• Coast Guard Beach, Eastham.
• Nauset Light Beach, Eastham.
• Marconi Beach, Wellfleet.
• Head of the Meadow Beach, Truro.
• Race Point Beach, Provincetown.
• Herring Cove Beaches, Provincetown.

Recently, Chronicle, the Boston Channel’s nightly news magazine, featured the National Seashore in honor of its 50th birthday celebration. Do yourself a favor and take 6 minutes of your time to see this amazing footage and learn a bit about its history.  View the video clip.

Art’s Dune Tours was founded by Arthur Costa in 1946. Known locally as the ”King of the Dunes”, Art began his eponymous company after a stint in the army during World War II by taking visitors on an adventure through the dunes of Provincetown in his 1936 Ford Wood . On each and every tour he shared his enthusiasm for the natural beauty of his hometown, along with his knowledge of, and passion for, the native birds, plants, and wildlife that make the dunes their home. Though he passed away in 2006, his son Rob continues the 60+ year dune tour tradition with a fleet of Suburban’s and some colorful and knowledgeable driver/guides.

Our guide, Dody, was an affable lady who regaled us with the history of Cape Cod’s original Life Saving Stations, the19 remaining ramshackle dune shacks and their noted residents, countless shipwrecks along the treacherous coastline, along with some interesting tidbits about the flora and fauna that inhabit the mountains of sand along the National Seashore.

The hour-long trip ended with an exciting moment of near calamity when we temporarily got stuck ascending a steep dune to partake of a beautiful vista of Provincetown and Cape Cod Bay from the top. But with some help from her expert driving companions, we managed to avert disaster and skillfully eject ourselves from the sandy grasp of the dune quite handily. The view from the top of that hill was breathtaking and well worth an anxious moment or two.

Several hour-long tours depart daily from the corner of Standish and Commercial Streets in Provincetown. In addition, Art’s offers two-hour sunset and clambake tours, as well as private charters, and a 90-minute excursion that includes a tour of Race Point Lighthouse. Advance reservations are recommended for all tours.

Having an unplanned afternoon with no check-ins to wait around for at the Inn, Rich and I declared a “dog holiday” and packed up the Subaru with a cooler full of sandwiches and cold drinks, some folding chairs, and Casey, our almost 11 year old yellow lab and resident inn dog. We headed east, destination uncertain, but definitely within the bounds of the National Seashore as dogs are permitted on the beach as long as they are on a leash, something unheard of at most other public beaches on Cape Cod, with few exceptions. It is one of the rare complaints that we have, actually, about living on Cape Cod, as living here for the most part is idyllic. But if you are a dog, or a dog lover, the nearly universal restriction of dogs on the beaches from April or May through September or October is the bane of our existence.

We ended up at Marconi Beach in Wellfleet after an unsuccessful try to secure a parking spot at Coast Guard and Nauset Light beaches in Eastham. Marconi took its name from the famous Italian inventor, Marconi, who successfully completed the first transatlantic wireless communication between the U.S. and England in 1903 at a site nearby.

Known for the steep sand cliffs that back the beach, Marconi is one of the most beautiful beaches on all of Cape Cod. There is a sense of solitude that beach goers can experience at Marconi, for the wide expanse of nearly pristine sand stretches endlessly east and west. Once beyond the fray of the sun worshippers, ball players, and boogie boarders that seem to congregate between the lifeguards keeping a watchful eye on the action, you can claim an area an acre wide for yourself on the remaining swath of beach and be undisturbed for the remainder of the day if you like.

Casey, of course, was in doggie heaven. A jaunt on the beach on one of the most sultry of summer days is a rare event indeed for her, and she took full advantage of the freedom to roam from tide pool to tide pool testing the water temperature and doing her version of the dog paddle. In her youth she was an avid swimmer, but as the advancing years have settled in on her joints, she now simply likes to lie down in the water, attempt to roll over and scoot her snout beneath the surface of the water, something akin to doggie snorkeling, I presume. Whatever floats your boat.

It was a wonderful afternoon for all three of us. Walking the beach we shed our “hospitality fatigue” and returned home renewed and refreshed and ready to tackle the responsibilities of being innkeepers on Cape Cod once again.

Cape Cod's National Seashore

Writing about Cape Cod in the 1800s, Henry David Thoreau said, “A man may stand there and put all America behind him.” Thoreau walked the length of the “great outer beach” along the Atlantic ocean long before it became part of the Cape Cod National Seashore.

