The rest of the Cape may have its civilized enticements, but it's only on the Outer Cape that the landscape and even the air feel really beachy. You can smell the seashore just over the horizon -- in fact, you can smell it everywhere you go because you're never more than a mile or two away from sand and surf.
You won't find any high-rise hotels along the shoreline here. No tacky amusement arcades either. Just miles of pristine beaches and dune grass rippling in the wind. You'll also see the occasional cottage inhabited by some lucky soul who managed to get his or her hands on it before the coastline became the federally protected Cape Cod National Seashore in the early 1960s.
Henry David Thoreau witnessed virtually the same peaceful panorama when he roamed here in the 1850s. With luck and determination on the part of current inhabitants and visitors, the landscape will remain intact. The Outer Cape, after all, is a place to play -- in the sand, and in the delightful, unconventional towns that have flourished here, far from the rest of civilization.
While they share the majestic National Seashore, Outer Cape towns are quite diverse. Eastham, as the official gateway to the National Seashore, certainly gets its share of visitors, yet there is also a sleepy quality to this town, which used to have the distinction of being the turnip capital of the country. Grab a stool at a locals' joint like Flemings Donut Shop on Route 6 for a taste of old Cape Cod before there was ever any talk of a National Seashore.
Wellfleet, called the art-gallery town, is in my view one of the nicest towns on Cape Cod. The very strollable Main Street is lined with intriguing shops in historic buildings. Commercial Street, which leads to the harbor, has the art galleries, filled with work by mainly local artists inspired by this region. Wellfleet was for years one of the premier fishing villages on Cape Cod, and it still has a bustling and picturesque harbor. There are also freshwater ponds and National Seashore beaches; some of Cape Cod's finest swimming holes and most spectacular beaches line the coast of Wellfleet.
Tiny Truro is the least developed of the Cape's towns; it has the smallest population and the highest proportion of acreage reserved for the National Seashore. The center of town is one of those blink-and-you-miss-it affairs, though the fact that Truro has four libraries should tell you something about its residents.
Provincetown is a former Portuguese fishing village turned into an internationally famous art and gay colony with a flamboyant nightlife. The main drag (so to speak) is Commercial Street, with the best shopping on Cape Cod. Families come for the strolling, museums, and whale-watching; bon vivants for the restaurants, cafes, and entertainment; and gays for the camaraderie. And the beaches? Seemingly endless.
