USA: Massachusetts – Cape Cod and Southern Massachusetts

November 16, 2018
Massachussets
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🌊 A Peninsula Like No Other

Cape Cod juts dramatically into the North Atlantic from the south-eastern coast of Massachusetts, forming one of the most recognisable coastlines in North America. Shaped by glacial retreat thousands of years ago, its curved arm of land encompasses bay shores, ocean beaches, salt marshes, freshwater kettle ponds, and rolling dunes — all within a relatively compact geography that rewards leisurely exploration. The Cape Cod National Seashore, established in 1961, protects more than 40 miles of pristine Atlantic-facing coastline, preserving vast stretches of beach, heathland, and forest that might otherwise have been lost to development. Villages such as Sandwich — the oldest on the Cape — Brewster, Dennis, and Harwich each carry their own distinct personality, whether that’s antique shops and glassblowing heritage, cycling-friendly rail trails, or sheltered bay beaches ideal for families. The result is a destination that feels both geographically coherent and endlessly varied.

🦞 Culture, Cuisine and Creative Life

Cape Cod’s cultural identity is as compelling as its landscape. Provincetown, perched at the very tip of the peninsula, has long been celebrated as one of the most welcoming and creatively vibrant communities in the United States, with a thriving arts scene rooted in the Provincetown Art Association and Museum, established in 1914. Across the Cape, galleries, theatres, and artisan studios animate village high streets and converted barns alike. The region’s culinary offer is anchored in its maritime heritage: freshly caught striped bass, quahog chowder, Wellfleet oysters, and the iconic New England lobster roll are staples of menus from humble waterfront shacks to destination dining rooms. Craft breweries, farm stands selling seasonal produce, and Portuguese bakeries — a legacy of the Cape’s fishing community heritage — add further texture to an already rich food and drink landscape.

🚲 Getting Around and Getting Away

Despite its popularity, Cape Cod remains an accessible and navigable destination. The Cape Cod Rail Trail stretches for 25 miles through the lower Cape, offering one of the finest cycling routes in New England and connecting towns from Dennis to Wellfleet. Ferries to Martha’s Vineyard depart from Woods Hole year-round, whilst seasonal services from Hyannis and Falmouth provide additional options for island day trips or longer stays. For those wishing to explore further afield, high-speed ferry services connect Provincetown directly to Boston in under two hours. The shoulder seasons — late spring and early autumn — offer a particularly appealing combination of settled weather, quieter roads, and full access to the Cape’s beaches and cultural venues. Accommodation ranges from historic inns and boutique bed and breakfasts to waterfront resorts and self-catering cottages, ensuring the Cape suits every travel style and budget with considerable ease.

Places to visit

We had plenty of exploration time and below are some of the sights and places we recommend checking out. Most of these take only an hour or two to visit so you can get to see multiple sites in a day.

CAPE COD
Nauset Light Beach
National Seashore Visitors Centre at Salt Pond
Penniman House in Eastham
Cape Cod Railway Trail
Marconi Site
Skaket Beach
Provincetown
Hyannis and Cape Cod Potato Chips Factory

SOUTHERN MASSACHUSETTS
Aptucxet Trading Post Museum & Cape Cod Canal
Plymouth and Plimouth Plantation
Issac Winslow House, Marshfield

CAPE COD

🏖️ Nauset Light Beach

We made Nauset Light Beach one of our first proper stops on Cape Cod, and it turned out to be a fine choice — even if the weather had other ideas about what constituted a “fine” day.

Lighthouses are woven deeply into the fabric of Cape Cod’s history, and Nauset is about as storied as they come. The original lighthouse station here — known rather grandly as the Nauset Beach Light Station, though locals had already taken to calling it The Three Sisters — was completed back in 1838. It consisted of three separate lights perched atop a trio of 15-foot brick towers, positioned roughly 500 feet east of where the current light now stands. Three sisters. On a cliff. In New England. What could possibly go wrong?

Quite a lot, as it turned out. The cliff was doing what cliffs on Cape Cod have always done, which is steadily disappear into the sea. By 1892, the brick towers were deemed too close to the edge and were replaced by three 22-foot wooden lighthouses, shifted back to about 450 feet east of today’s position. A modest improvement, but the Atlantic wasn’t finished yet.

By 1911, the shoreline had retreated so dramatically that the lights had to move again. Two of the three wooden towers were sold off at auction — one imagines a fairly niche sort of buyer — and the remaining tower was relocated, set on a new brick foundation, and attached to the keeper’s house. A rotating Fresnel lens was installed at this point, flashing three times every ten seconds. The Fresnel lens, invented by French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel in the 1820s, was a genuinely clever bit of engineering that used concentric rings of glass prisms to concentrate light into a powerful beam. The Victorians were good at that sort of thing.

The lighthouse you see standing today is a different beast altogether. The present Nauset Lighthouse — now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which is the American equivalent of having a blue plaque slapped on you — is constructed of cast iron with a brick lining and stands 48 feet tall. It was built in 1877, but not here. It was originally erected in Chatham, some miles to the south, where it served as one of a pair of twin lights. In 1923, the smaller wooden lighthouse in Eastham was finally retired, and the north tower from Chatham was dismantled, carted up the coast, and rebuilt approximately 200 feet from the cliff edge near a relocated keeper’s house. So what you’re looking at isn’t just a lighthouse — it’s a lighthouse that’s already been moved once and is probably eyeing the horizon nervously.

When we visited, the weather was, to put it charitably, atmospheric. It was barely one o’clock in the afternoon and the lighthouse beam was clearly visible, cutting through the murk like something out of a Daphne du Maurier novel. The photograph you see above was taken on a different occasion, when the sky was something other than a uniform shade of misery. The lighthouse does offer tours and is open to the public on certain days, but it was firmly closed when we turned up — which, given our track record with opening times, was not remotely surprising. It’s well worth checking the website of the Nauset Light Preservation Society before you make the trip.

Now, being British, none of this particularly fazed us. It was, if anything, rather reassuring — very much like a summer’s day on the East Yorkshire coast, or a bank holiday weekend in Whitby. So we did what any self-respecting British tourist does when confronted with driving rain and a grey, heaving sea: we went to the beach.

