Place:Orleans, Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States

Watchers
NameOrleans
Alt namesOrleans Villagesource: USGS, GNIS Digital Gazetteer (1994) GNIS25010012
TypeTown
Coordinates41.783°N 69.983°W
Located inBarnstable, Massachusetts, United States     (1797 - )
Also located inEastham, Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States     ( - 1797)
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog


the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Orleans is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts situated along Cape Cod. The population was 6,307 at the 2020 census.

For geographic and demographic information on the census-designated place Orleans, please see the article Orleans (CDP), Massachusetts.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Orleans was first settled in 1693 by Pilgrims from the Plymouth Colony who were dissatisfied with the poor soil and small tracts of land granted to them. Originally the southern parish of neighboring Eastham, Orleans was officially incorporated in 1797. Orleans was named in honor of Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, in recognition of France's support for the 13 colonies during the American Revolution, and because the town did not want an English name, as they had been captured twice by the British during the war.

Early history, like much of the Cape, revolved around fishing, whaling and agriculture. As the fishing industry grew, salt works sprang up in the town to help preserve the catches. However, the town's growth helped deplete the town of lumber, a situation that did not begin to be remedied until the railroad came and brought lumber from the mainland in the mid-to-late 19th century. The rail also helped bring tourism to the town. In 1898, the French Cable Company built a transatlantic cable to Orleans, which operated from the French Cable Station. The town's historical society is located in the 1834 Universalist Meeting House.

In July 1918, Orleans was shelled by a German submarine; the only attack on the continental U.S during World War I.

The town's tourism industry was helped in 1961 with the creation of the Cape Cod National Seashore by President John F. Kennedy.

Research Tips


This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Orleans, Massachusetts. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.