(2009)
Kemp-Tasha Shack | Dune Shack 9.
The most modest of the shacks casts the longest shadow, as it is linked to Harry Kemp, poet and author of Love Among the Cape Enders. It started as the hen house at the Peaked Hill Bars station, was rebuilt by the coast guardsman Frank Cadose, and then owned by Frank Henderson, who rented it to Kemp in summer, beginning in 1927 or 1928. Kemp occupied it year-round from about 1946 until 1959, when Rose “Sunny” (Savage) Tasha built a cottage for him at Tasha Hill. Kemp bequeathed the shack to Sunny. It was blown apart in a storm in the ’60s, rebuilt, and used by her children — Paul, Paula, Carl, and Carla — and by their children, under a special-use permit that must be renewed annually. Kemp’s occupancy may last a bit longer:
When I’m alive no more
And my soul at last goes free,
You’ll find me walking on the Dunes
And down beside the Sea.
So if you glimpse a wavering form,
Or front a vanishing face,
You’ll know that I’ve come back once more
To my accustomed place.
¶ Adapted from Building Provincetown (2015).
David Mayo wrote on 18 June 2012: Regarding Frankie Henderson: He was a bit of a wild man, and his many antics amused/disgusted many town people. When the Mayflower II entered the harbor, he clambered on board before health officials, to everyone’s dismay.