Coastal Granddaugther Spotlight: Heather
Meet Heather: A Coastal Granddaughter
Our Coastal Granddaughter Spotlight series continues with Heather, whose love for Cape Cod is rooted in generations of family memories and traditions. What began with her grandmother has become a meaningful part of Heather’s own story. Now calling the Cape home, she continues that connection while creating new memories and traditions of her own.
Tell us a little about yourself and your connection to Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, or Nantucket.
My Cape Cod connection began with my grandmother. She came to Chatham on her honeymoon, staying at the Hawthorne Motel. She and my grandfather fell in love with the Cape and began spending each summer in Brewster, in a beautiful cottage, on a sandy lane, steps away from the Brewster Flats. She had three daughters and each summer she would rent that same cottage for the month of July. My mother grew up summering in Brewster, bringing my brother and I to Brewster each summer. And I then took over the tradition when I had my own three boys! My husband and I now live on that same sandy lane year round.
What does the Cape mean to you personally?
The Cape has always had such a special place in my heart. It is peace, serenity, family, friends and the knowledge that all is right in the world when I am here.
What is one of your earliest or favorite memories of being here?
One of my earliest memories of the Cape is early morning walks on the Brewster Flats with my grandmother. She walked the beach everyday that the morning tide cooperated and it was a coveted time with her. We would walk on the beach, collecting shells, beach glass and driftwood. In the afternoons, on the screened in porch, we would then make crafts with the treasures we had collected that morning.
Is there a place on the Cape that feels especially meaningful to you? Why?
The Brewster General Store will always be especially meaningful to me. When I was younger, it was where my brother and I would go to get penny candy and fudge. As I got older, it became a place I went every summer to get a special gift to give to my mother, notecards with blue hydrangeas, a general Store mug for her coffee, a cozy Brewster sweatshirt to wear in the winter. And now, the Brewster General Store houses the treasures that made up the Strawberry Patch, a place that was near and dear to my heart as a young girl on the Cape.
What’s something about you people might be surprised to learn?
I have three boys who all love the Cape as much as I do. It has been my greatest joy to share my love for Cape Cod and Brewster with them. When they were little we moved as a family many times and the one place that was always "home" to them was a sandy little lane in Brewster!
What’s something you’ve learned from living, working, or spending time by the coast?
My favorite thing about living by the coast is the pace of life. Life on the Bay feels peaceful, calm and quiet in a way that I haven't experienced anywhere else.
If you could preserve one piece of Cape life exactly as it is today, what would it be?
The one piece of Cape life that I would love to preserve is the sense of tradition that is passed from generation to generation. Many of my friends have a similar origin story for their Cape connection and I would love to see my own children bring their children to Brewster each summer to walk the beach, play mini- golf, enjoy a drive-in movie, build sand castles on the flats and make their own memories.
What do you hope future generations experience here?
I hope that future generations can experience carefree summer days on the beach, lobster dinners with family around a table on a screened in porch, getting homemade ice cream or a Frappe after dinner, watching a stunning sunset and then walking the beach at the end of night, looking up at the stars!
