Who was Katharine Lee Bates? Much more than the author of America The Beautiful. Born on Cape Cod in the town of Falmouth, Katharine Lee Bates was also an accomplished writer, a professor of English at Wellesley College, and a social activist. A new book, Katharine Lee Bates From Sea to Shining Sea, has just come out, and author Melinda Ponder joins Mindy Todd on The Point to talk about it.