PROVINCETOWN

Thirty miles of white sand beaches, nature trails, trolley, dune and carriage tours, sunset sails, whale-watching and fishing.  Stroll through the oldest art colony in the country.  Dozens of galleries, craft shops and boutiques are featured in this 19^th-century seaport.

Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum

Make it to the top of the Pilgrim Monument and enjoy the panoramic view of Provincetown Harbor, Cape Cod Bay, Cape Cod National Seashore and the Town of Provincetown.

The Monument commemorates the “first landing” of the Mayflower.  Pilgrims in Provincetown on November 21, 1620.  It is the tallest all granite structure in the United States!  www.pilgrim-monument.org  508-487-1310

Enjoy the Provincetown Museum and learn about Provincetown history through featured exhibits on the Pilgrims. The building of the Monument, maritime history, and the early days of modern American theater in Provincetown with Eugene O’Neill and the Provincetown Players.

Race Point Lighthouse

Begin your Cape Cod adventure with a rustic stay overnight in the Keeper’s house.  Then come to the Whalewalk Inn and Spa to begin your luxurious stay.  You stay overnight at this historical site.  The Keeper’s house has three bedrooms.  You will stay in the bedroom located on the first floor.  The half-bath on the first floor and the full-bath on the second floor are shared.  All beds have pillows and blankets.  Be sure to bring bed linens, towels, food and drinking water for your stay.  House water is used for everything except drinking. www.racepointlighthouse.net  508-487-9930

Ptwon Pedicabs

For a new experience to travel around Provincetown try “Ptwon Pedicabs”.  Take a ride on one of their chariots and experience the magic.  They run 7 days during the season.  Check out their web site at www.ptownpedicabs.com  508-487-0660

Provincetown Soap Works

Soap, soap and more soap!  Find fine soap, bath and body products made by hand in the oldest art colony in the United States.  Each bar is hand crafted with the finest ingredients, pure essential oils and botanical extracts.  These products can be found at Go fish, 371 Commercial Street, 508-487-2992

Good Scents

Shop until you drop at this “general store” for soaps, scents and personal-care products.  They offer an eclectic collection of pamper-yourself indulgences.  They even do “Custom Scenting”.  www.goodscentsptown.com 

TRURO

Truro, although not boasting a town center, they do boast of having Cape Cod’s oldest lighthouse, Highland Light.  Ships can identify it from 23 miles away.  Cape Cod Light has the distinction of being the only one of four Outer-Cape lighthouses listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  In 1794, Reverend James Freeman of the Massachusetts Historical Society, noted that there were “more ships wrecked near the eastern shore of Truro than on any other part of Cape Cod.”  In 1776, 10 acres of land were acquired for the princely sum of $110 from Isaac Small of Truro who became the first lighthouse keeper.  The original 45-foot wooden tower was built in 1797 at a distance 500 feet from the bluff.  The location was chosen “because the lands here are pretty good and are not so sandy as to be liable to be blown away by the high gales of wind too often experienced on the Cape.”  The original tower contained 24 whale-oil lamps.  To distinguish it from Boston Light, Highland Light was equipped with a rotating eclipsor, making it the nation’s first “flashing” light. 

Corn Hill Beach

This beach enables those with mobility disabilities access and use of the beach.  There is a boardwalk that extends from the parking lost to the beach.  They also have two beach wheelchairs that are available. 

Highland Light Golf Course

If golf is an interest, try Highland Light Golf Course, a true links course.  The holes are challenging and the views are spectacular.  You may even forget that you are golfing as you gaze at the picturesque scenery around you.  The gazing certainly is a good excuse if the score gets to high.

Pilgrim Heights – look for National Park Service sign off Route 6, North Truro.  Viewpoint overlooks kettle hole with distant views of the sand dunes of the Province Lands.  Access to Pilgrim Heights Trail.  Picnic area.  Seasonal restrooms.

WELLFLEET

Wellfleet is a true Art Gallery Town.  You can stroll through the village and enjoy the comprehensive collection of art on the Cape.  Saturday evening is gallery night and all are welcome to join the receptions and meet the artists.  Maps will be provided upon your arrival at the Inn.  There many good restaurants in the area and wonderful “Lobster in the Rough” restaurants – the way the Wampanoag taught the settlers how to eat nature’s treasures from the sea, the Clambake. 

