Home of exciting Cape Cod National Seashore, Nantucket, Provincetown and plenty of things to do in Cape Cod on Memorial Day. We've compiled some of the best activities to do in Cape Cod on this Memorial Day holiday.
Almost the whole East coast of Cape Cod, a stretch of about 40 miles, is protected as Cape Cod National Seashore, a wild area that has remained almost unchanged since Henry David Thoreau walked its sands. Its marvelous beaches, beautiful woodlands of Atlantic white cedar and other conifers, bird nesting grounds, and miles of attractive hiking trails draw thousands of visitors year-round, but especially in the summer during Memorial Day visit.
One of the most unusual environments in the park is the Atlantic White Cedar Swamp in Wellfleet, which you can explore via a boardwalk. Information about the area can be obtained at the Salt Pond and Provincetown visitor centers, where you can also sign up for one of the park ranger programs; these include hiking, canoeing, snorkeling, and visiting the park's historic buildings. For an up-close look at the massive dunes in the park and a glimpse into their history and nature, Art's Dune Tours from Provincetown are a highlight of any trip to the Cape.
Founded by colonists in 1659, the town of Nantucket is the main settlement of Nantucket, a 15-mile-long island 30 miles south of Cape Cod. Quaker missionaries settled here in the 18th century, and from 1740 to 1830, Nantucket was the center of the world's whaling industry, with more than 125 whaling ships.
Today, the island has a well-established and well-heeled summer population and is popular with tourists for its beaches and miles of cycling paths, as well as its sea captains' mansions and other historic attractions. In April, the roadsides are bright with daffodils, which local residents have been planting for several decades and celebrate with a colorful festival.
Don't bother to bring a car here; hotels will meet the ferry, and you can rent a bicycle or walk to attractions on Memorial Day. Among these are sites relating to America's first female professional astronomer, Maria Mitchell, including her home, an observatory, and an aquarium of local marine life. The Nantucket Life Saving Museum houses a collection of marine artifacts, and Hinchman House Natural History Museum concentrates on Nantucket's flora and fauna with bird, wildflower, and marine ecology walks.
Nantucket Whaling Museum
The Nantucket Whaling Museum features ship models, scrimshaw, whaling equipment, portraits, logbooks, and the skeleton of a 43-foot sperm whale, all housed in a restored 1847 candle factory with a rooftop observation deck.
Nantucket Historical Association
Along with offering guided walking tours late May through October, the Nantucket Historical Association maintains a number of attractions that are open to visitors, including a 19th-century firehouse; the 1845 Hadwen House; the 1745 Macy Christian House; the Old Gaol from 1806; the oldest working windmill in the country; and the 1686 saltbox, Jethro Coffin House, the island's oldest residence and only surviving structure from the original English settlement.
At the very tip of Cape Cod, Provincetown is known for its thriving art and music scene. In 1620, the Pilgrims landed here in the Mayflower, before moving on to found Plymouth. With plenty of beaches, miles of walking and cycling paths, kayaking, and boat excursions, Provincetown is a lively and popular resort.
Towering above the town's narrow streets and lanes is the 252-foot Pilgrim Monument–-the tallest all-granite structure in the US, completed in 1910. You climb to the top for spectacular views. A museum at its base explores the town's rich history with informative displays, ship models, whaling equipment, arrowheads, and tools of the local Wampanoag people, and maritime artifacts.
To see the works of artists who have lived and worked in the area, visit the Provincetown Art Association and Museum on Memorial Day, first established to support the many artists who were refugees from Europe after World War I. The arts are still an important part of Provincetown life, as you can tell from the number of galleries that line the busy shopping area along Commercial Street.
The island of Martha's Vineyard lies only five miles south of Cape Cod, and you can get here by car and passenger ferries from Woods Hole on Cape Cod or from New Bedford. A bit more laid-back than Nantucket, "The Vineyard" has six small towns, each with its own distinct character and miles of beaches, some of which lie beneath high bluffs.
More varied and rolling in its landscapes than either Nantucket or Cape Cod, the island has a relaxed, casual air despite its high-end antiques and art galleries and its trendy boutiques.
Oak Bluffs
Originally a Methodist church camp meeting place, Oak Bluffs is an unabashed beach holiday town, but still retains the rows of cute "gingerbread" cottages built by the 19th-century campers to replace the former tents. This is one of the rare places where you can see such a collection of Carpenter Gothic-style buildings, and their candy colors seem a good fit for the ice-cream parlors and saltwater taffy shops. Be sure to stop for a ride on the Flying Horses Carousel, one of the country's oldest. You can visit one of the cottages, which is furnished from the late 1800s.
Edgartown
An important whaling center, this is the site of the oldest European settlement on Martha's Vineyard. It is now a pretty town of tree-shaded streets lined by white clapboard homes, among them Vincent House, the oldest and now a museum. Vincent House was built in 1672, and has been restored and furnished in period style to offer a glimpse of life in Martha's Vineyard over the past 400 years.
On Memorial Day visit, it would be a shame to leave Cape Cod without taking a boat trip to spot whales and other sea life–or just to get a view from the sea. Various boat tours depart from different harbors. Boats leave frequently from the MacMillan Wharf in Provincetown for whale watching excursions to the Stellwagen Bank Marine Sanctuary, from mid-April through October.
