Cape Cod, Massachusetts & National Seashore – Your Laid-Back Guide
"You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment."
— Henry David Thoreau
Okay, folks, let’s talk about Cape Cod. This isn’t just some place on a map; it’s a whole vibe. Imagine a sandy arm reaching out into the Atlantic from Massachusetts, and you’ve got it. Bartholomew Gosnold, way back in 1602, gave it the name, making it one of the oldest English place names in the US. But beyond the history, Cape Cod is a place that gets under your skin, especially when you experience the Cape Cod National Seashore. From those dramatic coastal cliffs to peaceful ponds, it’s easy to see why people fall head over heels for this place.
What’s the Deal with Cape Cod?
Cape Cod stretches from Provincetown in the northeast all the way to Woods Hole in the southwest, snuggling up next to Plymouth on its northwest side. It’s broken up into 15 towns, and some of those towns have little village clusters. The Cape kind of forms the bottom edge of the Gulf of Maine, reaching up towards Nova Scotia.
Geologically speaking, Cape Cod is a glacial deposit. In simpler terms, it’s basically a pile of sand and stuff that the glaciers left behind. The crazy thing is, it’s always changing. The wind and waves are constantly moving sand around, taking away in one spot and building up in another. Head to the Marconi Station Site in Wellfleet to see this in action. It’s only a mile wide there, and a lot of the cliff has washed away since Guglielmo Marconi built his radio towers back in 1901.
A Little History, Hold the Snooze
For a long time, folks on Cape Cod depended on the sea for a living. Lighthouses and the Life Saving Service were a big deal, protecting ships offshore. But things weren’t always easy. Wars or not being able to keep up with new fishing tech could bring hard times. Even when things were good, Cape Cod was kind of in the shadow of Boston. After the Civil War, when fishing wasn’t as reliable, people started growing cranberries and getting into tourism. Since the 1950s, it’s become more suburban.
The First People: Native Americans
People have been living on Cape Cod for about 10,000 years! Native American settlements were mostly near the coast or around ponds and waterways. Places like Salt Pond were probably popular spots. These folks had a pretty good thing going, living off the land and sea.
They lived near Nauset Marsh and Wellfleet Harbor, giving them access to all sorts of environments. Their villages weren’t as clustered as some other tribes. The Nauset Indians, part of the Algonquian Family, lived all over Cape Cod except for the very western tip, where the Wampanoag tribe lived. The Nauset on the upper Cape were influenced by the Wampanoag, but those on the lower Cape were more independent. There were six Nauset villages near what is now the Cape Cod National Seashore. Back in 1621, they probably had around 500 people.
For the most part, the Cape Cod Indians were farmers, living in small villages along the creeks and bays. They built dome-shaped huts made of saplings covered with grass and reeds. Inside, they had a fire pit for cooking and warmth.
French explorer Samuel Champlain visited the Nauset and Monomoy tribes in the early 1600s. He gave us a good description of their lives. The Nauset he saw at Nauset Harbor didn’t wear much clothing, just covering the important bits. Sometimes they wore grass or hemp robes. They painted their faces red, black, and yellow, and the men cut their hair short on top, decorating it with wild turkey feathers. Their huts were spread out among fields where they grew corn, beans, squash, tobacco, and a root that tasted like artichoke. They rotated their crops, but weeds were a problem. Before planting, they burned the vegetation and turned the soil with wooden spades.
Champlain noted that they boiled corn or ground it into flour for cakes. They ate shellfish, but not crabs (though they used them for fertilizer). They used crab tails and flint for arrowheads. Common shells were clam, quahog, conch, periwinkle, and oyster. In the 1880s, a survey found eight Indian village sites on the lower Cape based on shell remains.
In 1606, Champlain visited the Monomoy tribe at Stage Harbor. They lived similarly to the Nauset, with huts containing beds made of wood and mats. They grew the same crops. The Monomoy stored their corn in grass sacks buried in the sand.
The Monomoy had bows, arrows, and clubs, but Champlain thought they were better fishermen and farmers than hunters. They used harpoons with bone heads and fishhooks. They used rocks to sharpen tools and stone axes. The Cape Indians preferred snares for catching animals.
Thomas Morton, who lived near Plymouth Colony in the 1620s, described the Indians’ marriage and childbearing customs. Girls wore a red leather cap for a year to show they were available for marriage. After marriage, they usually got pregnant quickly and worked until the birth. Midwives helped them deliver, and they were back to work in a day or two. They carried infants in cradles on their backs.
