Cape Cod Hotels

Cape Cod Hotels

Hotels in Cape Cod, USA, are often required for tourists who need accommodation in the peninsula. Some tourists want a hotel that has good prices or is exclusive. They may want hotels that have good views of the region. Some may want hotels that are close to the tourist atreractions of the region. Some visitors may want hotels that have good reputations. Some may want hotels that have entertainment and fun.

Cape Cod (or simply the Cape to most New Englanders) is a peninsula nearly coextensive with Barnstable County, Massachusetts and forming the easternmost portion of the state of Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States. The Cape's small town character and beachfront brings heavy tourism during the summer months.

Although the Cape was originally connected to the mainland, the Cape Cod Canal, which opened in 1914, technically transformed Cape Cod into a large island (though it is not normally referred to as such). Three bridges span the canal from the Massachuetts mainland to the Cape. Vehicles can cross onto the Cape via the Sagamore Bridge and the Bourne Bridge; the other is the Cape Cod Canal Railroad Bridge.

Sagamore Bridge in Sagamore, Massachusetts carries across the Cape Cod Canal, connecting Cape Cod with the rest of Massachusetts, USA.

Cape Cod comprises almost all of Barnstable County. Two of the county's fifteen towns (Bourne and Sandwich) include land on the mainland, off-Cape, side of the canal. The towns of Plymouth and Wareham, in adjacent Plymouth County, are sometimes confused to be part of Cape Cod but are not located on the peninsula, and the 1914 completion of the Cape Cod Canal separated them from the towns on the Cape proper. Cape Codders, or people who live on Cape, generally refer to all land on the mainland side of the canal as off-Cape.

Cape Cod consists of four portions:

The Upper Cape is the section of Cape Cod closest to the mainland. This portion of the Cape includes the towns of Bourne, Sandwich, Falmouth, and Mashpee. While part of the town of Barnstable is located on the Upper Cape, it is more commonly considered to be in the Mid-Cape area. Falmouth is the home of the famous Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and several other research organizations, and is also the most-used ferry connection to Martha's Vineyard. Falmouth is composed of several separate villages, including East Falmouth, Falmouth Village, Hatchville, North Falmouth, Teaticket, Waquoit, West Falmouth, and Woods Hole, as well as several smaller hamlets that are incorporated into their larger neighbors (e.g., Davisville, Falmouth Heights, Quissett, Sippewissett, and others).

The Mid-Cape includes the towns of Barnstable, Yarmouth and Dennis. The Mid-Cape area features many beautiful beaches, including warm-water beaches along Nantucket Sound, e.g. Kalmus Beach in Hyannis, which gets its name from one of the inventors of Technicolor, Herbert Kalmus. This popular windsurfing destination was bequeathed to the town of Barnstable by Dr. Kalmus on condition that it not be developed, possibly one of the first instances of open-space preservation in the US. The Mid Cape is also the commercial and industrial center of the region. There are seven villages in Barnstable, including Barnstable Village, Centerville, Cotuit, Hyannis, Marstons Mills, Osterville, and West Barnstable, as well as several smaller hamlets that are incorporated into their larger neighbors (e.g., Craigville, Cummaquid, Hyannisport, Santuit, Wianno, and others). There are three villages in Yarmouth: South Yarmouth, West Yarmouth and Yarmouthport.

Stage Harbor lighthouse, Chatham, MA.

The Lower Cape is the narrower portion of the cape, where it bends sharply to the north. This section includes the towns of Harwich, Brewster, Chatham, and Orleans.

The Outer Cape is the outermost part, containing the towns of Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro, and Provincetown. This area includes the Cape Cod National Seashore, a national park comprising much of the outer Cape, including the entire east-facing coast, and is home to some of the most popular beaches in America, such as Coast Guard Beach and Nauset Light Beach in Eastham.

Cape Cod Bay is a large bay of the Atlantic Ocean adjacent to the USA state of Massachusetts. It is enclosed by Cape Cod to the south and east, and Plymouth County, Massachusetts to the west; to the north of Cape Cod Bay lie Massachusetts Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. Cape Cod Bay is the southernmost extremity of the Gulf of Maine. Generally, currents in the Bay move in a counter clockwise fashion, moving south from Boston, to Plymouth then east and then north to Provincetown. Most of Cape Cod is composed of glacially derived rocks, sands, and gravels.

Cape Cod has been the home of the Wampanoag tribe of Native American people for many centuries. They survived off the sea and were accomplished farmers. They understood the principles of sustainable forest management, and were known to light controlled fires to keep the underbrush in check. They helped the Pilgrims who arrived in Fall 1620, to survive at their new Plymouth Colony.

Cape Cod was among the first places settled by Europeans in North America. Aside from Barnstable (1639), Sandwich (1637) and Yarmouth (1639) the Cape's fifteen towns developed slowly. The final town to be established on the Cape was Bourne in 1884. Provincetown was a group of huts until the 18th century. A channel from Massachusetts Bay to Buzzards Bay is shown on Southack's map of 1717, but the present Cape Cod Canal had a troubled development from 1870 to 1914. The Federal government purchased it in 1928.

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