Cape Cod Beach Holidays & Vacations | Discover America

Official Destination Contact Information

Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce

5 Shootflying Hill Road
Cape Cod, Massachusetts 02632

001 508 362 3225
(888) 332-2732
www.capecodchamber.org

Title: Barnstable Harbor
Posted by: Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce

Introduction

Your primary goal may be to get to Cape Cod sooner rather than later, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't stop to see some of the eclectic towns you'll pass through as you approach the region -- they're a mix of suburbanized colonial hamlets, low-key yachting enclaves, and riches-to-rags industrial communities enjoying varying degrees of resurgence. Though the approach to the Cape may not have the cachet of the Cape proper, there's plenty to interest travelers looking for something to do on a rainy day -- or even those who just want to take a break from the road. In the communities that line the principal routes to Cape Cod, you'll find some of New England's seminal historic attractions (all of them well suited to kids), a handful of bewitching beaches, a few pretty-damn-quaint seaside villages, and a passable selection of pleasing restaurants and accommodations.

In Plymouth you can see that monument you've heard about since childhood, Plymouth Rock, and walk the decks of the Mayflower II. A few miles down the road, don't miss Plimouth Plantation, a re-created 17th-century Puritan village where trained staff members vividly dramatize the everyday lives of the first English settlers. Watch them make cheese, forge nails, and explain where and when they bathe (hint: not often). If you have the time, as you leave Boston and pass through Quincy, exit from Route 3 onto the South Shore's slower but infinitely more scenic highway, Route 3A. It runs for about 50 mi down through the South Shore along Massachusetts Bay, from Quincy through Scituate, Duxbury, and Plymouth and on to Cape Cod Canal. It takes an extra hour to go this way, but you'll avoid Route 3's occasionally vicious traffic jams, and this drive is great fun if you're a fan of road-tripping. If you're coming by way of I-195, consider stopping in the seafaring city of New Bedford, a major whaling port in the 19th century. It now delights visitors with the nation's largest museum on the history of whaling.

If you have the time, and especially if you're intrigued by the macabre legacy of the 19th century's most infamous trial, in which Lizzie Borden was accused, and acquitted, of dispatching her parents with "40 whacks" of an ax, stop in Fall River, where this riveting drama played out. Fall River has seen better days, but it's also home to the largest collection of historic naval ships and submarines all open for exploration -- Battleship Cove. Not far from I-195 and the Fall River-New Bedford corridors, along the coves of Buzzards Bay, you'll find charming seaside towns and sandy beaches, the best known of which is Horseneck Beach in Westport. The pretty villages of South Dartmouth, Fairhaven, and Marion are also worth a stop.

Content provided by

Share Your Story

Introduction

ADVERTISEMENT