Living on a 64 mile long sandbar with barely enough topsoil to grow a dandelion, has forced Cape Codders to become wiley and wise far beyond their limited education. Perhaps no single individual proved that fact as much as John Sears. Known all over the Cape as ‘Sleepy” for his habit of nodding off frequently during the day; he invented a way to harvest salt while he was napping – and this was when a bushel of salt was worth $180 in today’s money.
This story is only incidentally about “Sleepy John Sears” and salt, it’s really about an up and coming young Cape Codder named Nathan Cabot. He has his own ideas about improving salt production but he’s hampered by his loving father’s mystical wish.
