Curious Cape Cod: Internet invented in Truro? – Cape Cod Times

Eric Williams|Cape Cod Times

TRURO I was uploading my latest TikTok dance video (The Oyster Shuck Two-Step) when the disco ball began flashing Morse Code. Shocked, I dropped a sequined razor clam, grabbed a quill and scratched down the message:

"I came across your recent article about the deep woods shooting range in Truro. We hiked that 'Great Dunes Trail' today and made a wrong turn and came across the warning sign for the shooting range. More so, though, our curiosity was about the abandoned building right there. It has a high fence topped with barbed wire, graffiti on some parts of the building, and strange demolished foundations for something outside the building but within the fence line. You skipped over the strange abandoned building in your article to focus on the shooting range warning sign, but do you have any idea what that abandoned building is?"

Oh boy! I knew then that I would be returning to the woods off Collins Road in the southern part of Truro perhaps the most mysterious place on Cape Cod. There's a lot to love out there: the Featherbed Swamp (a genuine quaking bog), giant sand cliffs and intriguing trails that spider-web across the forest.

And yes, the area is home to weird, creepy ruins that seem like something out of a science fiction movie!

I summoned the household staff and told them of my plans to head to Truro. "You're doomed," said Randall, my butler and astrologer. Then he went back to his Sudoku and I noticed he was wearing my slippers. Zelda, my executive chef, packed a box lunch (crispy tarantulas, jellied moose nose) and pushed me out the door. "Take your time," she said, and I could hear them giggling as I walked to the Curious Prius.

Undeterred, I sped north and parked near the intersection of Collins Road and Fox Bottom Road. While this was official business, I did take time to chuckle at the name "Fox Bottom."

Fox Bottom Road is paved but chained off to vehicles. Hikers will find not one, but three dilapidated buildings in the area each protected by chain-link fences. They seem out of place gnarly ruins in a lovely natural setting. There are signs that indicate the buildings were once used by the Cape Cod National Seashore's Atlantic Coastal Laboratory now located in North Truro at the old Air Force base.

One of the buildings is festooned with graffiti and it looks like folks might have been rummaging around in there. Or maybe zombie scientists are still carrying out their work in a sloppy zombie way, dropping clipboards and waving rusty instruments. And waiting for doofus rubberneckers like me to wander into their clutches!

But the question remained: what the heck went on out here? Flummoxed, I returned home, poured a wee snifter of Zelda's asparagus cognac and got to work. That's when I remembered an email I received back when I wrote about the nearby shooting range.

It read: "Fox Bottom Road in South Truro is where the Internet began in the early 1950s."

Gadzooks! I immediately reached out to the writer, Richard M. Smith, a noted computer history expert, described in a 2001 New York Times article as "perhaps the nation's most vocal authority on data privacy." Even better, he has a place in Truro and loves hiking around the Seashore just like me!

I asked Richard to further explain his mind-blowing email. Kindly, he responded:

"Back in the early 50s, MITRE Corporation was given a contract by the U.S. Defense Department to design a radar system to detect incoming Russian bombers. The prototype for the system was constructed in South Truro along Fox Bottom Road. There were three radar units along the road. All three units were dismantled long ago. The only thing left behind from the prototype system are the (Cape Cod National Seashore) lab buildings and cement footingsfor the radar units.

"The 3 radar units in South Truro were connected by digital modems to the Whirlwind computer at MIT. This was one of the first times a modem was used to send digital data to a digital computer. Thats why I say the Internet was born in South Truro. Others may disagree.

"I think the modems ran at 300 baud back in the 50s. A modem in a modern cellphone is easily 10,000 faster when used today along Fox Bottom Road."

Conflicting emotions swirled in my brain like a sweet and sour smoothie. On one hand, I was delighted that an expert had reached out to me with amazing Cold War information! On the other hand, do we now have to blame Truro for cranking up our crazy computer culture all of us curled around our cellphones, gawking and tapping away with crazy flipper fingers?

I shelved the inner turmoil for another day. After all, I had a dance video to upload to TikTok!

What do you want to know about Cape Cod? To ask a Curious Cape Cod question, email me at ewilliams@capecodonline.com. I'll do my best to figure things out!

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Curious Cape Cod: Internet invented in Truro? - Cape Cod Times