Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Along with the nearby islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, Cape Cod and the surrounding area are the preferred travel destinations in Massachusetts. A good hour’s drive from Greater Boston and also reachable from New York City in five hours, the peninsula in the Atlantic for many city dwellers is an easily accessible destination with miles of beaches, interesting historical places, countless sports and leisure opportunities and lots of nature, often is also visited by prominent tourists – the most famous guests is the family Kennedy. To get here, there are plenty of train, bus and even ferry connections from Boston to the nearest major airport during the busy summer season.
Those planning to travel must remember that there is no place called Cape Cod. The term refers to the entire Barnstable County or the entire peninsula. It is connected to the mainland by two main roads and a railway bridge across the Cape Cod Canal, with access roads to Sagamore and Bourne. The waters between the island and the mainland are referred to as Cape Cod Bay, which in turn is considered part of the Gulf of Maine. The Cape Cod Canal at the beginning of the peninsula was created in 1916 to spare merchant ships the time-consuming and time-consuming detour from Cape Cod. South of this passage and the island follows a chain of smaller islands, the Elizabeth Islands, which are partly privately owned by various branches of the Forbes family.
Cape Cod has been home to the people of Wampanoag for centuries. The people of this nation are known to help the Puritans of the Plymouth colony, who arrived in 1620, with their fishing and farming skills to survive the difficult start. As a result, the island became one of the first settlements of colonial settlements in the country and as a result, the 15 cities that exist on Cape Cod date back to the 17th century. For many years, people lived from fishing and whaling, agriculture was abandoned in the mid-19th century. At the beginning of the 20th century, tourism began to develop, favored by improved rail links and driven by wealthy Boston merchants who built summer homes here. The business with the visitors quickly became the most important source of income and took more and more space. That was one of the reasons why Pres >Cape Cod National Seashore was established to protect more than 60 kilometers of coastline.
The Cape Cod National Seashore is home to two visitor centers, one in Provincetown (171 Race Point Road), open May to October, and one open year round in Eastham (50 Nauset Road, open daily 9-16: 30). In the visitor centers you will find information about the offer of the protected area, such as guided walks and exhibitions and information on leisure activities. These include twelve designated hiking trails, giving you a closer look at nature on the coast, and three separate bike trails; Cyclists may also use all other roads. In summer there is a shuttle bus with a trailer, where you can reach more distant points. However, the main attractions of the National Seashore are the beaches. There are six designated bathing beaches in the area, each signposted (a one-day pass for a drive-in cost $ 20).
The beaches are also one of Cape Cod’s main attractions outside the reserve. There are more than 900 kilometers of coastline in total, and in addition to some private beach areas, there are over 60 areas that are open to the public. Many visitors are drawn to the lighthouses for which the island is known. Especially in ancient times, the waters here were difficult to navigate, which led to many sunken ships around the island – so many that sometimes the term “sea cemetery” is used for the coastline of Cape Cod. From the middle of the 19th century, therefore, people began to set landmarks with lighthouses. Many of them enjoy great popularity with tourists today. These include, for example, the Highland Light at Truro, which was built in 1797 and is open to visitors from May to October. This is Cape Cod’s oldest and tallest lighthouse and is still in operation. In 1996, the Highland Light was moved from its original position 140 meters from the coast because it threatened to fall into the sea due to erosion of the cliff. The same procedure was used in 1998 for the Nauset Light in Eastham, but only for seven meters. The building, now located there, was built in 1923 and is now a listed building owned by the National Park Service. In the neighborhood are the three smaller lighthouses called the Three Sisters of Nauset. Also worth seeing is the 1876 Nobska Light on the southwesternmost point of Cape Cod at Woods Hole, whose brick architecture was covered with an iron shell. More lighthouses are located mainly in the northern section of the island, which is referred to as Outer Cape.
The Outer Cape is the furthest section of the island from the mainland. Generally, for locations in Outer, Upper, Lower, and M >Provincetown, known as the Liberal Place of Artists and a popular holiday resort for the LGBT community. Around 3000 people have their permanent residence here, in the season several tens of thousands are added. The historic center of the city is Commercial Street, where you will find restaurants, bars and small shops. Attractions include the area around the harbor and especially the Pilgrim Monument (High Pole Hill Road), a nearly 77 meter high granite tower, whose foundation stone was built in 1907 by Pres >Wellfleet a little further south, an oysters festival takes place every October. Many tourists also attract the small town of Eastham with its approximately 5000 inhabitants, not least because of the mentioned lighthouses. The place is considered the entry point to the National Seashore. Particularly worth seeing is the 1680 built in late Victorian style Eastham Windmill. Another windmill in neighboring Orleans, the Jonathan Young Windmill, is a restored 18th century.
At the “elbow” of the Capes, at the easternmost point in the Lower Cape section, lies the historic town of Chatham, also the site of a lighthouse worth seeing. In the village there are several other listed buildings. In the summer, when the 6000 permanent residents add about 20,000 tourists, it can get crowded around pretty Main Street, where shops and restaurants are concentrated. In the neighboring Harwich, with 12,200 inhabitants about twice as large as Chatham, takes place annually in September, a cranberry festival. Year round popular destinations include the lakes in the city, including the largest lake of Cape Cod, Long Pond, land on the occasional seaplanes. On the other side of the lake is the town of Brewster, where the Town Hall is well worth seeing and where the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History (869 Main Street) is located. On the way to the mainland then follows the three villages, the so-called Villages existing Yarmouth city with nearly 24,000 inhabitants, which can proudly claim to have been founded in 1639 as part of the Plymouth colony.
The neighboring town of Barnstable is the largest on Cape Cod with 45,000 inhabitants. There is also a regional airport. Barnstable has long been considered a noble resort – the average income of the inhabitants, he is the fourth richest town in Massachusetts -. which is in good connection with the fact that the US-Pres >Hyannis Port, which ran its stores in summer and declared the manor to be the “Summer White House”. The property, consisting of several buildings, is located on Marchant Avenue and is now owned by a foundation run by the Kennedy family. In the hamlet of Hyannis is also the JFK Museum (397 Main Street, open April to November). Also, Hyannis is Cape Cod’s premier leisure and fishing harbor, offering the most shopping opportunities and the starting point for ferry services to Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard.
The upper cape towns closest to the mainland then begin with the 14,000-inhabitant town of Mashpee, where South Cape Beach State Park (Great Oak Road) is located, with dunes, marshes, and a beautiful beach of white sand. In the hinterland is the Mashpee National Wildlife Refuge, a nature reserve whose habitats are home to many species of animals. The area is currently not open to visitors. The city’s main attraction is the Meetinghouse Road, a relatively nondescript building dating back to 1684, which is no less than the oldest aboriginal church in the eastern United States. In Sandwich, on the mainland side of the island, Hoxie House, built in 1675, makes it one of the oldest homes in Massachusetts. In addition, Sandwich is the location of a botanical garden in the Heritage Museum (67 Grove Street, open April to October) and a glass museum in a disused glass factory. The adjoining town of Falmouth is the second largest of Cape Cod with 31,500 inhabitants. From here, more precisely from the hamlet of Woods Hole, ferries to Martha’s Vineyard. Woods Hole is also home to a number of major scientific institutions, including the prestigious Oceanographic Institute and a marine biology laboratory.
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