An overlook near the Coast Guard lighthouse on Main Street provides excellent views of the Atlantic and of the massive swath cut through the Nauset (North) Beach spit in a storm in 1987.
Just south of the lighthouse, on Morris Island, is the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge, a difficult place to access but a great place for birdwatching. Guided natural history tours on the island are available through the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History and the Wellfleet Bay Audubon Sanctuary.
Chatham has a few small public beaches and a large one, Harding Beach on Nantucket Sound. Remember, the waters of Nantucket Sound are usually calmer and about 5 degrees warmer than those of the Atlantic.
Diligent history buffs can locate a marker at Stage Harbor commemorating Samuel de Champlain’s visit in 1606.
Other places of interest: Old Atwood House, built in 1752, on Stage Harbor Road; Chatham Railroad Museum; Old Gristmill; fishing boats unloading at Chatham Fish Pier.
Eastham and Wellfleet
Penniman House Old Schoolhouse Museum
Wellfleet church door Trail to Great Island
The character of the Cape’s landscape changes the farther out you go from the mainland. At Eastham and Wellfleet the land becomes noticeably flatter, the vegetation sparser, and the sand more evident. You’ve reached the Outer Cape—and the National Seashore.