In this small town, there is a charming mix of the invigorating past and exhilarating present, a comfortable blend of the old and the modern.  Galleries of handsome artwork stand now where barrel makers and sail lofts flourished; dramas are presented where fish used to be sold; and authentic general store still prospers where the train station stood in South Wellfleet.  Restaurants flourish in old oyster houses and in houses on the National Register.  Bars can be found in what were the borning rooms of small Cape Cod houses and even in an old Life Saving Station.

The fresh water ponds are a particular delight in Wellfleet.  Their tranquil surfaces shimmer in early sunlight, and their small sandy beaches echo with happiness in late afternoons as the shadows from the surrounding pines darken the water.  The combination of a day on a stimulating and expansive Back Shore beach, and a leisurely swim in the warm water of one of the kettle ponds is a special luxury that Wellfleet offers.

Seafood lovers gratefully pay homage to that brave soul who “first at an oyster” every time they down a dozen on the half-shell.  Wellfleet fishermen produce and harvest oysters famous throughout the world.  Taste for yourself at the restaurants and fish markets of Wellfleet.    Besides the Wellfleet Oyster restaurants in the area serve  “Lobster in the Rough” – the way the Wampanoag taught the settlers how to eat nature’s treasures from the sea, the Clambake.  Especially join the fun at the Fall Oyster Festival in October.

Marconi  Station Site – off Route 6, at the traffic light at Marconi Station area.  Here you will find high sand cliffs above the ocean and the history of Marconi and his wireless radio station.  Interpretive exhibit.  Observation platform.  Seasonal restrooms.  Access to Atlantic white Cedar Swamp Trail.

Atwood Higgins House – inquire at visitor centers for directions.  18^th century Cape houses (seasonally-scheduled free tours and open houses) accessed from true “back roads” to Bound Brook Island.  Caution:  Circuitous, narrow roads.  Limited parking.

EASTHAM

Eastham is a quintessential paradise, where the Outer Cape begins.  It is a narrow strip of rural country with marshes, ponds, bogs and forests.  The town has a grand heritage with First Encounter Beach where Pilgrims and the Native Americans first met with a barrage of arrows and musket fire.  Pilgrims came to Eastham because they were dissatisfied with the poor quality of lands granted to them in Plymouth.  Three of the original passengers of the Mayflower are buried in the Old Cove Cemetery. 

Today Eastham proudly continues its heritage.  There are miles of walking and bike trails through woods, fields, marshes, and several designated historical sites and areas.  Here you can discover windmills, museums and salt air breezes.

Canoe Trips

Does a quiet morning paddle on a kettle pond appeal to you?  How about taking a journey through a marsh or saltwater tidal river?  These experiences can by yours by joining a ranger-guided canoe trip.  Canoe trips offer an opportunity to explore the park from the water, providing new perspectives and insights into park resources.  Trips are offered periodically in June and daily in July and August.

All trips require basic paddling experience.  The park provides equipment.  Canoe lessons are also available.  Check the schedule of ranger-guided activities or park visitor centers for schedules and cost.

Salt Pond Visitor Center off Route 6, Eastham 508-255-3421

Province Lands Visitor Center off Race Point Road, Provincetown 508-487-1256

          

Fort Hill Area – Off Route 6, Open fields. Views of Nauset Marsh, historic Penniman House (seasonally-scheduled free tours and open houses).  Limited parking.  Seasonal restrooms.  Access to Red Maple Swamp Trail.

Coast Guard and Nauset Light beaches, Nauset and Three sisters Lighthouses off Route 6 at the traffic light at Nauset Road at the Salt Pond Visitor Center.  Ocean View Drive in Eastham affords ocean and marsh views, and an opportunity to see histori8c lighthouses (seasonally-scheduled free tours and open houses).  Seasonal restrooms at beaches.  Seasonal beach fees may apply.  Highly congested in summer; spring and fall use recommended.

