For nearly 50 years our family has been making the annual summer pilgrimage to the breathtaking National Seashore in Cape Cod, home of the freshest seafood, miles of (hopefully and usually) sunny beaches and high end boutiques and shops that promise to break any wallet.
The trouble is I am allergic to seafood, have been sternly advised that my days of eight hours of sun tanning are over, and my wallet, well it was never designed for no-matter-what-it-costs-because-it-is-vacation shopping.
But oh how that historic, serene, sandy-hooked peninsula draws me back every year. And while some might perceive the Cape as a “why go there” place given my “limitations,” well, that would be silly. Man does not live by seafood alone (not even on the Cape), sun time can easily be modified and shopping, well come on, everyone loves a bargain. So after just a couple of hours at the beach, you’d be surprised at the places you can go.
Dining And Nightlife
Russ And Marie’s Marconi Beach BBQ & Seafood Restaurant: 545 Grand Army Of The Republic Highway, Wellfleet, Mass.
There’s a whole lot more to signature dining on Cape Cod than lobsters and oysters and mussels.
One of the first places we head to is Russ & Marie’s BBQ and Seafood (marconibeachrestaurant.com) on Route 6 in Wellfleet. While the family restaurant with the seemingly always smokin’ smoker outside does serve seafood, it is the fried chicken, barbecue ribs and brisket that keeps this place at the top of our list.
“We probably cook about 1,000 pieces of fried chicken a day, around 400 pounds of Texas brisket a day and another 3,000 to 4,000 pounds of ribs a week,” boasts owner Russ Swart, who has owned the place with wife, Marie, for decades. “We used to use the smoker out front but business grew so that we had to build a bigger smoker in the back.” The eatery is always comfortably crowded mecca, complete with a serious selection of Cape beers, and screwdrivers made with fresh squeezed oranges. “And the fried chicken, well we have a special recipe when it comes to marinating the pieces, breading them and then deep frying, not pressure frying, them.”
So why all the chicken and barbecue in the middle of seafood land?
“Thirty years ago everyone on the Cape served seafood so we thought, ‘Why not offer something different?’ So we did,” he explains simply. “People didn’t think it was going to work but I just told them, ‘Yes it will!’ And it has.”
PB Boulangerie & Bistro: 15 Lecount Hollow Road, South Wellfleet, Mass.
Paris anyone? If you are a sometimes Francophile, or even if you just love boulangerie-quality pastry that reminds you of wiling away hours over café au lait at a cozy French cafe, luncheon treats like authentic Croques Monsieur or a romantic dinner with beef bourguignon and a French full-flavored red wine, you must head to Philippe Rispoli’s PB Boulangerie (pbboulangeriebistro.com).
Located in West Wellfleet, this French bistro, housed in a former clam shack, has received rave reviews from food critics. PB’s takes you to Paris with its hand-painted murals, shelves of fresh baked baguettes and specialty breads, and gleaming glass cases full of freshly prepared cakes, tarts, eclairs, viennoiserie and croissants. And if you listen carefully, you’ll hear the mood-setting streamed-in music, including hits like the Beach Boys’ “Surfer Girl,” sung in French.
“I know it’s an odd place for a French restaurant but people find us,” explains Rispoli, the warm and devoted Lyon native who happened upon Wellfleet by chance. “We offer local seafood as well as traditional French dishes. There is room for both”
Menu offerings including roasted chicken, slow-cooked pork belly, escargot, Wellfleet clams, steamed codfish, pates and classic quenelle are just some of the menu highlights at this sweet hideaway which also offers sandwiches “to go” to the beach as well as a Continental breakfast featuring its renowned breads and pastries.
Make reservations if you want to enjoy dinner in the summer and be aware that the best seats are those at the chef’s counter where you can watch the experts in action as they prepare dishes that are works of art. And if you decide to head over at 7 a.m. for the petite dejeuner, plan to arrive at 6:30 when the lines start — it’s so worth the wait.
Land Ho!: 38 Main St., Orleans, Mass.; 429 Main St./Route 28, Harwich Port, Mass.
Land Ho! is an institution on the Cape. The John Murphy family has made it this way.
While both locations are well known as family-friendly restaurants with a nice menu featuring fresh seafood as well as American standards, the bar at the Orleans location (land-ho.com) has the best vibe, and we know this because we’re admittedly there more than we probably should be.