We picked our way down to the water’s edge through the wind and the rain, pulled off our shoes, and paddled in the Atlantic breakers. The water was, predictably, absolutely freezing. The waves were making a determined effort to knock us sideways. We lasted approximately four minutes before collectively deciding that we’d had quite enough of the bracing maritime experience and retreated smartly back to the van, damp, slightly windswept, and thoroughly satisfied with ourselves.

Some holidays are about luxury. This one, clearly, was not.

🏖️ The National Seashore Centre at Salt Pond

We arrived at the Salt Pond Visitor Centre on a grey, drizzly morning — which, as it turned out, was absolutely the right weather for it. Frankly, if the sun had been blazing, we’d have felt guilty sitting inside watching films. As it was, the rain gave us a perfectly legitimate excuse to spend a good chunk of time in what is, genuinely, one of the better visitor centres we’ve come across on our travels.

The centre sits at the heart of the Cape Cod National Seashore, a protected stretch of coastline that runs for some 40 miles along the outer arm of Cape Cod in Massachusetts. The National Seashore was established by President Kennedy in 1961 — he had a particular fondness for the Cape, having spent summers there as a child — and it now preserves beaches, dunes, heathland and marshes that would otherwise have long since been built over.

Inside, we settled in and watched three short films, each of which was rather good. The first explained how Cape Cod came to exist at all, which is a more dramatic story than you might expect. The Cape is essentially a leftover from the last ice age, deposited by a retreating glacier roughly 18,000 years ago. The glacier — part of the Laurentide Ice Sheet, which covered much of North America — ground its way south carrying enormous quantities of sand, gravel and boulders. As it melted, it dumped the lot, creating the distinctive hook-shaped peninsula that sticks out into the Atlantic. It is, in geological terms, extremely young, and it is also, rather inconveniently for anyone who lives there, disappearing. The sea is eating it at a rate of several feet per year in places.

The second film dealt with the more recent shaping of the Cape by weather and coastal erosion, and the third — which was, if we’re honest, the most gripping — covered the Cape’s rather alarming maritime history. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the waters off Cape Cod were among the most dangerous in the world. The Outer Cape, with its shallow offshore sandbars, unpredictable currents, and a habit of generating ferocious nor’east storms, was a maritime nightmare. On average, three ships a month were wrecked on its coastline. Three a month. That is a quite staggering number when you sit with it. Over that period, more than 3,000 vessels came to grief on these shores, along with thousands of lives. It was carnage on a scale that eventually prompted the United States Life-Saving Service — the forerunner of today’s Coast Guard — to establish stations along the Cape in the 1870s, manned by surfmen who would row out into conditions that would make most of us hide under the bed.

Beyond the visitor centre itself, the landscape opens out into a network of salt marshes and tidal ponds that are worth exploring when the weather permits — which, on this particular day, it eventually did. These habitats are rich, productive ecosystems, and the rangers clearly enjoy showing them off. There are regular ranger-led outings to the ponds, where visitors are handed nets and waders and invited to splash about in the shallows in search of whatever happens to be living there. Crabs, small fish, snails, and various invertebrates all make appearances, and the rangers explain what each creature is and what it does. It’s the sort of thing that children love and middle-aged men pretend to find undignified while secretly finding it rather enjoyable. Not that we’d admit to that, of course.

🐋 The Penniman House in Eastham

Just a short drive from Nauset sits the small town of Eastham, and tucked away there is the Penniman House — home, at least in theory, to Captain Edward Penniman.

We say “in theory” because calling it his residence, particularly in the early years, is stretching things considerably. Edward Penniman was a whaler, and not a half-hearted one either. He first went to sea as a boy of just eleven in 1842, which by any measure is a fairly grim start to a childhood. His whaling expeditions out of New England could last up to four years at a stretch — so poor Mrs Penniman, Augusta, was essentially a single parent for much of her married life. We felt a quiet sympathy for her.

By the time Penniman was done with the sea, he had become one of the most successful whaling captains ever to operate out of New England, amassing a considerable fortune during the great American whaling boom of the mid-to-late 1800s. He built the house in 1868, a Second Empire-style property — all mansard roof and French pretensions — which in Eastham must have looked rather like someone had accidentally dropped a Parisian townhouse into a Cape Cod cabbage field. He filled it with souvenirs from his voyages, because of course he did.

Today the Penniman House is managed by the National Park Service as part of the Cape Cod National Seashore, which was established in 1961. The house itself is fairly modest inside — four rooms up, four rooms down — though well preserved, with some of the original Victorian wall coverings still intact. It is the sort of place where you half expect someone’s grandmother to appear and offer you a biscuit.

The undisputed highlight, however — and the thing that stopped us both in our tracks — is the entrance to the property, where two enormous whale jawbones have been formed into an archway. They are vast, slightly eerie, and absolutely brilliant. Penniman had them installed himself, presumably because a normal garden gate simply wasn’t making enough of a statement.

If you find yourselves anywhere near Eastham, the Penniman House is well worth half an hour of your time. It won’t take much longer than that, but you will leave knowing rather more about nineteenth-century whaling than you did before, and you’ll have walked through a whale’s jaw, which is not something most people can say.

🚲 The Cape Cod Rail Trail

The Cape Cod Rail Trail is one of those places that makes you feel like you’ve actually made a decent decision for once. It’s run by the State of Massachusetts and follows the route of the old Old Colony Railroad, which originally opened in 1865 and, at its peak, carried thousands of holidaymakers down to the Cape every summer. By the 1960s, passenger numbers had collapsed — largely thanks to the motor car and the fact that Americans had decided they quite liked sitting in traffic — and the line was eventually abandoned. Someone then had the rather sensible idea of paving it over and turning it into a trail, which opened in stages from the 1970s onwards.

The name, as it turns out, is a fairly reliable clue to what you’re getting. It’s a railway trail. On the route of a railway. We’ll leave you to work out the rest.

Because it follows a former railway line, the trail is almost entirely off-road, with just the occasional road crossing to keep you on your toes. More importantly — and this cannot be overstated for those of us of a certain age and creaking knee — it is completely flat. Twenty-five miles of smooth, paved, pancake-flat trail running from South Dennis all the way up to Wellfleet, cutting through pine woods, past kettle ponds, and through some genuinely lovely stretches of Cape Cod landscape. It’s the sort of trail that even we managed without embarrassing ourselves, which is saying something.

There are plenty of bike hire places dotted along the route if, like us, you haven’t travelled with your own. You can walk it, cycle it, or rollerblade it if you’re the sort of person who thinks the 1990s never ended.

