Massachusetts is full of famous historical sites and landmarks, but it’s not every day that traces of the past are uncovered right beneath your beach towel. Something fascinating has just been revealed on Orlean’s Nauset Beach, and you can check it out for yourself with some careful timing.

Last winter’s brutal storms definitely took their toll on Massachusetts beaches, but they also helped to uncover a unique slice of the past.
YouTube/Christopher Seufert
Many people know Nauset Beach in Orleans as a gorgeous place to spend a summer afternoon. Now, it’s also a cool spot to explore the history of the Bay State
Officials recently discovered something truly remarkable on the beach after storms stripped away a layer of sand – hoof prints and wagon wheel marks from another century.
YouTube/Christopher Seufert
The storms changed the landscape of many Bay State beaches and caused unfortunate erosion and damage to many, but the brutal weather’s effect on Nauset beach has been an accidentally happy one. The force of the gales has removed enough sand that experts can now identify the archaeological remains of our ancestors’ travels along the beach.

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The marks have been preserved in a fossilized layer of grass, mud, and clay.
YouTube/Christopher Seufert
They’re pretty incredible to examine. You can clearly see individual wagon wheel lines and the distinct impressions of horse hoofs. Scientists have dated the markings to the late 1800s and early 1900s.
In the past, it was common for locals to travel to the beach to harvest sea grass for their gardens or to make camp.
YouTube/Christopher Seufert

Now, we can connect to our forerunners through the amazing markings they left behind. If you want to see these tracks for yourself, it’s recommended that you get out to the beach at low tide as soon as possible. As the year progresses, it’s likely that sand will once again start to creep over the markings and cover them once more. Who knows how long it will be until the next time these treasures are exposed?

You can find Nauset Beach in Orleans. Click here for directions and check out a video of the tracks from YouTube user “Christopher Seufert” below. If a beach day is what you’re after, check out some of the prettiest seaside spots in the state here.

 

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