Each tribe had its own territory, with loose connections to the others. They didn’t believe in individual land ownership; the tribe held the land in common. A sachem or chief led each tribe, and the title stayed in the family. Elders advised the chief. The medicine man was also important, calling on Hobbamock, the god of healing, to cure the sick. They had many gods to explain natural phenomena, with Kiehtan as the creator.
Explorers: Who Found This Place?
Cape Cod was a landmark for early explorers. Some think it was the "Promontory of Vinland" mentioned by Norse voyagers around 1000 AD. Some say Leif Eiriksson visited the Manomet River area. A stone wall in Provincetown might have been built by his brother Thorvald around 1007 AD, but there’s no real proof.
After Christopher Columbus’s voyages, Europeans started exploring and mapping the North American coast. Cape Cod, Sandy Hook, and the Bay of Fundy made a big impression.
Giovanni da Verrazzano came from the south in 1524 and named Martha’s Vineyard Claudia. In 1525, Portuguese explorer Estevao Gomes called it Cabo de la Arenas.
In 1602, Bartholomew Gosnold encountered Cape Cod while looking for a colonization area. He sailed into Cape Cod Bay on May 15, 1602. He landed near Barnstable Harbor and found so many cod fish that he named the place Cape Cod.
In 1605, French explorer Samuel de Champlain explored the Cape and wrote about his observations of Nauset Harbor, including crops, housing, food storage, and clothing. He also made a map of Native American villages around Nauset Harbor.
Henry Hudson landed at Cape Cod in 1609. Captain John Smith arrived in 1614 and mapped the Cape coast. The Dutch "Figurative Map" of 1614 also charted the Cape, calling it Staten Hoeck. On November 11, 1620, the Pilgrims landed near Provincetown. In 1624, William Alexander published the first map with the name Cape Cod on it.
European Settlement: The Pilgrims Arrive
Cape Cod was one of the first places settled by Puritan colonists. The Cape’s 15 towns developed slowly, except for Barnstable, Sandwich, and Yarmouth. The last town, Bourne, was established in 1884. Provincetown was just a bunch of huts until the 18th century. The Cape Cod Canal developed from 1870 to 1914.
When the Pilgrims landed in 1620, about 97% of the Cape was covered with trees. The Indians had cleared small patches for crops, usually near bays or streams. They burned the woods twice a year to clear underbrush and provide new growth for deer. As a result, the higher elevations looked like parks.
The Pilgrim farmers burned and cut trees more intensively, creating pasture for cattle and sheep. These animals destroyed young trees, and the land dried out. Huckleberries, blueberries, and scrub oak spread, leading to uncontrolled fires that killed more trees. By the mid-18th century, areas of shifting sand dotted the Cape, and no large timber remained.
As the soil became less fertile, farmers sought other income. Whales were abundant and often stranded on the beaches. Settlers would strip their fat and turn it into oil. They built lookout towers to spot whales and drive them ashore. By 1650, whaling became a vocation. Whaling increased the destruction of the woods because trees were cut for fuel and barrels.
By 1643, the colony at Plymouth needed more arable land. They considered relocating part of the population to Nauset (later Eastham), which had fertile land. In 1644, a group led by Thomas Prence settled in the Town Cove area. They bought the land from the Sauset and Monomoyick tribes. In 1646, Nauset was incorporated as a town, and in 1651, it was renamed Eastham.
Early land grants were small, averaging five acres or less. Each grant included a salt marsh, upland cleared by Native Americans, and a woodland plot. By 1656, there were 115 people in the settlement. They grew wheat, corn, and English hay; planted apple and pear orchards; and kept livestock. They also fished.
Thomas Prence, the leader of the new settlers, was an influential member of the Plymouth colony. He served as colony governor for two years and was again chosen as governor in 1657. He remained in Eastham, making it the center of political and religious life for the Lower Cape for several years.
By 1660, Cape Codders began fishing in the bay. This industry led to related ventures, which reduced the woods. Small fishing vessels required white pine for masts. Pitch pine provided resin, and other trees were damaged during tapping for turpentine and tar. Salt was obtained by boiling seawater, requiring fuel from the woods.
Lacking adequate roads, the Cape people depended on small packet ships for transportation. They carried produce to Boston, including fish, pork, beef, mutton, hides, tallow, timber, oysters, and whale oil. In addition to fishing, these ventures fostered shipbuilding. However, Cape Cod failed to develop economically due to a lack of good ports and capital. They relied on Boston merchants for imports and markets. The situation didn’t change after Plymouth became part of Massachusetts in 1691.
