Whalebone vertebrae used as landscaping in Cape Porpoise since c. 1900, stolen last weekend.
I always assumed these whale jawbone begonia bed and the whale rib and vertebrae arbor were conceived when some poor departed whale washed ashore at Cape Porpoise in the 1920s but a few years ago I found a picture of Herbert Allen showing them off in the 1902 Midsummer Edition of The Wave. In the picture, the vine growing on the arbor was already quite mature, reaching just about to the top. The Allen’s lot was one of the first cottage lots sold by the Cape Porpoise Land Company in 1898 so the whalebones have been there almost as long...