About halfway along, just outside the village of Orleans, you’ll find the Hot Chocolate Sparrow — and frankly, this alone is reason enough to do the trail. It’s a proper little café serving excellent coffee, genuinely good snacks, and ice creams that were extremely welcome on a warm afternoon. We’d recommend stopping here without hesitation. It’s the sort of place that makes the effort of getting there feel entirely worthwhile, even for those of us who consider a brisk walk to the kettle a reasonable form of exercise.

📡 The Marconi Site, Wellfleet

Continuing up the Cape Cod peninsula, we made a point of stopping off at a place that deserves a good deal more attention than it tends to get — the site of Marconi’s Wireless Station at Wellfleet.

Now, Guglielmo Marconi was an Italian inventor who, by the turn of the 20th century, had become rather obsessed with the idea of sending wireless signals across the Atlantic. Most sensible people at the time thought this was complete nonsense — the scientific consensus being that radio waves travelled in straight lines and would simply shoot off into space rather than follow the curve of the earth. Marconi, to his considerable credit, ignored all of them and pressed on regardless. He’d already pulled off a successful transatlantic transmission from Cornwall in 1901, sending the letter “S” in Morse code from Poldhu — not Podhulu as we’d apparently written in our notes, which says everything about our attention to detail — to Newfoundland in Canada.

Wellfleet was chosen for its exposed position on the outer Cape, where the Atlantic stretches uninterrupted all the way to Europe. Construction of the station began in 1901, and it became operational shortly after. Then, on the 18th of January 1903, something rather remarkable happened here. A 48-word message composed by President Theodore Roosevelt was transmitted across the ocean to King Edward VII in England. It was a polite diplomatic greeting, essentially the Edwardian equivalent of a formal tweet, and it marked the first official transatlantic wireless communication between the two countries. The king sent a reply, which apparently took considerably less time than a letter and considerably more effort than anyone had anticipated.

The trouble is, you can’t actually see any of it. Coastal erosion — the Cape’s great and rather indifferent destroyer of things — has swallowed the original station completely. The four enormous wooden transmission towers, each around 60 metres tall, are long gone. The sea simply took the lot. All that remains today is a modest memorial plaque and some helpful interpretive boards put up by the National Park Service, who do their best to convey the significance of what once stood here.

We found it oddly affecting, standing on the bluff looking out at the Atlantic, trying to imagine those massive towers and the crackle of a wireless signal heading east towards Cornwall in 1903. It’s worth the stop, even if there’s not much left to look at. Sometimes the absence of a thing tells you as much as the thing itself. Or something like that — we’re not philosophers, we just drove up a peninsula.

🏖️ Skaket Beach

To round off the day, we headed over to Skaket Beach, which sits on the Cape Cod Bay side of the Cape — the sheltered side, where the Atlantic stops throwing its toys out of the pram and actually behaves itself for once.

Because it faces the bay rather than the open ocean, the water here is about as threatening as a lukewarm bath. The wave action is minimal, the currents are gentle, and the whole place has the calm, unhurried feel of somewhere that hasn’t had a dramatic incident since about 1987. Which, frankly, after a day of driving around, suited us perfectly.

The beach itself is a pleasing mix of sand and salt marsh — not the manicured, postcard-perfect kind of beach, but the more interesting, slightly scrappy kind that actually has things going on in it. When the tide goes out, and on Cape Cod Bay the tidal range can be quite dramatic — sometimes retreating by half a mile or more — it leaves behind a series of shallow tide pools that are absolutely teeming with life. Hermit crabs pottering about looking busy, small fish darting around, bits of seaweed doing whatever seaweed does. The children thought it was brilliant. The adults thought it was a perfectly acceptable excuse to sit down for a bit.

Cape Cod Bay, for a bit of context, was actually where the Pilgrim Fathers first dropped anchor in November 1620 before eventually moving on to Plymouth. They presumably took one look at the tide pools, decided there weren’t enough hermit crabs to sustain a colony, and pushed off. Their loss.

One thing worth knowing before you let the children loose: the sandbars. The geography here plays tricks on you. You can be wading along quite happily in waist-deep water, take a dozen steps further out, and suddenly find yourself standing on a sandbar with the water barely up to your knees. Charming. Except that when the tide turns and starts coming back in, those same sandbars can catch you out remarkably quickly. Worth keeping an eye on, especially if you’ve got small people with you who tend to wander off in the direction of interesting crabs without telling anyone.

All in all, Skaket Beach was a thoroughly decent way to end the day. Peaceful, interesting, and no one got stung, bitten, or swept out to sea. By our standards, a resounding success.

🏙️ Provincetown — Well, We Weren’t Expecting That

We were woken in the early hours by the sound of rain hammering on the tent. And when I say hammering, I mean it was doing its very best impression of a snare drum at a heavy metal concert. Lying there at 3am, staring at a thin sheet of nylon between us and what felt like Niagara Falls, you do find yourself quietly questioning your life choices.

We’d been looking forward to a kayaking trip with a ranger from the Cape Cod National Seashore — one of those properly organised outings where someone who knows what they’re doing leads you around and points at things. Naturally, it was cancelled. The rain had seen to that. So instead, we did what any sensible person does when the weather turns: we got in the car.

We pointed ourselves north, up towards the very tip of Cape Cod, heading for Provincetown. On the way, we pulled off the highway to visit the National Seashore’s Province Lands Visitor Centre. It’s a smaller affair than the Salt Pond Visitor Centre down in Eastham — that one opened back in 1966 and was the first purpose-built visitor centre in the entire National Park system, so it’s got a lot to live up to — but the Province Lands centre had a genuinely impressive lookout point across the dunes. Miles of rolling, wind-sculpted sand stretching away in every direction, looking more like the Sahara than Massachusetts. Very much worth the stop, even in drizzle. Especially in drizzle, actually — there’s something bleakly dramatic about dunes under a grey sky that a sunny day tends to ruin.

Then we drove into Provincetown itself, and any remaining sense of windswept solitude promptly evaporated.

