Location: Nauset Estuary is a shallow, tidal water area located between Eastham and Orleans, on the Atlantic coast. The border between the two towns is within the estuary.
Description: The estuary is about 1,500 acres and the area in Orleans comprises two main regions known as Town Cove and Nauset Harbor. Salt Pond and Nauset Marsh are the areas located within Eastham. Town Cove is the largest basin (425 acres) within the larger Nauset estuary. Other smaller coves include Rachel’s Cove, Woods Cove, Cable Cove and Robert’s Cove, and the semi-enclosed saltwater ‘ponds’, Mill Pond and Little Mill Pond.
Nauset Estuary has a single opening to the Atlantic Ocean, known as the Nauset inlet. The location of the inlet shifts from year to year with the migration of the barrier beach extending north from Nauset Heights in Orleans (also known as the “Spit”), as well as the sand spit extending south from Coast Guard Beach in Eastham. The sediments within Nauset estuary are also quite dynamic, making it a challenge to mark and maintain the boat navigation channel between Town Cove and Nauset Inlet. Only experienced captains should attempt to navigate through this inlet and it is to be avoided in canoes and kayaks.
Access: There are several locations to access the water and the shoreline of Nauset Estuary. Town Landings with boat launches are found at Cove Road, at the parking lot next to the Goose Hummock sporting goods store, and at Mill Pond. A number of smaller Town Landings offer access for kayaking or paddle boarding, or walking along the shore. The Orleans Conservation Trust walking trails at Woods Cove and Mill Pond Valley also lead to the shore of Nauset Marsh. The Town website provides an overview of all the Town Landings as well as parking availability and permit requirements.
Ecology: Nauset estuary is a rich coastal ecosystem with extensive salt marsh, eel grass and tidal flat habitats, important for fish, shellfish, horseshoe crabs, and shorebirds. The estuary is an important feeding ground for many migrating bird species. Seals often come into Nauset estuary to rest on sandbars or feed in the quiet waters. They can be seen floating in from the Atlantic with an incoming tide or drifting out with the outgoing waters.
Recreational activities: Town Cove and Nauset Harbor are popular locations for kayaking, paddle boarding, sailing, power boating, bird watching, seal watching, shellfishing, swimming, picnicking and walking (along the shoreline). The Goose Hummock store on Town Cove rents kayaks and these can be launched next to the shop. The Orleans Yacht Club at the southern end of Town Cove offers youth sailing classes in summer and holds weekly sailing races for members. Many kayakers enjoy launching at Snow Shore Landing (at the end of Seal Lane) and paddling across the water to the “Spit” for picnicking, swimming or walking on Nauset barrier beach.
Commercial activities: A few commercial fishing and lobster boats are moored in Nauset harbor, but the shallow waters and the continually shifting navigable channels make it challenging for these boats to easily pass through the estuary and out to the Atlantic Ocean. Commercial fishing boats have been forced to moor in deeper areas of the channel immediately behind the barrier beach, and offload their catch and crew to nearby landings via skiff.
Water quality and sewering: For Town Cove, the water quality assessment prepared by the Town of Orleans, based on years of water quality monitoring consider the waters to be ‘impaired’, primarily due to excessive Nitrogen concentrations.
The Downtown area of Orleans on the southwest side of Town Cove was the first part of town to be sewered and connected to the new Wastewater Treatment Plant (Phase1). This is expected to improve the water and ecological quality of Town Cove in the coming years. The southern and eastern side of Town Cove are scheduled to be sewered only in later phases (12, 13).
The water quality in the larger area of Nauset Harbor is considered to be acceptable, likely due to the tidal flushing and exchange with the Atlantic Ocean. The exceptions are the more enclosed areas of Woods Cove and Mill Pond. This is summarized in the water quality fact sheet available at the Town website.
Interesting Facts: In 1605, in the period that Cape Cod was part of ‘New France’, a French expedition under the leadership of Sieur de Monts, with Samuel de Champlain as cartographer, sailed from St. Croix in Acadia, to find a more suitable location for the struggling French colony. The voyage took them south until they reached Nauset Harbor. There they found settlements of the Nauset Indians, who survived on the cultivated crops and the catches they had from the estuary. Champlain drew a detailed map of the harbor on which he noted Indian villages, fish traps, corn fields, etc.
The French Cable Station (now the French Cable Museum) was constructed on Town Cove in 1891. This station was the American termination point for a telegraph cable that came directly to Orleans from France. It was called “Le Direct” the direct cable. It was installed in 1898 and was almost 3200 miles long, passing through Nauset Harbor and Town Cove. The Station remained in operation until 1959 except for a few years (1940 to 1952) during WWII when it was closed for security reasons.
In the 1960s the Army Corps of Engineers had plans to dredge Nauset Estuary to create a deep water port that would provide refuge for freighters and tankers in Nauset Marsh. A group of citizens, primarily from Eastham, organized to fight this development. They were successful and the resulting organization was the start of the Association to Preserve Cape Cod (APCC). This has has been a regional watchdog for the Cape’s natural resources since it was founded in 1968.
More recently, in 2016 the Town of Orleans commissioned a study into the feasibility of developing a dredging program for improved navigation in Nauset Estuary. The study provides a good scientific overview of Nauset Estuary, however plans have been shelved as the Town of Eastham and the National Seashore are not in favor of dredging.