Henry Beston's Cape Cod: Inspiration for a National Seashore

Outermost House Expert, writer and filmmaker Don Wilding’s highly-acclaimed multimedia program, “Henry Beston’s Cape Cod: How ‘The Outermost House’ Inspired a National Seashore,” has been presented on Cape Cod and across New England since 2001.

The program is both a local story about the Cape Cod National Seashore, and an international story about a veteran who returned from horrors of World War I. It features over 100 slides and rough-cut footage from the Henry Beston Society’s documentary film project.

It tells how Henry Beston, returning from the horrors of “The Great War,” wrote the classic book, “The Outermost House,” while finding the peace of mind he was seeking on Cape Cod’s Outer Beach. Years later, “The Outermost House” was cited by the National Park Service as to why the Outer Beach should be preserved.

Don is the co-founder and executive director of the Beston Society, a nonprofit organization based on Cape Cod. A 30-year veteran of the newspaper industry, Don is the author of the book, “Henry Beston’s Cape Cod,” and has been recognized by Cape Cod Magazine as one of its “12 Local People to Watch in 2015.”

Don has also presented rough cut footage from the documentary film at the Newburyport Film Festival and to a full house at the Chatham Orpheum Theater on Cape Cod.