5 Best Sights in Eastham, Cape Cod

Adjacent to Coast Guard Beach, this sandy beach is backed by tall dunes, frilly grasses, and heathland. The trail to the Three Sisters lighthouses takes you through a pitch-pine forest. Parking here is extremely limited and fills up quickly in summer; plan to arrive early. Amenities: lifeguards; parking (fee); showers; toilets. Best for: sunrise; surfing; swimming; walking.

The region's most expansive national treasure, Cape Cod National Seashore was established in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy, for whom Cape Cod was home and haven. The lands and waters of the Seashore comprise 44,000 acres of the Cape, extending from Chatham to Provincetown. The protected area includes 40 miles of pristine sandy beach; rolling dunes; swamps, marshes, and wetlands; and pitch-pine and scrub-oak forest. Self-guided nature trails, as well as biking and horse trails, wind through these landscapes. Hiking trails from Salt Pond Visitor Center lead to Nauset Marsh, Salt Pond, and the Buttonbush Trail, a quarter-mile nature path designed for people with low or no vision. A hike or bike ride to Coast Guard Beach leads to a turnout looking out over marsh and sea. A section of the cliff here was washed away in 1990, revealing the remains of a prehistoric dwelling. The National Seashore has two visitor centers, one in Eastham and one in Provincetown.

Salt Pond Visitor Center, open year-round at the southern end of the Seashore, reveals sweeping views of the Salt Pond and Nauset Marsh. Activities offered (typically from May to October) include ranger-led walks, canoe and kayak tours, demonstrations, and lectures, as well as evening beach walks, campfire talks, and other programs. The centerpiece of the visitor center lobby is a large map showing Cape Cod's location in the Gulf of Maine, displaying the Cape's glacial history and the powerful natural forces that continue to shape it. The visitor center's museum explores the cultural themes represented on Cape Cod, including the Wampanoag, "The First People of the Light," plus European settlement, fishing, life-saving, lighthouses, communication technology and tourism. An air-conditioned auditorium shows films on geology, sea rescues, whaling, Henry David Thoreau, and Guglielmo Marconi.

Considered one of the Cape's prettiest beaches, Coast Guard Beach, part of the National Seashore, is a long beach backed by low grass and heathland. A handsome former Coast Guard station is here, though it's not open to the public, and the beach has a very small parking lot (restricted to residents and vehicles displaying handicapped placards from mid-June to Labor Day), so the best bet is to head to the Salt Pond Visitor Center and follow signs to the Little Creek Staging Area parking lot. From there, take the free shuttle to the beach. Shuttles run frequently and can accommodate gear and bicycles. At high tide the size of the beach shrinks considerably, so watch your blanket. Amenities: lifeguards; parking (fee); showers; toilets. Best for: sunrise; surfing; swimming; walking.

A great spot for watching sunsets over Cape Cod Bay, First Encounter Beach is rich in history. Near the parking lot, a bronze marker commemorates the first encounter between local Native Americans and passengers from the Mayflower, led by Captain Myles Standish, who explored the entire area for five weeks in 1620 before moving on to Plymouth. The beach is popular with families who favor its warm, calm waters and tide pools. Amenities: parking (fee); showers; toilets. Best for: sunset; swimming; walking; windsurfing.

Moved 350 feet back from its perch at cliff's edge in 1996, this much-photographed red-and-white lighthouse tops the bluff where the Three Sisters Lighthouses once stood. (The Sisters themselves can be seen in a little landlocked park surrounded by trees; they're reached by paved walkways off Nauset Light Beach's parking lot.) How the lighthouses got there is a long story. In 1838 three brick lighthouses were built 150 feet apart on the bluffs in Eastham overlooking a particularly dangerous area of shoals (shifting underwater sandbars). In 1892, after the eroding cliff dropped the towers into the ocean, they were replaced with three wooden towers. In 1918, two were moved away, as was the third in 1923. Eventually the National Park Service acquired the Three Sisters and brought them together in the inland park, where they would be safe. Lectures on and guided tours of the lighthouses (free, donations accepted) are conducted Sunday mid-May–October, as well as Wednesday from June--September.