history includes Capt Sleepy John Sears, who held an early patent on this machinery that extracts sea salts from sea water by evaporation - patent dated 24 Jan 1799 signed by John Adams. A great text on the subject is The Saltworks of Historic Cape Cod by William P Quinn. ISBN 0-940160-56-0 My grt-grandfathers (William[1808-1896], son Elkanah H Sears[1849-1914] and brother Elkanah[1800-1876]) ran salt works on Quivet Neck extracting sea water from Quivet Creek by using a windmill to pump water from the creek into the vats. I have a deed for "6,300 superficial feet of shove door salt-works" parcel which I believe is in Crowe's Pasture in East Dennis. My Cousin Lelia said that as a boy, her grandfather (Elkanah Howes Sears) said, if it rained he had to get up in the middle of the night to help pull up the canvas which protected the salt beds from getting wet. He lived at 51 School St Saltworks deed: http://www.searsr.com/deeds/deed1828.htm (I believe the Sears family still owns this land and this deed was never registered at the Courthouse. I can find no transfer of this property from William and Elkanah Sears to anyone else. The courthouse and all but one of the 94 books of deeds dating back to 1686 burned on 22 Oct 1827. There was a great campaign by town selectmen after that to get deeds re-registered for future generations. I understand many folks would just as soon not register their deed as a way to save taxes :) You could always register it right before you got ready to sell the property) A salt works vat was usually 10 x 10 feet and was called 10 running feet or 10 superficial feet (= 100 sq ft) So this 6300 superficial feet deed is 63,000 sq feet or about 1.5 acres of vats. Feb Hist Soc newsletter has an article by Betty Dan Holmes about Louis and Esther Dean's Radio Store in Dennisport. Another story about Louis (Johnny) Kelley's story telling and finally an article about the First Church of Dennis (Unitarian) which later became the Cape Playhouse. Regards, L. Ray Sears, III