The National Seashore is one of Cape Cod’s greatest treasures. Created with the passing of a bill on August 7th, 1961 by President John F. Kennedy, its designation marked the first time the National Park Service (NPS) created a “National Seashore”, and served as the model for the creation of at least nine additional “Seashores” in the U.S. The bill that created it protects more than 44,000 acres of land along the outer reaches of Cape Cod, including 40 miles of shoreline that stretch from Monomoy Island to Provincetown.

More than 4 million people visit Cape Cod’s National Seashore annually, stopping at one of the two Visitor Centers within the park to acquaint themselves with what the area has to offer. During the height of the summer, rangers offer numerous no-cost activities geared to both young and old, including interpretive nature talks, lighthouse tours, and historical re-enactments.

Cape Cod's National Seashore

Within the park itself are 11 self-guided walking trails, from easy walks over gentle terrain to more difficult hikes through woodlands and soft sand. Listed here by the town in which they are located, the trails are a great way to experience Cape Cod the way Thoreau did.

Eastham

• Fort Hill Trail, Governor Prence Road , is a 1.5 mile, moderately difficult trail offering great views and connects with the Red Maple Swamp Trail.
• Red Maple Swamp Trail, off Fort Hill Trail, is a one-half mile trail of moderate difficulty with boardwalk sections that wind through the swamp.
• Buttonbush Trail, adjacent to Salt Pond Visitor Center, Route 6, is quarter-mile trail with a boardwalk bridge over Buttonbush Pond, and features a guide rope and Braille and large text.
• Nauset Marsh Trail, adjacent to Salt Pond Visitor Center, Route 6 is an easy one-mile trail along the shore of Salt Pond and Nauset Marsh over fields and through a recovering forest with great views.
• Doane Trail, Doane Road (on the way to Coast Guard Beach) is an easy half-mile paved trail loop through pine and oak forests to large glacial rock with marsh views.

Wellfleet

• Atlantic White Cedar Swamp, Marconi Station area is an award-winning 1.25 mile trail descending through a stunted oak and pine forest into a mature woodland where a boardwalk leads through the picturesque swamp. This is a moderately difficult trail with a return route in soft sand.
• Great Island Trail, Chequesset Neck Road is a 6- to 8-mile trail that runs along Great Island and Great Beach Hill, skirting the salt marshes and offering great views on the way to Jeremy Point. This is the Park’s most difficult trail due to its soft sand, log steps, and portions submerged at high tide.

Truro

• Pamet Cranberry Bog Trail, North Pamet Road, is a one-mile trail with a steep quarter-mile spur to an overlook. The trail is moderately strenuous with many log steps.
• Small’s Swamp Trail, Pilgrim Heights area off Route 6 is an easy 3/4 mile loop.
• Pilgrim Spring Trail, Pilgrim Heights area off Route 6 is an easy 3/4 mile loop through recovering pine and oak forest. A marker commemorates an area representative of where the Pilgrims first drank.

Provincetown

• Beach Forest Trail, Race Point Road. The trailhead begins at the parking lot 1/2 mile from traffic light on Route 6. This is a one-mile easy walk in sand, past a pond and sand dunes.

Cape Cod National Seashore beach

In addition to some great hikes, the Cape Cod National Seashore is known for its wonderful beaches. All have paved parking, showers, rest rooms, changing rooms, and lifeguards seasonally. Coast Guard Beach in Eastham and Herring Cove in Provincetown, are handicapped accessible and have wheelchairs capable of traveling over sand. In 2009, Dr. Beach, aka Stephen P. Leatherman, named Coast Guard Beach one of the Top Ten beaches in the U.S., and declared it one of the best sand beaches in the U.S. in 2010. Here, in no particular order, are the National Seashore beaches along with some hints about parking.

• Coast Guard Beach, Nauset Road off Route 6, Eastham. The parking lot fills quickly on nice summer days. However there is a shuttle from a satellite lot a half mile away.
• Nauset Light Beach, Nauset Road off Route 6, Eastham. The parking area always fills before 9:30 AM during July and August, except in bad weather.
• Marconi Beach, off Route 6, Wellfleet. This parking area rarely fills during late June and July, although in August it will fill occasionally in August. Marconi is arguably one of the most beautiful beaches in the entire region.
• Head of the Meadow Beach, Truro. This is a great beach for young children and the parking area rarely fills.
• Race Point Beach, Race Point Rd (off Route 6), Provincetown. The parking area rarely fills during June and July. This is a great beach for watching sunset and very popular with fisherman.
• Herring Cove Beaches, off Route 6, Provincetown. The parking area fills between 10AM and noon most days throughout the summer. This is another great beach to watch the sunset.

