Editor’s Note:The Fog Catcher Inn was a popular New England vacation destination located on Cape Cod in Chatham, Massachusetts, often referred to as the Cape’s “elbow” because the land shape of the peninsula resembles a bent arm.The inn was built in 1946, at an optimistic time in America immediately following World War II, when soldiers were returning home to start families and capitalize on the G.I. Bill.Its original owners were Ron and Sally Purle from Boston, he a retired hotelier and she a restaurant worker.They started with six adjoining cabins on two acres of land bought for $2000 and spent an additional $8000 to build the structures, including one for themselves that doubled as an office, wholly financed on their savings (although a rumor still persists that some of the money came from Joe Kennedy, who had been a more-than-occasional patron at Ron’s hotel in Boston).The Purles prided themselves on not having to deal with banks to build the Fog Catcher, institutions they had come to deeply distrust during the Depression of the 1930’s.
Opening for business just before Thanksgiving 1946, the inn didn’t do too much business over the winter, but that changed considerably by the following summer.Vacationers and travelers found the cozy lodging provided by the Purles most amenable, and word spread, helping to build business.There were other inns and hotels here and there along and just off the Cape’s Route 6, also known as the Mid-Cape Highway, but this was in the days before Holiday Inns and other family-oriented lodgings began sprouting up along major U.S. roads.Places like the Fog Catcher faced a modicum of competition, but it wouldn’t be until the mid 1950’s to early 1960’s that this kind of seasonal vacation trip, especially during the summer months, became a highly commercialized venture in America, so the first few years presented a financial struggle.
In 1951, Ron succumbed to a heart attack; thereafter for a number of years his oldest son Roger helped his mother continue to operate the inn.During that time was added a play area for children, a shuffleboard court, and a small golf green for patrons to practice putting.Mother and son sold the property at a modest profit in 1961 to another retired couple, Ralph and Nancy Dal Broi.The Dal Brois had no experience as innkeepers, but doubled the number of cabins to ten and began offering continental breakfasts, included in the room rates.
In 1962, Nancy began the custom of providing a blank notebook in each of the cabins for travelers to jot down their impressions, which a goodly number did.A journal of 100 pages would fill in about a year.The Dal Brois sold the inn in 1982, leaving a 20-year collection of the journals in more than 30 bankers boxes in a storage shed behind the office.The notebook custom continued under the two subsequent owners, Charlene Jaffrey, who bought the Fog Catcher with her daughter and ran it for five years, and Wendell and Marcia Yaichuk, who owned the inn from 1987 until 1997.In all, nearly 50 bankers boxes of 100-page journals were filled with travelers’ thoughts over the many years of operation.
Some of the inn’s owners shut down operations completely during the winter months while others gamely stayed open as much as possible year-round.The dates of the entries and obvious gaps in the journals correlate with this information.
In 2000, after having been closed and boarded up for two years, the inn was demolished to make way for a shopping center in Chatham.
Tom Stapleton is a freelance writer and communication consultant to corporations and government agencies. He conducts training in business writing and oral presentations and also serves as “wordsmith” for technical and non-technical documentation.Tom contributes feature pieces to newspapers and magazines and has written plays, scripts, and short stories as well as novels.He lives with his wife, Jean, in Glendale, California.
