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Learn
about Cape Cod by reading Falling in Love with Old Cape Cod by
Henry Scammell. It features things to do on the Cape, places to
stay and eat, and much more objective information that you can
immediately put to use in planning your trip to the Cape. At the
end of the article, we've provided a summary of all of the places
Scammell recommends for your easy reference. Enjoy!
Falling in Love With Old Cape Cod
by Henry Scammell
A summer’s day in Harwich Port, on Cape Cod
For almost 400 years, Cape Cod has been a
world-class getaway destination. The richly historic, scenic peninsula
that extends 40 miles from the Massachusetts mainland out into the
Atlantic, then another 40 miles north to form the bottom boundary of the
Gulf of Maine, is one of those rare places that seems to offer something
for everyone: serenity for the spiritual pilgrim, sanctuary for the
fugitive from the Here and Now, an intense dose of raw nature for the
overcivilized, spectacular recreation for the underexercized, and every
kind of activity for the serious pleasure seeker.
Although the Cape is best known as a summer
resort, more and more savvy vacationers are taking advantage of rate drops
at 4-star accommodations of 20-40% and higher after Columbus Day, when the
crowds have left but the warmth still lingers. And renters who don’t
need to meet school schedules often find two-week bookings on either side
of Labor Day combine peak-season amenities with roomier beaches and more
relaxed departures.
Thanks to the National Seashore Park, a
huge patchwork of protected beaches, swamps, marshes and highlands
stretches from the elbow to the tip, continuously re sculpted by the wind
and sea but virtually unchanged in its natural beauty from before the
arrival of humans - the earliest evidence of which dates back some 6,000
years. The Founding Fathers landed here on their way from England to
Virginia and were so impressed by the Cape Cod combination of natural
beauty and oceanic power that they settled in the place they named
Plimoth.
The famous Canal came three centuries
later. The modern traveler by car crosses over on the bridge at either
Sagamore or Bourne. There are several small airports along the Cape’s
flexed arm, from the Race Point dunes which form the hand-like tip in
Provincetown (P-town locally) to Chatham on the elbow and to Falmouth at
the scapula; the commercial hub in Hyannis offers service to New York,
Boston and the islands. The nearest international airports are T. F. Green
in Providence and Logan in Boston, each an hour from the canal by rental
car.
The entire Cape, except for most of the
outside of its forearm, is riddled with inlets ranging from small tidal
rivers to full-fledged seaports, from P-Town to Wood’s Hole. Ferry
service (no cars) from Boston to P-town runs daily May-September. Day
trips to Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard are available year round from
Woods Hole and Hyannis (cars carried), and seasonally from Harwich Port
(no cars.) High-speed service from Hyannis (year-round) and Harwich Port
(summers) cuts the three-hour Nantucket trip to an hour.
Anyone arriving on a summer Saturday - the
traditional renters’ changeover day - is familiar with the delays that
can occur at the two bridges. But don’t take false hope from the
ubiquitous bumper sticker "permits" for the Cape Cod Tunnel or
Nantucket Bridge. They’re a hugely popular insider’s joke, and no such
tunnel or bridge exists.
The recreation potential of Cape Cod is
phenomenal. For hunter-gatherers, it’s nature’s supermarket.
Cranberries (wild and cultivated), beach plums, grapes, and blackberries
abound along its shores. Clams, mussels, quahogs and the fabled Wellfleet
oyster teem in its shallow waters. Pollock, cod, blues and stripers cruise
the rips off Momomoy and Race Point and the eddies of the Canal, with
bonita, dolphin, shark and tuna off the coast. There are actually more
geese and wild ducks in the Cape’s marshes or along its shore today than
in 1620.
The Cape boasts an enormous fleet for whale
watching and charter sport fishing at P-town, Barnstable, Hyannis and
elsewhere, and numerous rental liveries. The Audubon Society in Wellfleet
and Cape Museum of Natural History in Brewster offer walking and birding
tours, including the sanctuary on wild, uninhabited Monomoy Island. Other
day trips from Harwich Port and Chatham take visitors to within virtual
touching distance of the vast Monomoy seal herd.
There may be fewer lobsters now than three
centuries ago, but there are still plenty to go around. Served "in
the rough" with fries and slaw at lobster shacks throughout the Cape,
they are also found in supermarkets, fish stores, and on the menus of Cape
Cod’s best restaurants, from the Chart Room in Bourne to Chillingsworth
in Brewster or the Barley Neck Inn, Orleans. Brax Landing in Harwich Port
is one of the few waterfront dining facilities on the Sound. Other good
takes in the same town are O’Neil’s Seafood and New Moon, both on
Harwich Port’s scenic Main Street.
P-town remains the area’s best known art
colony, but galleries such as Trees Place in Orleans have spread the
center of gravity, and the Cape Museum of Fine Arts is located in Dennis.
A walker’s paradise, the Cape offers
miles of safe, well-maintained trails for hiking and biking through cedar
swamps, around high dunes, and beside miles of still virgin shores. Public
and private golf courses abound.
Ditto for theaters, notably summer stock
and community playhouses. The Cape Cod Melody Tent in Hyannis books a
steady supply of world-class talent all summer, and the famed Cape Cod
Symphony performs intermittently throughout the year.
The most popular Cape pastime may be the
least advertised: picking a comfortable, scenic sanctuary and simply
"vegging out" with a book or crossword puzzle, or perhaps with
nothing at all, and soaking up God’s blessings on this favored place.
Places to Stay, Eat, and Other Contact Information
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Notice: This information is current as of
March 2000. It is recommended that you contact the numbers, and/or
visit the web sites above to determine any changes to the
information. |