Now, Provincetown has a remarkable history. It was here, in November 1620, that the Mayflower actually made its first landfall — not Plymouth, as everyone always thinks. The Pilgrims anchored in Provincetown Harbour for five weeks before deciding the place wasn’t quite what they were after and sailing on down to Plymouth. The town that eventually grew here became one of New England’s most important fishing and whaling ports through the 18th and 19th centuries, and by the early 1900s it had reinvented itself as an artists’ colony, attracting the likes of Eugene O’Neill, who staged some of his earliest plays here. So it has genuine cultural pedigree. We were prepared to be impressed.

What we got was gift shops.

Endless gift shops, restaurants, ice cream parlours and souvenir emporia stretching the length of Commercial Street. The rain had started to ease off by the time we arrived, which meant everyone else had also decided to come out, and the narrow main street was absolutely heaving. To be fair to Provincetown, it isn’t without its charms — some of the old clapboard buildings are genuinely elegant, and there are proper art galleries dotted among the tat, because the artistic community is very much still alive and well here. It just takes a bit of effort to find them between the shops selling plastic lobsters and “Cape Cod” hoodies.

We had lunch in a South African-oriented restaurant — an unexpected find, it has to be said — that served food from what seemed like every corner of the globe. More remarkably, they had Marmite, Smarties and HP Sauce on sale. For anyone who hasn’t spent time living in Britain, that probably means absolutely nothing. For us, it was the culinary equivalent of bumping into an old friend.

For the rest of the afternoon we wandered about, ate ice cream, peered into galleries and watched the people. And what people. Provincetown has been a famously welcoming and inclusive community for decades — it’s had one of the most established LGBTQ+ communities on the East Coast since at least the 1970s — and the result is a wonderfully eclectic cast of characters strolling the streets. It reminded us, very strongly, of Brighton. Anyone who knows Brighton — that magnificently peculiar, endlessly entertaining town on the English south coast — will know exactly what we mean by that, and will understand that we intended it as a compliment.

All in all, Provincetown was well worth the drive up. Go for the food, the galleries, the shopping and the people-watching. Just don’t expect the solitude of the dunes.

🏙️ Hyannis & the Cape Cod Potato Chip Factory

We rolled into Hyannis on a bright morning, and it’s immediately clear this is a town that takes itself seriously. It’s the main hub of Cape Cod — the sort of place that has actual traffic lights and a Starbucks — and in summer it gets properly hectic, because this is where you catch the ferries out to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. Those two islands have been pulling in the wealthy and the would-be wealthy since the 19th century, and the ferry terminal reflects that, with a steady procession of people dragging expensive luggage towards the boats. We were not among them. We had different priorities.

Our priority was crisps.

The Cape Cod Potato Chip factory sits just off Route 132, and it was firmly on our list of things to do. Now, I appreciate that “visit a crisp factory” is not exactly scaling Machu Picchu, but bear with me, because this place has a genuinely decent story behind it.

It started in 1980, when a chap called Steve Bernard began frying crisps — sorry, chips — in a small shop in Hyannis using a couple of domestic-style fryers. He was producing around 200 bags a day, which sounds quite a lot until you hear what comes next. The operation grew steadily through the 1980s, changed hands a couple of times, and by the time we turned up, the factory was churning out around 350,000 bags every single day. That’s quite a jump. The secret, if you can call it that, was sticking to a kettle-cooked method — thicker cut, cooked in small batches — which gives the crisps that satisfying crunch that the big industrial brands somehow never quite manage.

The tour itself is self-guided, which suits us perfectly as it means nobody is herding us along at someone else’s pace. You walk along a raised viewing gallery and look down onto the factory floor through large windows, watching the potatoes being sorted, sliced, dropped into the fryers, and then rattled along conveyor belts towards the packaging machines. It’s surprisingly absorbing, in the way that watching any industrial process is absorbing — there’s something almost hypnotic about machinery doing repetitive things with great efficiency.

But let’s be honest. The real reason everyone does this tour is the last five minutes. The factory shop at the end hands out open bags of crisps for tasting, and there are sample bags to take away. This is, unambiguously, the best bit. We may have lingered slightly longer than was strictly necessary.

If you find yourself in Hyannis, it’s well worth the short detour. It won’t change your life, but the crisps are genuinely excellent — and at our age, that counts for quite a lot.

SOUTHERN MASSACHUSETTS

🏛️ The Aptucxet Trading Post Museum & Cape Cod Canal

Heading north from Cape Cod through Massachusetts, we made a couple of stops that turned out to be well worth the detour — though I’ll confess neither was exactly on our radar before we stumbled across them.

First up was the Aptucxet Trading Post Museum in Bourne, a small open-air historical museum that sits quietly beside the Manomet River as if it’s been waiting patiently for someone to notice it. The centrepiece is a replica of the original 17th-century Aptucxet Trading Post — and when I say replica, I mean it’s just that. The original structure is long gone, but the reconstruction gives you a decent enough sense of what it would have looked like.

The post itself has a surprisingly interesting backstory. It was built around 1627 by the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony — yes, those Pilgrims, the ones who’d rocked up on the Mayflower back in 1620 and spent the first few years mostly just trying not to die. By 1627 they’d got their feet under them sufficiently to think about commerce, which, when you think about it, is very human. Nearly starved to death, but never too busy for a bit of trade.

The trading post served as one of the earliest commercial enterprises in the New World, set up specifically to facilitate trade between the Plymouth settlers, the Wampanoag people — the indigenous nation who, let’s not forget, had arguably saved the Pilgrims from extinction in those brutal early years — and the Dutch traders coming up from New Amsterdam, which is what we now call New York. It was essentially a 17th-century motorway services, minus the disappointing sandwiches.

The Wampanoag brought furs and wampum — small shell beads that functioned as currency — while the Dutch and Pilgrims exchanged European goods. It was, for a brief period, a genuinely cooperative arrangement, which makes it all the more sobering when you consider how badly things unravelled for the Wampanoag in the decades that followed.

It doesn’t take long to look around, but if you’re passing through Bourne it’s a perfectly good reason to pull over and stretch your legs.

⚓ The Cape Cod Canal

The Cape Cod Canal is only about seven miles long, which sounds rather unimpressive until you consider what it actually does. It cuts straight through the narrow neck of land that joins Cape Cod to the rest of Massachusetts, saving vessels the rather tedious — and genuinely dangerous — alternative of sailing all the way around the outside of the Cape. Before the canal existed, ships had to navigate around the full length of Cape Cod, past the notorious shoals and sandbanks off Provincetown at the very tip. These waters had a well-earned reputation for swallowing ships whole. Hundreds of vessels came to grief out there over the centuries, which tends to concentrate the mind when you’re thinking about digging a shortcut.

