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East sandwich, MA

joyzilli

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Any thoughts on renting a cottage in East Sandwich, on Cape Cod? I really don't know much about the cape. Would it be a good location to spend a summer week on the cape. Or should I be looking at another town?
 

theo

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Any thoughts on renting a cottage in East Sandwich, on Cape Cod? I really don't know much about the cape. Would it be a good location to spend a summer week on the cape. Or should I be looking at another town?

Sandwich is a very nice little town, just over the Sagamore Bridge, essentially the very first town actually on Cape Cod after you cross the Cape Cod Canal from Plymouth via the Sagamore Bridge.

Sandwich is largely a residential and year round Cape community. It is certainly much less "touristy" and much less congested with added throngs of people (except for those just driving through en route to elsewhere further "down Cape", of course). That being said, if you are planning on spending much time during your week visiting places on the lower Cape, such as the Cape Cod National Seashore sites and beaches, or Chatham, or Provincetown, then you are necessarily going to be joining "the throngs" and encountering lots of tourist traffic driving from Sandwich to the lower Cape and back again on any given day(s).

Everyone is different, of course. I lived and worked (year round) on lower Cape Cod for some years, so I have both personal experience and considerable bias. Personally, I would not want to spend a whole summer week in Sandwich; I'd get promptly bored. I'd instead be looking for someplace more centrally located as a "hub" for lower Cape travels ( e.g., in towns like Brewster, Orleans, Chatham, Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro). On the other hand, you'll pay considerably more money to be in any of those towns than you are likely paying for a week in sleepy Sandwich, so it's a balancing act you'll have to perform on your own in making your choice.

Hope this helps, If not, I'll fully refund the fee you've paid for my input. ;)
 

Beaglemom3

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Theo makes many good points and I'll add one, while the town of Sandwich is nearest the bridges and isn't as congested as other towns ( Rte. 6 A) , traffic-wise speaking, the cottage colonies in East Sandwich tend to be congested in that they're close together. As for driving congestion, RT. 6A, RT 28, RT 6 will all have bumper to bumper traffic during peak summer times at some points.

I know this as when I was looking for my new "Cape Escape", I considered East Sandwich as it's on the bay side of the Cape, but I did not want my cottage to be so close to others as they tend to be there. There are some cottages that have more distance away from others, though.

Some folks like the closeness of a cottage type community. I do, but I do like my privacy, too.

There's a nice beach there, but there was some damage to parts of the shore, however, not sure exactly where.

Here's a map showing the layout of houses there: http://www.mapgeo.com/sandwichma/ If you zoom in closely, you'll see the proximity of houses to each other. Look on the ocean side.
 
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Beaglemom3

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Although pricey, Chatham is nice. Where I own, Harwich on the Chatham li (Red River Beach), is sweet, but Chatham is nicer and has a good village area.

If your budget allows it, our islands are a great place to stay.

It depends on what you like to do on seaside vacations; golf, beachcombing, shopping, sunbathing, swimming (cold water), antiquing, etc.

VRBO , weneedavacation and www.chathamrentals.com have good Cape & Islands listings.

PM me if you'd like.
 
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tonyg

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From my tourist point of view, Sandwich is low on my desirability list. I much prefer being closer to the mid cape and really like Dennis of late.
 
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