Mrs. Eliza J. Doane of South Wellfleet cooked for Marconi and his men.
She said: “Mr. Marconi could play the piano something grand, and he had
a pleasing voice. He was especially fond of ‘Old Black Joe’. He and the
others would sing that almost every time they got around the piano.”
A few years ago, when I last visited the scene, only the twisted ends
of cable, the broken cement blocks, studded with bolts, and a few
heavy timbers, revealed the historic scene. Unless the storm-lashed
tides have crumbled the embankment, the important debris is still
there. There was talk of establishing a “Marconi Park,” with a suitable
tablet. Prof. Frederick C. Hicks of Yale Law School led a group of
summer cottagers sponsoring the project. But, something stymied the
plans.
During its commercial career, the South Wellfleet station had a
range of about 1600 miles. At night, under favorable conditions, it
transmitted messages to a distance of 3500 miles. The government closed
this and other wireless stations for the duration of the last war. When
peace came the Chatham station of the Radio Corporation of America, a
few towns up the Cape, took over the Marconi commercial business.