|
CAPE COD IN THE SPRING: |
|
|
Cape Cod in springtime can be remarkably benign. The sea may be
rough and the winds can blow but the Cape seems to have its own
microclimate as if it sticks out of Virginia rather than Massachusetts.
And as most of the tourists are still gone and the traffic hasn't
built up you can actually get
there from here. |
|
 |
|
 |
 The items in the shops are still priced for locals because the fatted tourist calves haven't come back yet. The Brewster Store always remains open for its locals, of course, and the little tea rooms in Brewster, Sandwich and Mashpee Commons never stopped serving afternoon tea all winter. It's still a time when some of the old inns and restaurants with their fireplaces aglow look like scenes from Currier & Ives. You can still get a table faster at classics like the Old Yarmouth Inn and, five miles away, the Beehive in Sandwich.The Old Yarmouth Inn has patrons who will drive all the way from Boston just for dinner. A meal there tells you why. |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
| The promise of lobsters image is starting
to return to the Cape as spring beckons and the small airfield on
the road to Osterville is beginning to see more business. |
|
 |
That said, the far cape still seems bit of a cold, dull drag even though the roads are still quiet. The Upper Cape, the part closest to Boston, has more than enough to fascinate visitors including the required churches and cemeteries. Interesting townships like Falmouth and delightful villages such as Sandwich are right there, a mere hour and a half from Bean Town. |
 |
|
   |
|
 |
Falmouth, a township of 33,000 people sprawling over 44 square miles, is a genuine Cape community. Its attractions for tourists are its 68 miles of coastline with its famous Nobska Lighthouse, its six golf courses (out of the 36 on the Cape) and, since it was laid out in 1749, its historical significance. But it's on the road to nowhere. You don't just pass through. You have to know why you want to go there. |
 |
|
"We're a tranquil destination," says Kelley Pratt, president of its Chamber of Commerce, "the real America with the volume turned down. We have no theme or water parks, we're just a functioning place where people live, have jobs and relate to each other. In our pubs you'll find our fishermen sharing a drink with some of the 12 Nobel Prizewinners from the Oceanographic Institution in Wood's Hole next door. We're a community." |
|
| PAGE 1 2 |