Cape Cod is a kind of paradise for the millions of Americans and foreigners who come every year to enjoy its great beaches, fishing, food and climate.

And for the tourists who dawdle around Hyannis and its little port, there is the added thrill of maybe seeing a Kennedy lazing around the family compound. This week, of course, the latest Kennedy tragedy cast a pall over the area and turned the pilgrimages to the usual sites such as the President Kennedy Memorial in Hyannis and the Kennedy Museum into occasions of sadness.

But as you travel around the Cape, which is in the shape of a flexed arm (no town wants to be called the "armpit") you have to wonder at the good fortune of the Pilgrim Fathers making landfall at Provincetown in the Mayflower in 1620. If they had today's Official Guide they would have learned that they had stumbled on "559 miles of white sandy beaches and the refreshing ocean and bay waters [which] form an irresistible invitation to spend time on Cape Cod, an enchanting peninsula that extends 70 miles into the Atlantic Ocean".

Today the settlers have left their mark visibly as the names of the 15 towns they established shows: Falmouth, Yarmouth, Sandwich, Chatham, Barnstaple, Billingsgate and so on. No doubt the dour Puritans were nostalgic for home.

This summer the Irish are swarming all over the Cape. Thousands of students with their J1 visas are waiting on tables, serving in bars, cleaning rooms and making some money for their college fees. In Falmouth Main Street, the music from the Irish Pub of Liam Maguire from Castlederg, Co Tyrone, floats on the warm evening air.

The Puritans first had to deal with the natives before they could set up their pretty English towns. They soon encountered the Native Americans of the Wampanoag nation, and the first meeting went so well that the US celebrates it every year on Thanksgiving Day in November, which recalls how the local chief introduced them to the local food and saved them from starvation.

Today the military owns a huge base on the Cape called the US Military Reservation. It covers about 40 square miles and is used for training by the National Guard, a reserve force dubbed the "weekend warriors".

Part of the reservation is Otis Air National Guard Base where the US Coast Guard held press briefings this week to give updates on the search for the wreck of the Kennedy aircraft and the bodies. Driving in and out of the base, saluted by friendly guards, it was a shock to learn later that the military manoeuvres here since the second World War have almost destroyed the water supply for the surrounding area and that the US Air Force is spending millions of dollars trying to clean up the damage.

TO the horror of the people living in the idyllic settings around the base and stretching towards the valuable coastline, seven "plumes" of highly toxic chemicals were discovered infiltrating the aquifer or water table and advancing each year.

Two years ago, as the holidaymakers crossed the Cape Cod canal at Bourne, the northern boundary of the region, they were confronted with signs saying "Otis has polluted 66 million gallons of water" and "Welcome to Cape Cod - Don't Drink the Water."

Property values dropped as purchasers were obliged to sign addenda to their contract saying they were aware of the "ongoing and potential future environmental pollution" from the Otis Air Force Base.

EDB, a carcinogen, had seeped into the water around houses, and the residents were warned not alone not to drink it but even to cut down on showers as EDB can also be absorbed through the skin.

Since 1996 an alarmed military has entrusted the clean-up to the Air Force Centre for Environmental Excellence, which has national responsibility for pollution caused by air bases. Since then about $90 million has been spent on trying to clean up the polluted surface water, and the job is far from over.

The environmental groups won an important victory with the help of Senator Kennedy when the National Guard was stopped from using its artillery ranges on the reservation unless given clearance by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. It was the first time the powerful military was subject to an authorisation from a civilian agency before it could do its training.

It was appropriate that Senator Kennedy should have thrown his influence behind this environmental effort. His brother as US president had earned the gratitude of residents and visitors over 30 years ago by approving the Cape Cod National Seashore preservation in the Provincetown area.