Cape Cod serves in the diary as a summer retreat whose domestic pleasures sit alongside strains in the relationships formed there. In May 1981, Andy Warhol travels to East Falmouth with Jon Gould and Chris Makos to visit Peter Wise; in July, the Cape becomes the setting for Peter’s proposed season of garden work and art-making, a plan that exposes Chris’s discomfort with family life.

Arrival and the East Falmouth Visit

On May 21, Warhol receives word that Jon Gould will take a red-eye flight and arrive in New York at 7 a.m., ready for Chris Makos to pick him up at eight for the trip to Cape Cod. Warhol is still packing costumes, film, cameras, radios, and a television when he records the plan. The next day, Peter Wise meets the group after they land. The plane costs about $800, which Warhol pays by check, and Peter gives them a tour of his house that reaches all the way to the greenhouse. They receive room assignments, then spend the day and night waiting for Vincent Fremont and Shelly, whose drive takes eight hours instead of the expected five.

The first impressions are both practical and playful. Warhol notices a striking half-painted boat on the water and imagines it as a place for a party. Peter and Chris Makos take the visitors around town, and Peter buys chowder at Mildred’s Chowder House in Hyannis, described in the diary as a celebrated New England stop. The account makes the Cape less a remote destination than a sequence of shared arrangements: transport, rooms, food, and the anticipation of friends arriving.

Outings and Household Pleasures

The following day begins late, around 11 a.m., with apple pancakes, called applejacks, real maple syrup, and bacon at Peter’s house. The group drives to a flea market in Mashpee, visits the Thornton Burgess Museum, and feeds swans and ducks Wonder Bread that Chris Makos has bought. Afterward, they go to Sandy Neck for fried clams and fried fish, with ketchup, milkshakes, and frappes; lunch costs $35 including the tip. These precise, ordinary details give the Cape visit its easy rhythm, moving between Peter’s home, local attractions, and a meal shared on an outing.

That ease is not unbroken. While Peter and Warhol talk in another room, a water-pistol fight erupts among the others. Shelly and Jon are winning, and Chris Makos finally gives up after being cornered in the bathroom. He then slaps Jon in the face. Jon stands still and says it did not hurt, believing the slap was meant in fun. Warhol records Chris’s explanation that he has to win, decide what is right, and get what he wants. The scene turns a holiday game into a revealing moment of tension and competition within the group.

A Summer Plan and Its Tensions

On July 4, Warhol reports a call from Chris Makos, who is still on the Cape. Peter wants to stay there all summer, make art, and look after the garden, which has gone untended since his father died. He hopes to return to the city in winter and sell the work; Warhol considers the plan sound. The Cape is thus also a prospective working retreat, where care for a neglected garden and the making of art might be combined.

Chris, however, cannot tolerate family life, even though Peter’s mother is there and accepts the idea of the two men being together. The diary sets that resistance against the promise of a full summer in one place: what offers Peter time, space, and a workable routine feels confining to Chris. Across the May visit and July call, Cape Cod holds both sides of the arrangement—an inviting landscape of boats, meals, and excursions, and a family setting that makes shared life difficult.