Cuttyhunk. It’s a Wampanoag word that means the end of land. Splendid isolation is what a woman I know who lives there calls it. Cuttyhunk is about 12 miles from New Bedford but feels much, much farther away from civilization. It does feel like the end of the world. Even though if you look really hard you can make out the Gayhead lighthouse on Martha’s Vineyard to the east, Cuttyhunk feels so totally alone. So alone that the neighboring island Penikese was once used for a leper colony. I usually go out there a couple of times a year. The island never really changes. Sure the weather does but the feel of the island is always the same. No real restaurants unless you call a guy selling food from a cart or from an oven in his garage a restaurant. No cars, no malls, few paved roads, one store and a school with 2 students. And always dogs. Lots of big, dumb, stinky and very friendly dogs I have heard people complain there is nothing to do on Cuttyhunk. Well, that’s the point, You have to amuse yourself, there is nothing you have to do. You can do what you want. Swim, hike, watch the ocean, sail or bike around the island. If you swim watch out the strong rips on the south side don’t sweep you away to Europe and if you bike make sure you bring a good mountain bike, a road or hybrid is going to get annihilated in this terrain. You can even see if you can make it out to the very bizarre Bartholomew Gosnold monument, but that’s fodder for another review. I’m always bruised, cut, burned and bitten when I return from Cuttyhunk. It doesn’t matter, I’ve been to the end of land. There are few places around that can offer such splendid isolation.