The Cape Cod National Seashore is a “must do” for visitors to Cape Cod in any season. Less than a half-hour’s drive from our Cape Cod bed and breakfast, the stunning natural beauty of the area, combined with the pounding surf against the shore, especially before and after one of our infamous nor’easters, is hypnotic. Grab your beach bag or your hiking boots and make a day of it!

Driving Cape Cod

Often on a sunny afternoon, Rich and I will head out to explore Cape Cod beyond the immediate environs of our bed and breakfast inn. Armed with my trusty Cape Cod Street Atlas and Rich’s GPS, we set off on an adventure of discovery. It was on one of these missions that we uncovered some of our favorite off-the-beaten path destinations on the lower Cape. Starting from the rotary at the Orleans/Eastham line where Route 6 and 6A meet, the drive continues as far as Provincetown, covering roughly 25 miles. You can take Route 6 from West Barnstable or follow the more meandering path of Route 6A to Orleans. We prefer 6A if time allows, as it is perhaps more scenic, but generally return via Route 6, the Mid-Cape Highway, as it is more direct and definitely faster. Traveling from the High Pointe Inn, the drive is approximately 120 miles round trip and will take the better part of the day to fully enjoy.

NOTE: All scenic spots are marked with the corresponding page number and grid marks in brackets from American Map’s “Cape Cod Street Atlas”.

Penniman House Fort Hill

Fort Hill, Penniman House, and the Red Maple Swamp [Eastham, pg. 49, 5-G]

Just past the rotary in Eastham, you’ll see a brown road sign on the right labeled “Fort Hill”. The road is actually Governor Prence Rd and leads past the Penniman House (an old sea captain’s mansion with a whale jawbone for a gate) to Fort Hill at the crest of the hill. Here you’ll find a small parking lot and a few benches on a grassy knoll at the start of the nature trail. There was never actually a fort on the site, but the hill itself, being one of the highest points around was used as a look-out for British ships during the American Revolution. We often bring folding chairs and a picnic to enjoy the gorgeous view across Town Cove to Nauset and Coast Guard beaches. When the tides are right kayakers wend their way through the channels of Nauset and Salt Pond bays below. You can follow the trail along the salt marsh through old farm lands, keeping an eye out for great blue herons and other native songbirds. At the end of the trail you enter into the Red Maple Swamp and the trail turns into a raised boardwalk suspended over squishy earth. You can learn something along your walk about local Native American history and native plants, as the trail is marked to correspond to an interpretive presentation by the National Seashore.

Red Maple Swamp

Salt Pond Visitor Center [Eastham, pg. 47, 5-E]

Return to Route 6 and turn right to continue heading east. A few miles up on the right hand side is the Salt Pond Visitor Center. The Salt Pond Visitor Center is Cape Cod National Seashore’s main visitor facility, with frequent orientation movies, a well stocked bookstore, a comprehensive museum, and restroom facilities. The indoor theatre routinely offers 5 short films that rotate daily . Offering breathtaking views of Nauset Marsh and the Atlantic beyond, the Visitor Center is also convenient to the popular 1.5 mile Nauset Marsh Trail and the Buttonbush Trail (a .25 mile multi-sensory trail that features a guide rope and text panels printed in large lettering and Braille), and the Nauset Bike Trail.

Ocean View Drive [Wellfleet, pg. 121, 7-F]

Continue on Route 6 toward South Wellfleet, watching for the green road sign announcing Lecount Hollow Rd. on the right. Follow Lecount Hollow Rd. to the entrance to the parking lot for Lecount Hollow beach, a residents-only sticker beach. Take a left onto Ocean View Drive just before the entrance to the parking lot. This road leads through the dunes of the National Seashore, past quirky cottage colonies and is an extension of the Cape Cod Rail Trail bikeway. You’ll pass the entrance to Cahoon Hollow beach, another residents-only sticker beach, and the road that leads to the Beachcomber Restaurant, a casual full-service waterfront restaurant and bar located directly on Cahoon Hollow Beach. On a good day you can catch surfers riding the waves and if you time it right, a magnificent sunset reflecting off the Atlantic ocean. Open Memorial Day to Labor Day since 1978, the Beachcomber is a Cape Cod summer institution. At the intersection of Gross Hill Road, turn left to return to Route 6.

