[ 40 ] South Wellfleet Cemetery and Site of Second Congregational Church

Turn east off Route 6 onto Cemetery Road
just north of South Wellfleet Fire Station

Photo circa 1840

In 1833 when this Church was organized and the Cemetery laid out, South Wellfleet was the center of a prosperous community of fishermen and whalers whose ships docked at wharves along Blackfish Creek. Decline of the whaling industry following discovery of crude oil in Pennsylvania, the silting-in of parts of Blackfish Creek, and later the collapse of the mackerel fishery, forced people to look for opportunities elsewhere. The church building was moved to Wellfleet Center by the DAR and later became the Town Hall. One fenced area is dedicated to the memory of “Unknown Sailors.”