The idea of a canal here wasn’t new. People had been talking about it since the 1620s, when the Pilgrims themselves apparently mooted the idea — though in fairness they had rather a lot of other things on their plate at the time. It took until 1909 before serious construction actually began, with the canal finally opening in July 1914. It was privately built and operated, which meant tolls, which meant it was never quite as popular as its backers had hoped. The US Army Corps of Engineers eventually took it over in 1928, widened it considerably, and made it toll-free. Since then it’s been one of the busiest artificial waterways in the world, handling everything from tankers and container ships to the odd optimistic sailing yacht.

We pulled over at one of the several lay-bys along the road that runs beside it — because apparently that’s what you do — and had a good look. It’s a proper working waterway, wide and purposeful, with a strong current running through it. Not what you’d call pretty, exactly, but impressive in a functional, no-nonsense sort of way. There are two bridges crossing it — the Sagamore and the Bourne — both built in the 1930s, and both rather handsome in that solid New Deal infrastructure style that Americans do very well.

Worth a few minutes of anyone’s time if you’re passing through.

🏛️ Plymouth and Plimouth Patuxent Museums

For those of you who aren’t entirely sure why Plymouth, Massachusetts matters — and I suspect that’s mainly our friends back in the UK, who were probably paying more attention to the football results than their history lessons — this is where the Pilgrim Fathers landed in December 1620. Well, sort of. They actually made their first landfall at what is now Provincetown, right at the tip of Cape Cod, in November of that year. But what they found there didn’t exactly fill them with colonial enthusiasm. Sand dunes as far as the eye could see (not ideal for farming), flat terrain with no natural defences (not ideal for staying alive), hostile local natives (very much not ideal for staying alive), and no fresh water whatsoever (just catastrophically not ideal). After six rather miserable weeks, they cut their losses and sailed across Cape Cod Bay to the mainland, where they established the settlement they called Plymouth — named, with a touching lack of imagination, after the Devon port town they’d set out from back in England.

The backstory to the voyage itself is worth dwelling on for a moment. The 102 Pilgrims who made the crossing did so aboard the Mayflower, and by all accounts it was an absolutely dreadful trip. The crossing took 66 days and was thoroughly tempestuous. There had originally been two ships — the Mayflower and a smaller vessel called the Speedwell — but the Speedwell kept taking on water in the English Channel and was declared unseaworthy after two failed attempts to get underway. Eventually they gave up on it entirely and crammed everybody onto the Mayflower, which must have made for a rather intimate crossing. The Mayflower departed Plymouth, England in September 1620, and those 102 souls arrived in the New World cold, exhausted, and probably deeply questioning their life choices.

The first winter was brutal. Around half the settlers died from cold, disease and hunger. What saved the remainder was, remarkably, a diplomatic arrangement with the local Native Americans — the Wampanoag Nation, whose territory at the time stretched across what is now Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. The Wampanoag leader, a man named Massasoit, calculated that an alliance with the English settlers would give him a strategic advantage over rival neighbouring nations. It was sharp political thinking, really. Out of this alliance came the famous harvest feast of 1621 — shared between the settlers and the Wampanoag — which is now celebrated across America every fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving. Without Massasoit’s pragmatism, the Plymouth settlement would almost certainly have collapsed entirely, and American history would have taken a very different turn. It’s also worth noting that Plymouth wasn’t actually the first permanent English settlement in America — that honour goes to Jamestown in Virginia, founded in 1607 — but at the time, the nearest other settlement to Plymouth was hundreds of miles to the south, near the mouth of the Hudson River. They were, in every meaningful sense, on their own.

We made our way down to the Plymouth waterfront, where there is a State Park, and the two main things to see are the Mayflower II and Plymouth Rock. The Mayflower II is a full replica of the original ship, built in England in the 1950s and sailed across the Atlantic in 1957 — completing in 53 days a journey that the original had managed in 66, which says something either about improvements in seamanship or about how desperately everyone wanted to get it over with. This year was the 50th anniversary of that crossing, and to mark the occasion they were offering free entry to anyone turning 50 in 2007. Unfortunately for Karen, she missed the cutoff by a mere 19 days. Nineteen days. We paid full price. She took it remarkably well, all things considered, though I pointed out that senior discounts aren’t all that far off — which, in retrospect, may not have been my most diplomatic moment.

The ship itself is genuinely impressive. Standing on deck and trying to picture 102 passengers plus 35 crew all crammed into that space for over two months is the sort of thought that makes you profoundly grateful for modern air travel, despite everything Ryanair does to undermine that gratitude. Onboard, there were costumed interpreters playing crew members entirely in character — period dress, period speech, the lot. Visitors did their level best to trip them up or get them to break, as visitors always do, but they held firm throughout. Thoroughly convincing, and rather more patient than I would have been.

Plymouth Rock itself, the legendary spot where the Pilgrims supposedly first stepped ashore, is preserved under a rather grand portico just along the waterfront. It’s a boulder. A moderately sized boulder. We stood and looked at it for a respectful amount of time and then quietly agreed that it was, as historical artefacts go, doing its best.

🏡 The Isaac Winslow House

Just down the road — and back about three and a half centuries — we found the Isaac Winslow House, which is looked after by a local historical society and does a remarkably good job of dragging you back to the days of the Pilgrim Fathers.

Now, a bit of history, because this place deserves it. Edward Winslow was one of the original passengers on the Mayflower, that famously overcrowded and deeply uncomfortable vessel that made the crossing from Plymouth, England, in September 1620, arriving at what would become Plymouth, Massachusetts, in November of that year. One hundred and two passengers endured sixty-six days at sea in a ship about the size of a tennis court. Edward Winslow wasn’t just along for the ride, either — he went on to become one of the more significant figures in early colonial New England, serving three times as Governor of Plymouth Colony and acting as a key diplomat between the settlers and the Wampanoag people. A genuinely important man.

However — and this is the sort of thing that catches you out — the house we were actually standing in wasn’t built by Edward at all. It was his grandson, Isaac, who put the place up in 1699, nearly eighty years after the Mayflower landed. So we weren’t quite as close to the action as we’d been led to believe. Story of our lives, really.

