Ten Things I Didn’t Know About the Cape Until I Moved Here

After vacationing on the Cape for one week every summer, I decided that it was time to make the move and savor the Cape full time, and moved here several years ago.  Since then, I have experienced a bit of every town in every season, while traveling the Cape for photography on the job. Here are 10 of the most noteworthy things I only learned about the Cape after living here year round.

The Winter

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My first twenty-two years of visiting the Cape were restricted to summers. I had no idea what was in store for me from December to March this year. Bustling Provincetown became a prime set for an apocalypse film. Parking was free. There were no beach stickers required. Perhaps most pleasantly, there was no traffic. And the community of year-rounders was incredible, memorable, and kind.

Love Cape Cod? Stay tuned for more photos from CapeCod.com’s photographer, Kaitrin. Kaitrin Acuna grew up in Connecticut and moved to Cape Cod after finishing college. She studied at the University of Connecticut and University College Dublin to obtain a BFA in Photography.

When she’s not exploring the Cape for CapeCod.com, Kaitrin is likely still with a camera in hand, working on a variety of fine art photo projects.

Over the past four years, she has received twelve artist grants to pursue a variety of photographic series around New England and Europe, and has exhibited in shows at the William Benton Museum of Art, the Ely Slade House Museum, as well as several local galleries.

Outside of the photographic world, Kaitrin can be found painting colorful art cars, trying new foods, and planning to travel wherever she can get to.

 

Comments

  1. What about the crippling addiction crisis. Or the lack of jobs (all the seasonal ones go to j1 workers now).

    • The addiction crisis has always been here, it’s everywhere. Fentanyl is now added to most of the heroin which is causing too many deaths, only now, are people opening their eyes to the problem. As for jobs…… As someone who lives on cape I can say that now and all summer long there have been help wanted signs everywhere on cape. There’s so many jobs, not enough employees. Cape cod is beautiful, drugs and addicts & crime are everywhere, not just on the cape.

    • John, addiction is pandemic across the country, not just on the Cape. For one example, NH law enforcement and medical responders are now in fear of a new drug, Carfentanil, that has hit the streets there, and is supposedly 100 times more potent than fentanyl, is commonly used as an elephant tranquilizer, and is resistant to basic injections of Narcan.

      As for the lack of jobs? Well John this summer there just happens to be a recent record number of help wanted signs due to fewer visas being issued…

    • We don’t hire j-1’s they come too early and they leave too early. There are jobs out there to be found. But people have to being willing to find them. They aren’t going to come find you. there was a shortage of employees all summer and continues into the winter. I should say shortage of quality hardworking employees are in shortage. the restaurant turnover here is beyond ridiculous. People come stay for a few months. Collect their check and never show up again. They know they can have another job at the restaurant right net door the same day. there is no loyalty anymore. keeping employees longer than 3-6 months has been nearly impossible. people feel entitled to a paycheck they don’t think they should have to actually work for it. I have been in this business for over 25 years and I’ve never seen anything like it. Sad, Frustrating, and make me concerned for the future of our country with the feeling of entitlement in younger folks as it seems.

  2. Love it here..the swamp area is, indeed, very magical!

  3. I don’t think “dismal”.. Is by any means an appropriate term for the end of summer.. If you investigate further you’ll discover that most “locals” can’t wait for the summer people to move along.. The Cape has an incredible middle class that is the glue that keeps all that you see on this rock together.. And surprise.. Not everyone here works for the tourist dollar.. Communiting off Cape for work or working from home is more the norm for many young professionals. Maybe after you’ve been here 20-30 years the summertime novelty will wear off.. The Capes strongest assests are in it’s wonderful local communities and what remains of our natural surroundings..

    • Well said…

    • Well said jen!

    • Dale Toner says

      People move here because they think its quaint and beautiful and then want to change it. Beach cottages now have granite countertops and people are more interested in their cocktail parties on the deck than preserving what attracted them here in the first place. The state doesn’t worry much about the cape, look what happened to route 6 in Sandwich. We are happy for our friends and neighbors who’s businesses depend on a big summer influx but most just clench their hands and grit their teeth Memorial Day through Labor Day. 40B and short sighted planning has completely changed the flavor of the Cape. Frankly the locals feel bullied and have for a long time. Nuff said.

    • Thank for this awesome reply.. yes the locals love to see the summer people go and the Cape is the people.. mostly a middle class, with families that live like people anywhere else .. the misnomer that theCape is only alive for the tourists is bogus… if the locals that glue this area together were gone the Cape woukd suffer severely.. my biggest pet peeve is that many visitors have no respect for the locals.. I was brought up with a simple rule that when you visit someone’s home your polite and respectful.. same should happen when people come here.. these are home towns for many good people.. be polite , we live here don’t treat us like your entitled and we are nobodies.. again appreciate the acknowledgement of those who live here 365..

  4. DAVID CHILCUTT says

    Give her time….she’s still a “washashore”!

    • This is the only place I know of that still treats people differently for not being born here. Someone moves here, works, pays their taxes and God forbid likes it here and we call them “washashores” and “carpetbaggers.” People move to other states and towns pretty regularly these days ?

  5. This person still has no clue about Cape Cod. Her experiences are very narrowly focused. Does she ever talk to Cape Codders who have roots going back to 1640?

  6. #8 there is still has been a net loss of year round rentals units over the last decade, and an increase in seasonal units.

  7. sue thomas says

    People should not be dismissed b/c they don’t have ‘roots going back to 1640’. Gove me a break. Just like the Boston mentality. Unfriendly to and skeptical of ‘outsiders’. So elitist. We’re not all morons.

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