12 Top Things to do on Cape Cod | Captain Freeman Inn

by Donna Cain

It’s been a wonderful summer at the Captain Freeman Inn as our guests have been enjoying our new salt water pool and all of the wonderful activities and beauty that surrounds us on Cape Cod. I thought it would be a fun blog post to mention the top 12 activities that we enjoy and/or hear from our guests during their stay.

#1- Visiting the National Seashore has to be number 1 as the protected land within the National Seashore is breath taking with many wonderful beaches and nature trails for bird watching and hiking. We like to recommend to our guests that they stop at the Salt Pond Visitor’s Center. It’s a wonderful free resource that has a picturesque walk path close by, a bike path with easy access to Coastguard Beach and Nauset Lighthouse and a small museum with cheerful rangers always on hand to direct you to a beach or trail. We  visit these beaches year round, after all Coastguard Beach was voted one of the 10 best beaches in the country by Dr. Beach. Check out this blog for details.

#2- Take a bike ride on our Cape Cod Rail Trail. If you go north, you’ll go through quaint towns, wooded trails and land at Marconi Beach where you can also hike through the Atlantic White Cedar Swamp Trail. If you go south from the inn, you’ll ride by cranberry bogs and pristine kettle ponds.

#3- We are very fortunate to have the renowned Heritage Museums and Gardens in Sandwich which includes over 100 acres of beautiful gardens, an adventure park with tree zip lining and a museum with folk art and antique cars. After your day at the park have lunch or dinner at the new restaurant with beautiful vistas of the canal at the Fisherman’s View Restaurant.

#4- Our guests all know that we love lavender. We have many plants at the inn, make fragrant lavender/grapefruit spritzers in the inn’s kitchen, give gifts of lavenders buds and serve lavender lemonade. We also love to recommend that you visit the Cape Cod Lavender Farm in Harwich. It’s filled with beautiful vistas of lavender fields and includes an honor system gift shop with lavender type items. A must see during your visit to Cape Cod.

#5- Visit a Cape Cod Light house during your stay. We have many to choose from with our favorite being RacePoint Light House. We also like to recommend that you visit the Chatham Light House. It has beautiful views of the Atlantic Ocean and sometimes you might see some playful seals.

#6- Watch a Cape Cod sunset. We have so many incredable pictures of sunsets on Cape Cod bay. Our favorite is Paine’s Creek but they all have unique and beautiful vistas of the bay as the sun sets over the water.

#7- Have an ice-cream at our famed Brewster Scoops. I have always loved ice cream and love to walk over to the Brewster General Store to enjoy an old fashion ice cream cone. The ice-cream is rich and delicious.

#8- Visit the Edward Gorey house in Yarmouth. It’s filled with interesting tidbits about the quirky author. While there drive just down the street and have a fabulous burger in the Old Yarmouth Inn tavern.

#9- Take a swim in one of the picturesque kettle ponds in Nickerson State Park. We love to take Harrison to Flax Pond which is the last lake on the drive within the park. There is a wonderful beach along with easy trails around the lake. It’s Harrison’s favorite place for a summer swim! (p.s. – he even swims in this lake during the winter months.

#10- Have dinner at our favorite local pub- the Lost Dog Pub. We love the Dennis restaurant and frequent it often…..nothing fancy but they make homemade french fries and have awesome pizzas!

#11- Visit our favorite art gallery in Orleans- Addison Art Gallery. We love the collection of artists including many that are inspired by Edward Hopper. My favorite artist, Marc Kundmann usually has several of his pieces in this gallery …..maybe one day.

#12- Last but not least take a whale watching adventure in Provincetown and afterwards have a wonderful meal at the Lobster Pot!

My list could go on and on but shown above are our top 12 favorites. Consider a stay at the Captain Freeman Inn where we can help plan your itinerary to enjoy all or many of these wonderful places on Cape Cod.