State Parks and National Parks

Cape Cod National Seashore

This 40-mile treasure of land and sea, extending from Chatham to Provincetown, has been protected since 1961.

The national seashore features beaches, bicycle trails, self-guided nature walks and a vehicle trail in the Province Lands dunes.

Exhibits and audiovisual programs are found at the visitor centers off Route 6 in Eastham and Race Point Road near Provincetown (seasonal).

The cape is a glacial deposit that is constantly changing in shape as winds and water move sand and sculpt new dunes along the shorelines.

The high cliff at the Marconi Wireless Station site at Wellfleet has visibly eroded since Marconi built his towers there in 1901. Great Island, once a remote whalers' haunt, is now connected to the peninsula.

The entire shore of Cape Cod is losing an estimated 3.5 feet of shoreline per year due to erosion.

The Cape Cod Rail Trail, a developed bicycle path, runs adjacent to the park.

An entrance fee is charged at beach locations from mid-June to early-September, and during spring and fall weekends.

There are no federal campgrounds at the seashore, but private campgrounds are situated within the seashore boundary.

Photo credits in order: Courtesy of National Park Service. Courtesy of Cape Cod National Seashore, National Park Service. Courtesy of Cape Cod National Seashore, National Park Service.