Trained naturalists are on board to help passengers observe finback, humpback, and minke whales on tours lasting two-and-a-half to four hours. Similar whale watching cruises leave from Hyannis and Barnstable harbors.
Cruises from Chatham can take you to watch seals in their natural habitat, as well as get a sea view of Chatham's famed beaches and picturesque harbor. From Harwich Port, you can board a high-speed catamaran for a narrated seal cruise around the island of Monomoy.
Narrated tours from Orleans are family oriented with stories of Pilgrims, pirates, and shipwrecks. In Woods Hole, you can learn about oceanographic science on a cruise aboard a research vessel. As boat excursions vary, be sure to ask what the theme of each trip is before signing up.
One of the most beloved tourist attractions on Cape Cod is Race Point Beach on Memorial Day, with its iconic lighthouse surrounded by dunes and seagrass. Race Point Lighthouse, a stone structure 25 feet tall, was first lighted in 1816, with one of the earliest revolving lights. In 1876, the original stone tower was replaced with a 45-foot cast-iron lighthouse that's now on the National Register of Historic Places.
Still an active navigation aid, the lighthouse is sometimes open for tours in the summer, and it is possible to book overnight stays in the keeper's cottage. You can also visit the adjacent Old Harbor Life-Saving Station.
Race Point Beach is a wide sand beach at the mouth of Cape Cod Bay on the northernmost point of Cape Cod. The beach gets full sun all day due to its northern exposure, and although it faces open sea, there are shallow areas that are good for children, without heavy surf. The beach has changing facilities and a paid parking area, or you can park free at the Province Lands Visitor Center and bike or walk half a mile to the beach.
The lighthouse stands at the far end of Race Point, a walk of about 45 minutes along the path through the spectacular dunes.
Sandwich is an attractive little town at the west end of Cape Cod, and was a major glass-making center in the 19th century. Sandwich glass is still highly prized by collectors, but don't expect to find much of it for sale in the town's many antique shops. The long beaches of Sandwich on Cape Cod Bay are often less crowded than others, but equally beautiful.
You can watch as Dexter Grist Mill, built between 1640 and 1646, grinds corn flour using authentic grindstones powered by a water wheel, and you can buy the cornmeal with authentic recipes. Glimpse into the past at the 1678 Benjamin Nye Homestead, furnished in period style with hand woven sheets, spinning wheels, and cooking utensils, all well interpreted by volunteers.
Sandwich Glass Museum
Of particular interest to collectors and those interested in the history and techniques of glassmaking, this museum features more than 5,000 pieces of glassware produced here in the 19th century, as well as a furnace for glass-blowing demonstrations, a multi-media theater, and a gallery of contemporary glassworks. The museum shop sells fine glassware and reproductions of Sandwich glass.
Heritage Museums & Gardens
Allow at least two hours to tour this complex of Americana museums set in a 100-acre garden. The automobile museum, inside a reproduction Shaker Round Stone Barn, contains about 35 antique cars, including a 1930 Duesenberg Tourister, once owned by movie star Gary Cooper, and an original 1913 Ford Model T. An art museum with American folk art; collections of antique weapons; miniature soldiers; Native American artifacts; and gardens filled with shrubs, trees, and flowers could easily fill an afternoon. An original carousel sits inside an enclosed pavilion, so you can enjoy riding it even on a rainy day.
The gardens are especially known for the rhododendron and hydrangeas. Children delight in Hidden Hollow, an outdoor learning and discovery center, where they can climb, balance, splash, build, dig, and experiment.
Green Briar Nature Center
In East Sandwich, Green Briar Nature Center & Jam Kitchen honors local author Thornton Burgess, whose stories of Peter Rabbit and his friends have charmed generations of children. The famous briar patch that features often in Peter Rabbit's adventures is preserved in the Green Briar Conservation Area, a 60-acre reserve of wildflower gardens and walking trails through the forest. The Jam Kitchen, a living museum at the Nature Center, has made fruit jams the old-fashioned way since 1903.
The ferry port of Hyannis, on the south coast, is the busy hub of Cape Cod life, and the town is a favorite with sailors who anchor their yachts in Lewis Bay. Yachts and boats are blessed during the annual Harbor Festival in early June, when there are boat races, live performances, and children's activities.
The Cape Cod Maritime Museum features the marine traditions of the Cape and Islands, with marine artifacts, exhibits on boat building, shipwrecks, and other maritime subjects. A highlight is the Cape's largest collection of scrimshaw that's open to the public.
A monument near Lewis Bay commemorates President John F. Kennedy, whose family has a retreat in Hyannis Port, and at the John F. Kennedy Museum, you can enjoy photos, oral histories, and multi-media exhibits about JFK's time here with his friends and family. A Kennedy Legacy Trail leads to sites of significance to the family, including St. Francis Xavier, the Kennedy's church.
Hyannis is where you can board the Cape Cod Central Railroad for excursions past cranberry bogs, woodlands, the Great Salt Marsh, and picturesque villages.