By 1800, much of Cape Cod’s firewood had to be transported from Maine. The scarcity of vegetation worsened when merino sheep were raised. The Industrial Revolution mostly bypassed Cape Cod due to a lack of water power. As a result, the Cape developed as a large fishing and whaling center.
Due to early colonial settlement and intensive land use, Cape Cod’s vegetation was thin when Henry Thoreau visited from 1849 to 1857. Fires heated the settlers, and they cleared most of the timber early on. They planted crops unsuited to Cape Cod’s thin, glacially derived soils. Improper farming led to erosion and loss of topsoil. Farmers grazed cattle on coastal dunes, leading to sand burying cultivated fields. Dunes on the outer Cape became more common, and many harbors filled with eroded soils.
After 1860 and the opening of the American West, farmers abandoned agriculture on the Cape.
Cape Cod became a summer haven for city dwellers in the late 19th century. Improved rail transportation made the towns of the Upper Cape accessible to Bostonians. In the early 20th century, the Northeastern mercantile elite built large, shingled "cottages" along Buzzards Bay.
Guglielmo Marconi made the first transatlantic wireless transmission from Cape Cod at Wellfleet. In 1914, he began constructing a new wireless receiver station in Chatham and a transmitter station in Marion. In 1920, the stations were acquired by RCA, and in 1921, Chatham began operating as a maritime radio station. Marconi chose Chatham due to its vantage point on the Atlantic Ocean.
Cape Cod National Seashore: Protecting the Good Stuff
President John F. Kennedy created the Cape Cod National Seashore on August 7, 1961. This protected the area from development and preserved it for public use. It encompasses 43,607 acres and includes ponds, woods, and the beachfront of the Atlantic coastal pine barrens ecoregion. The National Seashore includes nearly 40 miles along the Atlantic-facing eastern shore of Cape Cod, in Provincetown, Truro, Wellfleet, Eastham, Orleans, and Chatham. Large portions are open to the public, including the Marconi Site in Wellfleet. The National Park Service administers it.
Things to Do: Beaches, History, and More!
Cape Cod is all about recreation and relaxation. You can bike, hike, swim, surf, hunt, camp, fish, whale watch, and more. There are also historic sites and buildings to explore. Visitor centers have activity schedules, publications, information, exhibits, and seashore views. Its maritime character and beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer.
Beaches:
- Marconi Beach, Wellfleet: Popular with surfers, located at the end of Marconi Beach Road.
- Coast Guard Beach, Eastham: Family-friendly, summer access via shuttle from the Little Creek parking area.
- Nauset Light Beach, Eastham: Broad, sandy beach in front of a steep glacial scarp.
- Head of the Meadow Beach, Truro: Broad, sandy beach with gentler waves.
- Race Point Beach, Provincetown: Popular for whale watching and sunset viewing.
- Herring Cove Beach, Provincetown: Easy access, family-friendly, with views of Race Point Light.
Historic Buildings:
- Penniman House, Eastham: Completed in 1868, styled after the French Second-Empire period.
- Pamet Cranberry Bog House, Truro: Constructed around 1830, located among former cranberry bogs.
- Atwood-Higgins House, Wellfleet: A Cape Cod cottage that grew from a half-house in the early 1700s to a full-Cape with eight rooms by the 19th century.
- Old Harbor Life-Saving Station, Provincetown: Interprets the story of shipwrecks and the U.S. Life-Saving Service.
- Highland House, Truro: A hotel built in 1907, providing insight into the people of Truro.
Area Lighthouses:
- Race Point Light, Provincetown: First erected in 1816, the current lighthouse dates from 1876.
- Long Point Light, Provincetown: First lit in 1827, rebuilt in 1875.
- Monomoy Point Light, Chatham: First erected in 1823 and rebuilt in 1849.
- Nauset Light, Eastham: Built in 1877 as one of the Chatham Twin Lights and relocated to Eastham in 1923.
- Chatham Light, Chatham: Built in 1808 as two brick towers.
- Wood End Light, Provincetown: A twin to Long Point Light.
- Three Sisters, Eastham: The original brick Three Sisters were built in 1838.
- Highland Light, North Truro: Also known as Cape Cod Light, was the first light seen on a voyage from Europe to Boston.
Getting Around
U.S. 6 is the main route through the national seashore. Buses run from Hyannis to Chatham and Provincetown. Airlines operate between Hyannis and Boston, Providence and New York, and between Boston and Provincetown. Amtrak provides limited service to Hyannis on weekends in the summer. There is a seasonal ferry service between Boston and Provincetown.