A remnant of Cape Cod's agricultural past, this 1850-era hay barge was once a common sight among the area's working dories, skiffs, and catboats. Wide and flat-bottomed, it was rowed, poled, and sailed through the shallow marshes, where salt marsh hay was gathered from the water's edge for livestock, bedding, and feed. Many local residents still remember the taste of salty milk. After 1900, as Cape Codders shifted from cows and plows to summer cottages and tourism, hay barges lost their usefulness. This one survived because the French Transatlantic Cable Company in Town Cove used it as a repair vessel for sixty years, sparing it the fate of others of its kind. Today it is the last remaining hay barge on Cape Cod, perhaps in all New England, and recalls the bustling maritime life of the coastal community.