That said, the house itself was well worth the visit. We were taken through the kitchens, the great rooms, the parlour, and the bedrooms, all of which gave a proper sense of what domestic life looked like in late seventeenth-century New England — which is to say, practical, a bit sparse, and entirely without central heating. Jack and Emily were thoroughly engaged throughout the tour, which was saying something.

What really caught their attention, though — and frankly ours too — was the story of Lady Penelope’s ghost, who apparently haunts one of the upstairs bedrooms. We were given no firm explanation as to why she’s still hanging about after all these years, but then ghosts rarely offer one. Whether you believe in that sort of thing or not, it added a certain atmosphere to proceedings that no amount of period furniture quite manages on its own.

Well worth an hour of your time if you’re passing through.

Planning your trip to Cape Cod & Southern Massachusetts

Cape Cod and the broader region of Southern Massachusetts offer one of the most distinctive travel experiences in the northeastern United States. From the sun-bleached shingle cottages and seafood shacks of the Cape to the storied maritime history of New Bedford and Plymouth, this corner of New England rewards visitors with a rich blend of natural beauty, deep history, and genuinely relaxed coastal charm.

📍 Location

Cape Cod is a narrow peninsula that juts out from the southeastern corner of Massachusetts into the Atlantic Ocean, curling northward at its tip like a flexed arm. Locals often describe their position by picturing the arm itself — the Upper Cape nearest the mainland, the Mid Cape in the centre, the Lower Cape further out, and the Outer Cape at the very end. The peninsula extends roughly 65 miles and has over 500 miles of coastline. Cape Cod Bay lies to the north, Nantucket Sound to the south, and the open Atlantic to the east. Off its southwestern shore sit the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, both accessible by ferry.

Southern Massachusetts, the wider region surrounding the Cape, encompasses Plymouth to the north — the site of the Pilgrims’ landing in 1620 — and the cities of New Bedford and Fall River to the west, both steeped in maritime and industrial heritage. Together, these destinations form a deeply compelling and varied region.

✈️ Getting There

The main gateway airport for the wider region is Boston Logan International Airport, from which visitors can access Cape Cod and Southern Massachusetts by several means. Cape Air operates year-round flights directly from Logan to Barnstable Municipal Airport (also known as Cape Cod Gateway Airport, HYA) in Hyannis, taking approximately 30 minutes. In summer, JetBlue also serves HYA from New York. Provincetown has its own small municipal airport served by Cape Air from Boston.

By road, Cape Cod is connected to the mainland by two bridges spanning the Cape Cod Canal: the Sagamore Bridge to the northeast and the Bourne Bridge to the southwest. Driving from Boston takes roughly 90 minutes to two hours under normal conditions, though summer weekends — particularly Friday and Sunday afternoons — can extend this considerably. Route 3 south from Boston leads to the Sagamore Bridge; Interstate 195 connects from Providence for those approaching from the west.

By bus, Peter Pan/Bonanza and Plymouth & Brockton both run daily services from Boston’s South Station and Logan Airport to various points on the Cape, including Barnstable, Hyannis, Falmouth, Woods Hole, and Provincetown. This is a practical and affordable option that operates year-round.

By train, the CapeFLYER runs weekend passenger services from Boston’s South Station to Hyannis from Memorial Day (late May) through to Labor Day (early September) on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, with stops including Braintree, Middleborough, Wareham, and Bourne. The journey takes around two and a half hours.

By ferry, Boston Harbor Cruises and Baystate Cruise Company both operate fast ferries from Boston to Provincetown during the summer season, with the journey taking approximately 90 minutes. This is a scenic and traffic-free option, though note that vehicles cannot be transported this way. Ferries from Plymouth to Provincetown are also available seasonally.

For New Bedford and Fall River, the MBTA South Coast Rail commuter line now connects both cities to Boston, making day trips straightforward and convenient without requiring a car.

🚗 Getting Around

A hire car is by far the most flexible way to explore Cape Cod. The peninsula’s four regions are spread across a considerable distance, and many beaches, nature reserves, and smaller villages are not easily reached by public transport. The main spine of the Cape is US Route 6, which runs the length of the peninsula to Provincetown. Route 6A (Old King’s Highway) hugs the more scenic north shore, while Route 28 follows the southern coast. Satellite navigation is recommended, particularly when navigating the smaller roads within towns.

For those without a car, the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority (CCRTA) operates bus services connecting all 15 Cape Cod communities, with its main hub at the Hyannis Transportation Centre. Several seasonal trolley services also run within towns such as Hyannis and Falmouth.

Cycling is an excellent option in many parts of the Cape, particularly on the Cape Cod Rail Trail, a multi-use path running roughly 25 miles from South Dennis to Wellfleet. In Provincetown, cycling or walking is actually the recommended way to get around, as Commercial Street — the vibrant main drag — is extremely narrow and congested with pedestrians and delivery vehicles. Attempting to drive it is strongly discouraged.

Within Southern Massachusetts, New Bedford and Fall River are now well connected to Boston by commuter rail. Plymouth is also accessible by MBTA commuter rail from Boston. However, having a car remains useful for exploring the wider region, particularly the smaller coastal communities and conservation areas.

🏖️ What to See and Do

Cape Cod is divided into four regions, each with its own character. The Upper Cape, closest to the mainland, includes the towns of Sandwich, Bourne, Mashpee, and Falmouth. Sandwich is the oldest town on the Cape and has an Old World New England atmosphere, with historic homes and a charming town centre. Falmouth, one of the larger towns, has eight villages and fourteen harbours, and offers canoeing, kayaking, and coastal walks. Woods Hole, in the southwestern corner, is home to the renowned Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, whose Discovery Centre explains marine science and ocean conservation to visitors.

The Mid Cape centres on Hyannis, the Cape’s commercial hub and transport centre. It is also associated with the Kennedy family, whose compound is located here, and the John F. Kennedy Hyannis Museum covers the former president’s deep connection to the area.

The Lower Cape features picturesque harbours and quaint downtowns. Chatham is considered one of the most refined towns on the Cape, with upscale dining, galleries, and a distinctly elegant coastal character. Brewster, a little further west, is known for its antique shops, bed and breakfasts, and appeal to families and nature lovers alike.

