Cape Cod - The Delaplaine 2022 Long Weekend Guide

CAPE COD

The Delaplaine

2022

Long Weekend Guide

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Andrew Delaplaine

Senior Writer - James Cubby

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NO BUSINESS HAS PAID A SINGLE PENNY OR GIVEN ANYTHING TO BE INCLUDED IN THIS BOOK.

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Copyright © by Gramercy Park Press - All rights reserved.

Please submit corrections, additions or comments to [email protected]

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1 – WHY CAPE COD?

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Chapter 2 – GETTING ABOUT

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Chapter 3 – WHERE TO STAY

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Chapter 4 – WHERE TO EAT

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Chapter 6 – WHAT TO SEE & DO

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Chapter 7 –  SHOPPING & SERVICES

Chapter 1 –

WHY CAPE COD?

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Every time I’m in the Hamptons, the thought crosses my mind that I’d rather be on Cape Cod.

Every time I’m on Cape Cod, I think two things: Thank God it never turned into the Hamptons and Thank God it’s still the same.

It’s not of course. Nothing ever really is the same. But when you run into old-timers on Long Island, they’ll tell you how it was in the Hamptons before the mega-rich moved in and built their monstrously inappropriate mansions, bringing along with them, naturally, their monstrously inappropriate attitudes. The Hamptons with their fancy shops and nightclubs. (Can you ever imagine a NIGHTCLUB on Cape Cod? Not really. Who would ever go to it? I’m not including P-town in this statement—with all the gay people out there, of course they have nightclubs.)

Cape Cod is really one of the great things about America. There’s a unique ecosystem or lifestyle or way of life or mindset on the Cape, however you may want to describe it.

The cheesy little stores selling dust collecting souvenirs, the roadside seafood shacks selling fried clams the way they have for decades, the quiet beaches on Nantucket Bay, the shops selling saltwater taffy and other summer goodies—all of it is remarkably the same as it was when my grandmother used to drag us out there from Boston every summer.

It’s kinda like the northern version of the Florida Keys. (Though the local people couldn’t be more different if they tried—the ones up on the Cape actually read books and know who’s President. In the Keys, they couldn’t care less.)

Like Key West, Cape Cod, and especially P-town, has been a magnate for artists of every type. If you’re lucky, you might be able to catch filmmaker John Waters tooling around town on his weird looking bike.

Just as the Keys are divided into three parts, the Upper, Middle and Lower Keys, Cape Cod goes them one better and is divided roughly into four parts: the Upper Cape, Mid-Cape, Lower Cape and Outer Cape. (Five parts if you count the Islands—Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket and the others.)

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UPPER CAPE

The Upper Cape runs north to south and is bounded by Buzzards Bay and the Cape Cod Canal. Sandwich takes the honors as the oldest town on the Cape, thus the most historic. Charming Falmouth and its lovely waterfront aren’t far away. Wood’s Hole, of course, is home to the big oceanographic institute you’ve probably heard a lot about over the years. Then there’s Mashpee, New Seabury, Bourne.

MID-CAPE

Exactly as the name indicates, Mid-Cape is in the middle of the peninsula, boasting towns like Hyannis (famed for its Kennedy connection), Osterville (where we stayed with grandmother in a whitewashed house), Barnstable Village, Dennis, Yarmouthport, Centerville, West Barnstable, Craigville, Cummaquid, HyannisPort.

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LOWER CAPE

In the geography of the arm that Cape Cod forms, this area starts at the elbow and makes its way north. Chatham is the jewel of the Lower Cape, sporting a charmingly quaint downtown area, shops and restaurants. Chatham makes a great place to stay because it’s so centrally located to the rest of Cape Cod. Also in the Lower Cape is Orleans, claimed to be the spot where Leif Eriksson landed in 1003. (Long before the lobster roll, he probably had his lobster cooked over a spit with no drawn butter and loved them just as much as we do today.)  Also here you’ll find Harwichport and Brewster.

The thing that gets me about Leif Eriksson is why in God’s name he didn’t send his boat back and tell the crew to bring their families. Think of the real estate he could have stolen from the Indians.

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OUTER CAPE

As the forearm of Cape Cod moves north, you enter what is called the Outer Cape. On one side you have Cape Cod Bay and on the other the Atlantic. The peninsula becomes quite narrow out here, and you pass through towns like Eastham (not that there’s much of a town there) and Truro with great views from the cliffs and the Cape Cod Light, before you get to wonderful Wellfleet. (Think Wellfleet oysters.) This is a great little town I love very much,