Beachcomber Restaurant at Cahoon Hollow

Truro Vineyards and the Atlantic Spice Company [Truro, pg. 110, 8-H]

Follow Route 6 through Truro to the blinking light in North Truro where Route 6A splinters to the left. Also known as Shore Road, this is the back road into Provincetown along Cape Cod Bay and the iconic and oft-photographed Days cottages. At the junction of Route 6 and 6A sits the Atlantic Spice Company. A retail store selling herbs and spices along with a comprehensive selection of cookbooks, health and fitness guides, craft books, gourmet food items, dried fruits, coffees and teas, housewares and tabletop items, and kitchen gadgets, Atlantic Spice has become a destination for summer visitors to the Outer Cape, as well as a haven for year-round residents. Open year-round Atlantic Spice is a treat for the senses.

Truro Vineyards

A bit further down Shore Road on the right you’ll find the entrance to Truro Vineyards a local vineyard specializing in handcrafted wines created from grapes grown on the 5-acre property, including Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot. The tasting room and gift shop were created in the original 1830s farmhouse. Tours of the vineyard are offered daily from Memorial Day to Columbus Day and several special events are held throughout the season. This is a great spot for an afternoon picnic.

Highland Light, Highland House Museum, and the Jenny Lind Tower [Truro, pg. 109 7-D & E]

Turn right onto Route 6A from the vineyard parking lot and continue east to Highland Road. Turn right onto Highland, cross over Route 6 and follow the signs to Highland Light. Here you’ll find Highland Golf Links, a 9-hole golf course with an old world feel and a stunning view of the Atlantic. The oldest course on Cape Cod, it shares its location with Highland House Museum and the Highland Lighthouse. A classic example of a turn of the century summer hotel, the Museum contains 17th century firearms, shipwreck mementos, early fishing and whaling gear, household tools, farming implements, furniture, Sandwich glass, and a pirate’s chest of booty.

Highland Light

Highland Light, also known as Cape Cod Light, was Cape Cod’s first lighthouse. Built in 1797 at the request of George Washington, the lighthouse was rebuilt in 1857 to the 66-foot tower that stands today. In 1996 it was moved away from the eroding high dune cliffs to save it from falling into the ocean. One of the most important lights on the East Coast for mariners, it is also a favorite destination for photographers and travelers. The current beacon, with over 620,000 candlepower, is the most powerful light in New England and shines about 20 miles to sea. A spiral staircase of 59 steps bring you to the top of the lighthouse, where you are greeted by a docent, whose knowledge of all things lighthouse is often truly enlightening. The view from the top of the lighthouse extends from Cape Cod Bay around the hook of Provincetown to the Atlantic Ocean. Lucky visitors can often spot whale spouts in the distance.

To the right of Highland Light stands the Jenny Lind Tower. Jenny Lind, called the Swedish Nightingale, was a famous opera singer of the 19th century who was brought to tour America by the celebrated P.T. Barnum. Legend has it that in order to calm a riotous group of fans one night at an overbooked concert in Boston, Jenny Lind climbed the tower next to her hotel and gave a free concert to the people in the street below. In the late 1920s, the tower was destined for demolition. A Boston lawyer and fan of Ms. Lind purchased it and moved it, stone by loving stone, to land he owned in Truro overlooking the Atlantic, where it remains today.

Race Point, the Old Harbor Life Saving Museum, and the Provincelands {Provincetown, pg. 96, 2 & 3-A}

Continue your journey east on Route 6 into Provincetown. Watch for the entrance to Race Point Beach and the Province Lands Visitor Center, which is located at the northern end of the Cape Cod National Seashore, approximately one mile from Provincetown. The observation deck at the Visitor Center provides a 360-degree view of the Province Lands dunes, the Outer Beach and the Atlantic Ocean. From this location you can see Race Point Ranger Station, Race Point Beach, the Old Harbor Life-Saving Station and the Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown.

Old Harbor Life Saving Station

Originally built in Chatham in 1897 the Old Harbor Life Saving Station was operated by the U.S. Coast Guard until it was decommissioned in July 1944. The building was later obtained by the National Park Service, and in November 1977, moved by barge to its present location in Provincetown. A wonderful collection of memorabilia, the collection showcases the perils of life as a member of the lifesaving service. We were greeted by a most informative and colorful docent with ties to one of the original members of the service on the day of our visit. He proudly steered us towards a darkened corner of the station where the initials of his relative were carved in the wall.

On exiting the Life Saving Station, follow the Province Land Road through the dunes of the Provincelands and back to Route 6 or 6A for your return trip. If time allows you can climb the Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown, browse the shops along Commercial Street, cruise McMillian Wharf and tour the Whydah Pirate’s Museum, take a Whale Watching excursion with the Dolphin Fleet, or sample the menu at the Lobster Pot Restaurant.