The Outer Cape is home to the Cape Cod National Seashore, a federally protected stretch of roughly 40 miles of coastline encompassing stunning beaches, marshes, freshwater ponds, and woodland trails. The Salt Pond Visitor Centre in Eastham is the main gateway for the National Seashore and offers orientation films, exhibits, trail access, and fire permit information. Wellfleet and Truro are quieter, artistically inclined communities popular with long-standing Cape devotees. At the very tip, Provincetown — known locally as P-Town — is a lively, arts-driven seaport with a celebrated LGBTQ+ community, outstanding whale-watching from May through October, extensive bike trails through the Province Lands dunes, and a vibrant gallery scene.

Fourteen lighthouses stand along the Cape’s shores. The most photographed include the red-and-white Nauset Light, the Highland Light (the Cape’s oldest), and Chatham Light. Several are open to visitors during the summer season.

In Southern Massachusetts, Plymouth is a significant historical destination. Plymouth Rock — the symbolic landing site of the Mayflower Pilgrims in 1620 — sits on the waterfront, and the Plimoth Patuxent Museums complex brings the 17th century to life through costumed interpreters, a reconstructed English village, a Wampanoag home site, and a replica of the Mayflower itself. The Pilgrim Hall Museum holds an extraordinary collection of original Pilgrim artefacts.

New Bedford’s heritage as the world’s greatest whaling port in the 19th century is told compellingly at the New Bedford Whaling Museum and the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park, a 13-acre preserved historic neighbourhood whose buildings feature in Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick.

Fall River is home to Battleship Cove, widely regarded as the world’s largest collection of preserved American naval warships, including the battleship USS Massachusetts, a destroyer, and a submarine from the Second World War era.

⚠️ Things to Be Aware Of

Traffic. This is one of the most important practical considerations when visiting Cape Cod. Only two bridges connect the Cape to the mainland, and during the peak summer season — particularly Friday afternoons heading onto the Cape and Sunday afternoons heading back — traffic can back up for many miles. Planning arrivals and departures outside these windows makes a significant difference. The MassDOT traffic information line (511) provides real-time updates.

Beach parking and permits. Most beaches on Cape Cod charge parking fees, which can be considerable — up to $30 or more per day at some locations. Many town beaches operate a two-tier system with separate permits for residents and visitors. Some parking areas for residents are completely closed to non-residents. Visitor passes typically range from day passes to weekly permits and must often be purchased in advance or early in the morning, as car parks fill quickly during summer weekends. The Cape Cod National Seashore also charges fees for those arriving on foot or by bicycle.

Great white sharks. This is a genuine and growing consideration for anyone swimming in the ocean off Cape Cod. The recovery of the grey seal population has brought white sharks back to these waters in increasing numbers, particularly from June through October and most notably along the Outer Cape beaches from Chatham to Provincetown. Beaches are monitored by rangers and lifeguards, and swimming areas are temporarily closed whenever a confirmed sighting occurs. A purple shark flag at the beach indicates sharks are known to frequent the area. Visitors are strongly encouraged to download the Sharktivity app, developed by the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, which provides real-time sighting alerts. The key safety guidelines are to stay close to shore, swim in groups, avoid areas where seals are present, avoid murky water, and avoid swimming at dawn or dusk when shark activity tends to be highest. Shark attacks remain rare, but the risk is real and should be taken seriously.

Rip tides and ocean conditions. Independent of sharks, the open Atlantic beaches of the Outer Cape can be subject to powerful rip tides, strong undertows, and significant shore break. Always swim at lifeguarded beaches where possible, never swim alone, and never turn your back to the ocean.

Smoking and cannabis. Smoking tobacco is prohibited in workplaces, bars, restaurants, hotels, and public transport, and is not permitted on most Cape Cod beaches. Cannabis is legal in Massachusetts for adults aged 21 and over to purchase and possess, but it is illegal to consume it in any public place — including beaches, parks, streets, and sidewalks — in any form, including edibles. It is also prohibited in hotel rooms. There are no cannabis cafés or social consumption venues in Massachusetts, so options for legal consumption are limited to private residences.

Drinking age. The legal drinking age in the United States is 21. This is strictly enforced, and identification will frequently be requested at bars, restaurants, and shops selling alcohol, regardless of appearance.

Tipping culture. Tipping is not optional in the American context — it is an expected and essential part of the income of service industry workers. Restaurant and bar staff in Massachusetts receive a reduced “tipped minimum wage” well below the standard minimum wage, on the assumption that tips will make up the difference. A tip of 20% for good service is standard; 25% for excellent service. Not leaving a tip is considered rude and genuinely harmful to the worker. Tipping at cafés and food counters is increasingly common too, though usually at a lower level.

LGBTQ+ culture. Provincetown is one of the most celebrated LGBTQ+ destinations in the United States and has been for decades. The town is welcoming, inclusive, and has a vibrant queer community that is central to its identity. Visitors of all backgrounds are welcome, and the atmosphere is one of openness and celebration.

Local culture and pace. Cape Cod operates at a notably relaxed pace, which is part of its appeal. The culture is casual — dress codes are rarely more than smart-casual, and beachwear is perfectly appropriate at the shore but is considered inappropriate inland. The Cape has a strong identity as a place apart from the mainland, and long-time residents take pride in their communities. Respectful, unhurried engagement is appreciated.

Cranberries. Massachusetts, and the Cape Cod region in particular, is one of the world’s leading cranberry-producing areas. Bog tours are available throughout the Cape, and cranberries appear in everything from pastries to ice cream. The annual harvest in autumn is a notable local event.

The Cape Cod Baseball League. A beloved local institution, the Cape Cod Baseball League is one of the most prestigious amateur summer baseball leagues in the United States and serves as a proving ground for future professional players. Attending a game is a quintessential local experience, free to the public, and takes place at town fields across the Cape throughout the summer.

Seafood. Eating fresh, locally caught seafood is not just recommended — it is considered an essential part of the Cape Cod experience. Fried clams (either whole belly or clam strips), clam chowder, lobster rolls, oysters, and fish and chips are among the signature dishes. The closer to the water and the more modest-looking the establishment, the fresher the seafood is likely to be

Best time to visit Massachusetts

Massachusetts is a year-round destination that wears every season differently. From the historic cobblestones of Boston and the Revolutionary War trails of Lexington to the golden beaches of Cape Cod and the forested hills of the Berkshires, the Bay State shifts character dramatically with each turn of the calendar. Understanding what each season offers — and demands — will help you make the most of your time here.

