This is the first day of a four-day series of stories, photos,
videos and interactives that examine the Cape Cod National
Seashore as it turns 50 years old. The Times worked in
conjunction with WCAI, the Cape and Islands NPR radio station,
on the series. EASTHAM – It's a low-key drive into the Cape Cod
National Seashore – past the Eastham post office, antique shops
and clam huts – and only then, once you've shopped for swimming
tubes and snacks, only then might you notice a sign for the
visitor center. But that below-the-radar sense of the park
belies the regional and national importance of its creation in
1961. On the Cape, the Seashore legislation is the most
important federal action of the 20th century, an early
acknowledgement of the region as a national treasure, said Paul
Niedzwiecki, executive director of the Cape Cod Commission, the
regional land-use planning and regulatory agency created in
1990. Nationally, the Seashore was even more innovative. It was
the first urban national park, one that existed