Plan to arrive around 3:30 p.m. or so if you want to shoot the breeze over a beer or a Cape Codder with the local fishermen who share tales of what the sea had to offer that day, as well as neighborhood gossip.
Land Ho also offers live music, trivia nights, karaoke and more good fun with no pressure and again, the opportunity to hob nob with the locals. Be sure to notice the license plates on the walls. Most are displayed for a reason and some have good stories attached.
The Woodshed: 1993 Main St., Brewster, Mass
Want to get out and party a bit? Head to Brewster’s The Woodshed (thebrewsterwoodshed.com), a livery stable-turned-woodshed-turned live-music venue for everyone, no matter how old or young you are.
“We have bands that are very popular here like The Cape Cod Slackers, Boston Naturals, Half a Mind and Dave Foley, seven days a week,” said owner Bob Ford, who notes there is a token $5 cover charge weekends only.
Crowded in a good way with reasonably priced drinks and a very diverse crowd, The Woodshed was first a low-key piano bar before bands took over the floor. The dancing that has ensued, well that was never planned.
“There’s no room but what can you do,” said Ford, about the elbow-to- elbow crowd that can’t sit still once the music begins.
While fans of the place and business-savvy friends have urged Ford to expand the popular nighttime spot, Ford says he’ll take a pass, waxing philosophical as only a native New Englander can.
“We have a good thing,” he remarks. “So why mess with it?”
Field Trips
Cape Cod Lavender Farm: Weston Woods Road, Harwich, Mass.
Take a deep breath, especially if you are in Harwich in June or July. It’s lavender harvest time.
And nowhere better to get a wonderful sweet minty-laced whiff than Cape Cod Lavender Farm (capecodlavenderfarm.com), a cacophony of purple blooms, and pungent scent, housed on 20 secluded acres that offer a respite for the mind and the soul.
“We are one of the Cape’s hidden gems,” said Cynthia Sutphin, who with husband Matthew have parlayed their working farm into a destination site for an estimated 10,000 visitors a season.
Opened in 1995, lavender from the 14,000 plants is harvested by hand each year. The farm, featuring fields and fields of 20 varieties of the fragrant herb also includes a quaint New England style farm shop where lavender local and imported products like jams, oils, soaps, lotions and plants, are sold.
This year’s new product will be hydrosol toner, a natural lavender astringent made from the water left from the lavender distillation process.
“It’s very effective and made right here,” assures Sutphine.
For the children there is also the Enchanted Garden. Created by stonemason Eddie Foisy, a circular walkway takes you to a miniature medieval castle surrounded by fairy portals, a magic diorama enveloped in a bank of lush hosta, ferns and sweet woodruff.
“The children do love the fairyland,” said Sutphin, noting that visitors often add to the diorama with shells or stones or bits of colored sea glass. “It’s a nice little surprise.”
Continuum: 7 South Orleans Road, Orleans
Antique freak? Or just looking for the right fixture? You might want to stop in Orleans at Continuum Antiques and Collectibles, an antique lighting store with Connecticut roots. Opened by the late former UTC project manager Dan Johnson, the place is much more than a showroom for an array of antique lighting. It is a museum with an education attached.
“Dad opened it about 35 years ago but died last year,” explains his daughter Deanna Johnson, a Waterbury art teacher who runs the place with her daughter Sasha. He loved collecting interesting lights and fixtures and just started accumulating them from his travels and by attending flea markets and auctions and hooking up with pickers who would find things for him,” she said.
Continuum has a large, rare collection of ribbed, holophane fixtures which use borosilicate glass reflectors and refractors to provide an untainted light, and are considered mid-20th century industrial art.
“It was more than just a lighting business to him,” said Deanna Johnson about her father’s interest in antique lighting and the craftsmanship and history behind the creations. “He would research pieces and when people came in to browse, it was more like they were touring a museum with a curator.”
Be prepared to do a lot of looking up at the shop’s array of Tiffany, porcelain, cut glass, painted and brass, pendant sconces, chandeliers. Much of his collection remains and pieces are being sold by appointment only. And the stock is every changing.
Truro Vineyards/South Hollow Spirits: 11 Shore Road, North Truro, Mass.
