Welcome to the Outer Cape’s towns leading up to and including the tip of the peninsula! Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro, and Provincetown.
If six miles of shoreline to watch a stunning sunset suits your lifestyle, then Eastham has it and more. "Eastham also boasts the entrance to the Cape Cod National Seashore’s Salt Pond Visitors’ Center, just off Route 6 at Salt Pond.
Forty miles of sandy beaches, superb dunes, cranberry bogs, ponds, marshes and nature are accessible by foot or bike. The book The Outermost House by Henry Beston was written about Eastham’s beauty. The lifestyle here is nature-oriented and steeped in history. In 1620, a Pilgrim troupe led by Myles Standish met Nauset Native Americans at First Encounter Beach in Eastham. The Cape Cod Rail Trail (“the Bike Path”), a twenty-four mile paved path that starts on Route 134 in Dennis and ends at LeCount Hollow in Wellfleet, traverses the entire length of Eastham.
Wellfleet, like many other Cape Cod towns, was a former whaling port. Today it maintains a seafood flair with its famous Wellfleet oysters and other fresh seafood that can be enjoyed at countless amazing eateries. There are also nationally renowned galleries, boutiques, and bookstores occupying its historic former captains’ homes to explore.
If your lifestyle aspiration’s ideal getaway home or permanent residence is to live in an Edward Hopper painting, then you’ve arrived in Truro. Abundant oceanside and bayside beaches, camping, motels on or near the beach, a winery, museums including a lighthouse museum (part of Cape Cod National Seashore) are the gems of Truro. There are few large retail establishments yet plenty of windy roads and hidden hamlets will lead you to the next towns’ commercial venues.
Provincetown is your reward for making it to the outermost town on Cape Cod. Provincetown is known for many things beyond its stunning natural beauty. Think eclectic.
Its summer lifestyle is energetic with crowded Commercial Street chock full of retail shops, art galleries and eateries. Parking is at a premium so it’s best to leave it and walk to experience its charming architecture, the Pilgrim Monument and explore the abundant dunes. Alternatively, for the more active nature enthusiasts go for a thrilling hilly ride on the bike paths within the Cape Cod National Seashore that traverse the dunes and stop at Race Point Beach Lighthouse, another subject of artist Edward Hopper’s work, or take a dip in the Atlantic Ocean or Cape Cod Bay. Off season is subdued, equally as charming and more intimate.
On a historical note, it is where the Pilgrims landed in 1620 as well as where the Mayflower Compact was signed. It is also the home of the oldest continuous art colony in America (1899), the Cape Cod School of Art, founded by artist Charles Hawthorne and where abstract expressionism was popularized by Jackson Pollock.
All lifestyles are welcome and celebrated in Provincetown (pronounced “Ptown” for short). The traditions of the Portuguese sailors who arrived here during the whaling days of the 1800s carry forward with the annual Blessing of the Fleet, the LGBTQ+ community celebrates Carnival Week complete with stunning parades, plus the Provincetown Jazz Festival, the Provincetown Film Festival, the town’s 4th of July fireworks, the Family week, etc.