ORLEANS

The town of Orleans is the only town on Cape Cod with a French name.  It is a great walking town with quaint clothes shops and wonderful galleries.   Orleans can also boast of some of the finest restaurants on Cape Cod, and they are all within five minutes of the Inn.  Rock Harbor has the largest deep sea fishing fleet on the Cape.  There they take you out, put on the bait, take you to some of the best fishing sites on Cape Cod Bay, and clean your catch.  Nothing like the fight of a Striped Bass or Bluefish!

French Cable Station Museum, Orleans

This is where the first transatlantic communications were made between Orleans and Brest, France, via a 3,000-mile underwater cable.  For a period of 50 years, the station received important news of the times, including Lindbergh’s landing in Paris in 1927 and the invasion of France by Germany in 1940.  The original working equi9pment is still in place.  www.frommers.com/destinations/orleans/  508-240-1735

The 1833 Meeting House Museum, Orleans

It contains many interesting historical artifacts from the early days of Orleans.  It is located on the right to Nauset Beach on the corner of River Road.  508-240-0071

Rock Harbor, Orleans

Rock Harbor is the scene of a famous 1812 battle where Orleans militiamen turned back the British HMS Newcastle.  The dead trees at the harbor entrance mark the channel for the fishing fleet.

CHATHAM

One of the older townships on Cape Cod, Chatham was settled in 1656 by William and Anne Busby Nickerson.  It was incorporated in 1712.  Originally a farming community, its inhabitants found deep sea fishing more lucrative; and today, small boat deep sea fishing, as well as shell fishing continue as important maritime industries.  Covering an area of approximately seventeen square miles, Chatham is a happy combination of past and present.

Chatham, located at the “elbow” of Cape Cod is surrounded by water on three sides, Chatham benefits from Mother Nature’s “natural air conditioning” with cool summers, exquisite autumns, and mild winters.

Chatham offers an exceptional number of unique shops to whet your appetite for that “special” purchase.

Chatham Light, Chatham

It was first built in 1808 as two brick towers with a keeper’s house.  Two lights were used to distinguish it from the single light at Truro’s Highland Light.  Erosion claimed the original lightshouses and they were replaced with metal ones in 1877.  One of these two lights was then moved to Nauset in 1923.  Chatham Light has breathtaking panoramas of Chatham Harbor and the Atlantic Ocean.  Here you can view the famous Chatham Break, a division in Nauset Beach created by a fierce winter nor’easter in 1987.  Directions:  Drive east on Main Street, Chatham, to the junction with Shore Road.  Turn right and drive one-half mile.  Lighthouse is opposite overlook parking lot.

Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge

Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge consists of North and South Monomoy Islands and a portion of Morris Island.

The nearly 3,000 acre uninhabited refuge, home to 285 species of birds, stretches approximately ten miles southward into the waters of Nantucket Sound and the Atlantic Ocean.,  Ninety-four percent of Monomoy’s acreage was designated a Wilderness Area in 1970, and is managed under the guidelines of the Wilderness Act of 1964.  It is the only Wilderness area in southern New England.

BREWSTER

Brewster is Cape Cod’s Sea Captains’ Town.  Once a historic seafaring town, today it is a town of museums, golf courses, small shops and, of course, the Route 6A trek of antique shopping.  The Cape Cod Rail Trail extends down through Brewster and there you can enjoy the vistas of Nickerson State Park and the kettle ponds along the way.  For a little culture, head to the bandstand at the bay on Sunday evenings in the summer or take in a play at the Cape Rep Theatre or the Cape Playhouse.  There are several museums including the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History. 

Cape Cod Museum of Natural History, Brewster

It contains numerous hands-on exhibits, including a working beehive, a sea-life room with live specimens and 80 acres of self-guided nature trails.  The John Wing Trail meanders through salt marshes, ending with a fabulous view of Cape Cod Bay.  The museum also offers guided tours to Monomoy Island including overnight stays at the restored lighthouse on South Monomoy.  www.ccmnh.org 508-896-3867

The Brewster Historical Society Museum, Brewster

It is adjacent to the 25-acre Spruce Hill Conservation Area.  The museum is housed in an 1830s sea captain’s home, and contains numerous artifacts, including antique clothing and toys and a complete 1884 barbershop.  www.museumsusa.org/museums/info/1160893 or www.frommers.com/destinations/brewster/ 508-896-9521