Head a bit north to Route 6a to North Truro where you can not only loll about the expansive front lawn of a Cape Cod farmhouse but do it while enjoying gourmet food, vineyard wines and locally crafted rum and gin.
Thank Dave Roberts.
He and his family are marking the 10th anniversary of their vineyard (trurovineyardsofcapecod.com) which is not only producing wine-worthy grapes, but now are also distilling their own rums and gin as well.
Roberts worked for Connecticut’s former Heublein liquor production and distribution manufacturer and knows his way around a good bottle of spirits. His family had always wanted to live on the Cape so when the opportunity presented itself, they bought a small vineyard and began to grow it.
“We’ve had a lot of good advice along the way are diversifying the business and taking it forward so that it turned out to be what we wanted it to be,” said Roberts. “We’re making better wine than we were when we first started and by buying another acre or so, we were able to add the rum and now the gin operation.”
For the record, that would be the new Dry Line Gin, made with the juniper-producing Eastern Red Cedar that is only grown east of the 100th meridian, and Twenty Boat spiced, white and amber rums, twice distilled small batch rums named in honor of a very evasive 1930s rum runner named William Sovell.
“We are a destination for tourists, even those who have been here before,” said Roberts admitting even he is impressed with how the small vineyard and grown and become a noteworthy attraction. “We’re having a big party on June 24 with food and live music to kick off our 10th anniversary. So everyone stop by.”
The Inn at the Oaks: 3085 State Highway, Eastham, Mass.
This place is on my bucket list. Part-time Connecticut resident Lawrence Shapiro operates this bed-and-breakfast (innattheoaks.com) that seems quite traditional during high season but the rest of the year provides respite, a creative corner and the luxury of time for any and all writers.
A child psychologist with a few books of his own, Shapiro recalls how he used to try to find little getaway places where he could focus on his writing so when this old Victorian on Route 6 was up for sale, he decided to create his own writing oasis.
“It’s mostly tourists during the summer and then we are a traditional bed and breakfast,” explained Shapiro. But from October through the end of March we become a place where writers can think, spend time on their writing, and meet other writers,” he said. “A kind of mecca for writers.”
The 13-room inn boasts the Henry Beston suite, named for the author of “The Outermost House,” about his experience living in Eastham in 1925.
And while the inn is a haven, Shapiro laughs noting that some of his guests just need to be by the sea as they create.
“We had one author here from Vancouver who insisted on writing outside at the beach in the middle of winter,” he said. “I bought him a pair of gloves and cut the fingertips out so he could type and not freeze.”
Shopping
Consigning Women: 220 Main St., Brewster, Mass.; Route 137, Harwich, Mass.
Please let me preface this with the fact that I love second-hand treasures from consignment and resale shops, Restore, Goodwill, any church store, places where you just know you can find treasures at a fraction of the retail cost.
With that said, I am reluctantly sharing two of my favorites when it comes to clothes, boots, shoes, jewelry and house goods, although my friends are not happy about me sharing.
Remember these two words, Consigning Women (consigncapecod.com). That’s all I am going to say until you thank me. Plan to spend a couple of hours. You won’t be sorry. And tell Mary Martin and Michelle Meuter I’ll be seeing them soon!
Local Color Boutique: 9 Cove Road, Orleans
And in Orleans, conveniently tucked away behind Land Ho! head over to Local Color Resale Boutique (localcolourboutique.com), where the bargains and “the finds” are too numerous to mention.
Owner Dale Tracy started the business about eight years ago and now oversees shelves and racks and cases full of designer clothes, vintage jewelry, evening wear and a huge selection of gently used or new from mainstream malls including Talbots, Chico’s, Vineyard Vines and more.
“I started it when second-hand was not nearly as vogue as it is now,” said Tracy. “In the last few years there has been a real upswing in shopping consignment and we are often a place that is part of a tourist’s ‘must-stop’ list while they are here.”
Tracy credits trend and the economy to the renewed interest in recycling rather than buying new and says handbags, like Coach, Dooney Bourke, Ralph Lauren and more, make up her biggest sales.
“Originally I thought the business would be geared more to locals,” she said. “But now it has become a destination for travelers too.”
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to correct the last name of Bob Ford, owner of The Woodshed in Brewster which was incorrect in one paragraph.