🌸 Spring — March to May

Shoulder Season

Spring in Massachusetts is a season of promise and unpredictability in equal measure. March arrives with winter still very much in residence — cold, often raw, and liable to produce late snowfall — though St Patrick’s Day is celebrated with considerable enthusiasm across the state, particularly in Boston where the Irish-American connection runs deep. April brings a gradual thaw and one of the state’s most iconic events: Patriots’ Day, a public holiday marking the start of the Revolutionary War, which coincides with the world-famous Boston Marathon. Watching runners push through the streets of eight Massachusetts towns to the Boylston Street finish line is an experience unlike any other. By May, the Public Garden’s swan boats return to the water, the Arnold Arboretum erupts in lilac bloom, and Cape Cod begins to stir before the summer rush. Temperatures range from around 5 °C in early March to 18 °C by late May, though rain is a constant companion throughout. Accommodation is moderately priced and crowds, outside Marathon week, are manageable.

What to pack: Layering is essential — temperatures swing dramatically between morning and afternoon. Pack a waterproof jacket, a warm mid-layer fleece or jumper, and comfortable waterproof walking shoes. An umbrella is wise for the frequent spring showers. Lighter clothing in breathable fabrics is useful for warmer May afternoons, but always keep something warm to hand for the evenings.

☀️ Summer — June to August

Peak Season

Summer is Massachusetts at its most exuberant. Boston’s sidewalk cafés fill up, Fenway Park roars with Red Sox crowds, and the harbour buzzes with whale-watching boats heading out to Stellwagen Bank. Cape Cod and the Islands — Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket — draw enormous numbers of visitors seeking beaches, lobster rolls, and salt air. The Berkshires come alive with world-class culture: Tanglewood hosts the Boston Symphony Orchestra against a backdrop of rolling hills, and Jacob’s Pillow brings premier dance to its woodland stage. Temperatures sit comfortably between 22 °C and 28 °C, occasionally pushing higher with humidity that can feel oppressive in the city centre. July is the warmest month, and August tends to be the driest. This is peak season throughout the state, meaning hotel rates are at their highest, popular attractions are busiest, and Cape Cod accommodation books up months in advance. Boston Harborfest in early July and the numerous arts festivals across the Berkshires make this a rich and rewarding time to visit, provided you plan and book well ahead.

What to pack: Light, breathable cotton and linen clothing for warm days, with a layer for air-conditioned interiors which can be aggressively chilly. Sunscreen and sunglasses are essential for beach days. A compact rain jacket is useful for the occasional summer thunderstorm. Comfortable walking shoes are a must for Freedom Trail rambles and Cape Cod cycling trails. A light cardigan or wrap for cooler evenings on the water is worth the space in your bag.

🍂 Autumn — September to November

Shoulder to Off-Season

Autumn is the season that Massachusetts does better than almost anywhere on earth. September delivers warm, settled days — temperatures in the low-to-mid 20s °C — with noticeably lighter crowds and hotel prices that drop sharply after Labour Day. Whale watching remains excellent off the coast, the Freedom Trail is blessedly less congested, and the Boston Harbour Islands are at their finest. October is when the state truly announces itself: the foliage across the Berkshires, Pioneer Valley, and the North Shore turns to blazing golds, ambers, and crimsons in a display that draws visitors from across the world. Salem, already a compelling destination, shifts into extraordinary overdrive in October — witch museums, ghost tours, lantern-lit evenings, and a month-long celebration of Halloween that has no equal. The Head of the Charles Regatta fills the Charles River with the world’s finest rowers in late October. November turns quieter and colder, with first frost arriving and the possibility of early snow by month’s end. It is a fine time for uncrowded museum visits and brisk countryside walks, though many Cape Cod businesses begin to close.

What to pack: September calls for light layers — T-shirts and a light jacket are enough for the daytime, with something warmer for the evenings. October demands proper layering: pack a good mid-weight jacket, warm jumpers, and comfortable boots for leaf-peeping walks on uneven forest trails. A scarf and gloves are advisable by late October. November requires full winter preparation — a proper warm coat, hat, gloves, and waterproof footwear.

❄️ Winter — December to February

Off-Season

Winter in Massachusetts is cold, sometimes brutally so, and anyone visiting must be prepared for it. Temperatures range from −4 °C to 6 °C across the season, with January typically the coldest month. Snowstorms are a regular feature, particularly in February, and the lowest temperatures recorded in Boston have dipped well below −20 °C. Yet winter has its own distinct rewards for the prepared traveller. Boston at Christmas is genuinely enchanting: Beacon Hill’s gas lamps glow in the snow, Faneuil Hall hosts festive markets and holiday light displays, and Frog Pond on Boston Common becomes an ice-skating rink beneath the city skyline. Hotel rates are at their lowest (excepting the Christmas and New Year period), queues at museums are short, and the city feels authentically itself — uncrowded, unhurried, and deeply atmospheric. The western Berkshires offer skiing and snowboarding, and cultural institutions such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum are best appreciated in these quieter months. February’s Beanpot hockey tournament and Chinese New Year celebrations in the city add colour to the coldest stretch of the year.

What to pack: A serious, properly insulated winter coat is non-negotiable. Pack thermal base layers, warm woollen jumpers, a hat, gloves, and a scarf — wind chill makes exposed skin uncomfortable very quickly. Waterproof, insulated boots with grip are essential for icy pavements and snowy streets. Hand warmers are a small luxury well worth adding. Layers remain the strategy: the transition between Boston’s frigid streets and its extremely well-heated interiors is dramatic.

⭐ Overall Best Time to Visit

For most travellers, September and October represent the finest time to visit Massachusetts. September combines the warmth and energy of summer with noticeably lower prices and thinner crowds, while October delivers the state’s legendary autumn foliage at its peak alongside one of the world’s great Halloween celebrations in Salem. Together, these two months offer a balance of comfortable weather, cultural richness, scenic beauty, and practical value that no other period can quite match. Those drawn to Boston’s historic character and cultural life will also find late May and June deeply rewarding — the gardens are in full bloom, the marathon excitement has just passed, and the city feels alive without the oppressive peak-summer crowds and prices. Winter suits the curious and hardy traveller who wants to see Boston at its most authentic, and spring rewards the patient one who doesn’t mind an umbrella. Whatever the season, Massachusetts repays the effort: this is a state with genuine depth, and it gives something different and worthwhile at every turn of the year.