Nine Reasons to Visit Cape Cod: New England’s Summer Playground

A man may stand there and put all America behind him. Henry David Thoreau

Pristine sandy beaches, ice cream, and baseball. Cape Cod is the quintessential New England Summer vacation experience. “The Cape” as it is known by New Englanders, is the peninsula of land that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean from southeastern Massachusetts. You can take a ferry from Boston and be in Provincetown on the outermost tip of the Cape in as little as 90 minutes. Another alternative? You can drive  from Boston, south along Rt. 3, cross the Sagamore Bridge and be in Sandwich, the gateway to the Cape in a little more than an hour.

Beaches.There are more than 60 public beaches here;  from the warm, calm beaches along the Cape Cod Bay that are ideal for families with young children to the 40 miles of beach and endless sand dunes that comprise the Cape Cod National Sea Shore along the Cape’s Atlantic side.

Ice Cream. Honest to goodness homemade ice cream from Sundae School Ice Cream (with locations in Harwich Port, Dennisport and East Orleans) is an “every night while in Cape Cod” tradition for many vacationing New England families.

Seafood. Lobster, chowder, and fried whole belly clams make summer, summer.  Cooke’s ( Mashpee, Hyannis and Orleans) serves great, straight forward seafood, which here in New England means either fried or broiled.

Baseball. Celebrating its 126 th year, the Cape Cod Baseball League is one of the country’s premier amateur baseball leagues featuring today’s best college players.During the 2009 season, there were more than 200 CCBL players in Major League Baseball including  Kevin Youklis (Red Sox), Evan Longoria (Tampa Bay), and Mark Teixeira (New York Yankees). There are ten teams in the league,  the 44 game schedule is played from mid-June-early August at fields throughout the Cape, and admission is free (although donations are appreciated).

Lighthouses. These beacons of light that dot the coast  of Cape Cod guided sailors and protected  the shoreline for generations. Nobska Light in Falmouth, Nauset Light in Eastham, and Chatham Light in Chatham are among the Cape’s most picturesque and are open for public tours.

Bike Trails. Turn up the foot power, a bicycle  ride allows visitors to experience the Cape at its natural best. Mid-Cape, the 22 mile Cape Cod Rail Trail is an easy, paved path through the towns of Denis, Harwich, Brewster, Orleans, Eastham and Wellfleet. There are bike rental shops at several points along the route, check out Barbara’s Bike Shop with convenient locations in Dennis and Brewster . Another popular easy pedaling bike trail is the 8-mile Cape Cod Canal Bike Way along the Cape Cod Canal between the Bourne and Sagamore Bridges.

Golf. There are 27 public access courses Cape-wide; some like Ballymeade in Falmouth are rated among the best in the country. Both Junior and Senior Tour hopefuls will enjoy a round of miniature golf and  Yarmouth is the epicenter of Cape miniature golf. Both  Pirate’s Cove and Bass River Sportsworld boast scenic, landscaped  courses with plenty of shade and water features.

Art and Antiques Galleries.There are art galleries galore at both ends of the Cape in the towns of Falmouth and Provincetown. And there is a concentrated selection of antique shops along Rt. 6A, the Old Kings Highway, from Sandwich to Orleans.

Islands. Experience the low-key charm of an island vacation  just minutes away from the coast of Cape Cod. Martha’s Vineyard is just 7 miles and a 30-minute ferry ride from Woods Hole , Nantucket is a one hour ferry ride from Hyannis and the Steamship Authority is the easiest and least expensive way to get to both.  Both the Vineyard and Nantucket feature lovely beaches, natural beauty and  excellent shopping and dining in quaint seafaring towns. In the summer, both islands also attract a fair number of visiting celebrities from the entertainment and political worlds.

Image Credit: Massachusetts Department of Travel and Tourism: Racepoint Beach, Tim Grafft; Falmouth Bike, Kindra Clineff