Published posthumously, <i>Cape Cod</i> consists of essays which had originally been published during his lifetime in <i>Putnam’s Magazine</i> and <i>The Atlantic Monthly,</i> compiled into this single book-length work after his death. Thoreau had made four trips to Cape Cod, and the essays included in this work reflect those, detailing not only the many natural (and human) sights and sounds that he encountered, but also the often-amusing observations he made of the locals he met along the way.