| First and foremost, I would like to thank my wife, the writer Nina de Gramont. Not only did she support, love, and tolerate me during the building of this book, but she played a pivotal role in shaping it, challenging me with her editor's pen to expand by condensing. She has also, I am happy to say, grown to share my passion for Cape Cod. |
| This book was written and conceived under the difficult circumstances of my father's illness and death. I can't say enough about the strength and support of my entire family, Scott, Jenny, and, in particular, Heidi and my mother, Barbara, who, despite all the evidence to the contrary, has always believed. |
| On Cape Cod I could always rely on my second family, the Schadts. The Cape also brings to mind two close friends. It was with David Rotman that I first spent an off-season on the Cape, and the memories of that strange, difficult, and wonderful year have been with me ever since. And, of course, I can't think of the Cape without thinking of Hones. Mark Honerkamp, a best friend to so many of us, rivals my father in filling the Cape house with a Rabelaisian love of life. But beneath his beer-swilling, meat-grilling exterior, I know he shares my love and appreciation of this particular wild, rank place. |
| Back in Colorado, where much of the real work of revising was done, I was fortunate to be part of a writing community that was presided over by Janet Hard and included Karen Auvinen, Heidi Krauth, Burns Ellison, Jim Campbell, and fellow "Mountain Palace" writers Melinda MacInnis and Mark Spitzer. For most of us in this group Reg Saner has been there steadily as guide and occasional father figure, always available, encouraging, and full of grace. |
| Finally I would like to thank George F. Thompson, president of the Center for American Places, for the original confidence he showed in the book and for the hard work he put in to help me present it in its current form. |
 | D.G.
AUGUST 1996 |
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