Prohibition on Cape Cod: Running the Rum in

Fishermen, Farmers and Gangsters on the Cape Risk Everything to Bring in the Rum.

During Prohibition, rumrunning was big business on Cape Cod.

Fishermen and farmers, such as Provincetown’s Manny Zora and Eastham’s Bud Cummings, headed offshore to “Rum Row” under cover of darkness, bringing the criminal yet coveted alcohol home. They risked heavy fines, jail time, and even their lives in encounters with law enforcement, hijackers, and gangsters. Sandwich’s Eugene Haines, a staunch supporter of Prohibition, mysteriously disappeared, believed to have been murdered by rumrunners. Legend has it that Boston Mayor James Curley escaped out a window during a police raid at Yarmouth’s Casa Madrid.

Local author Don Wilding uncovers the stories, ranging from horrifying to humorous, from this unforgettable age of contraband and controversy on Cape Cod.

Don Wilding is the author of five other books on Cape Cod history: Historic Storms of Cape Cod, Cape Cod and the Portland Gale of 1898, Shipwrecks of Cape Cod: Stories of Triumph & Tragedy, A Brief History of Eastham: On the Outer Beach of Cape Cod and Henry Beston’s Cape Cod: How The Outermost House Inspired a National Seashore. He was an award-winning newspaper editor, writer and designer in Massachusetts for thirty-six years, including a recent stint as a contributing history columnist and photographer for Cape Cod newspapers. Don has led history walks for the Harwich Conservation Trust and was recognized as one of its “Conservationists of the Year” in 2023.