Cape Cod History – 1975 – The National Seashore Bans Nude Bathing

CCT – In 1975 the National Park Service, professing concern about preserving a fragile world of dune and wave, beach plum and seashell, has come up with a novel solution: It is proposing to ban nudity within the boundaries of the Cape Cod National Seashore. The government proposed fines of up to $500 and jail terms up to six months.

The situation at Bush Hollow Beach in Truro reached the breaking point one day the previous August when a park ranger counted 1,200 “nudists” which he estimated were 60 male, 40% female and 15-20 fully-clothed observers, 6 photographers and 20 “homosexuals.”

The news stories of the day did not explain how the ranger knew that the six were “homosexuals.”

I would do anything to go back in time to Cape Cod in the ’70’s. Imagine a place so tolerant that there were 1,200 naked people just living it up on federal beaches. I bet I can figure out how the ranger knew which people were homosexuals. Everybody was probably having sex all over the place and those six were doing it with the same sex. I’d be willing to bet there wasn’t a hollow bush in sight at Hollow Bush Beach in the ’70’s if you know what I mean.

P.S. I have a sneaking suspicion that the ranger’s estimate of 6 homosexuals out of 1,200 naked people at a Truro beach in 1975 may have been a little low.