A month long stay near Cape Cod, Massachusetts: Top attractions visited including Plymouth, downtown Providence, and Fort Phoenix State Reservation
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| Plymouth Rock, Plymouth, Massachusetts |
Henry David Thoreau: “A man may stand there and put all America behind…”
My first introduction to the Cape Cod area of Massachusetts started just about a year after my family immigrated to the United States. I was then an impressionable 10 year old, and a friend of the family took myself and my brother on a 2 nights/3 days trip to Boston, Plymouth, and Cape Cod.
The reason why he did that was to sort of pay us back for helping him out with his outside flea market stall in Brooklyn, NY. We did sales and kept a watch over the stall for several days.
We didn’t expect that kind of reward for our few days worth of work, so we were both befuddled but super excited. I mean, it wasn’t like he didn’t pay us for those few days of labor.
Anyway, long story short, my brother and I were whisked away, traveling, for us at the time, practically first class. We stayed at a nice downtown hotel in Boston, and we got to sightsee the area for the very first time.
We visited Plymouth, explored Boston, and we did a 6 hour round trip tuna fishing trip from the Boston harbor. The two places we visited made huge impressions on this young immigrant kid from South Korea.
We realized how big this newly adopted country was (back then, we hadn’t gotten outside of New York City much; anywhere else was big), and we really enjoyed seeing all that American history.
Oh, the tuna fishing trip was an unmitigated disaster, as both my brother and I were knocked flat out thanks to seasickness for a good part of the trip! At least we enjoyed the boat rides going out to sea (two hours out), then coming back into harbor (two hours back).
Our fishing party didn’t catch anything, but we watched a ship nearby catch a huge tuna fish, which was the highlight of our trip. What was memorable about that fishing trip was that we ate huge, and delicious lobsters, right after we landed at the harbor.
Our seasickness magically disappeared after we landed, and we absolutely demolished our meals, savoring the lobster meat dipped in warm butter. Yummy…
Although my wife and I would revisit Boston and Plymouth later on, it would easily be over 20 years since our last visit there. When the opportunity came in July to return to the area, we jumped at the chance!
For those of you who have been following us, we had never stayed in the state of Massachusetts using platforms like AirBnB or VRBO. The reason had been very simple: the prices there, especially during the peak summer months, were very high, easily close to $2000.
That was too high a price for us, as we usually like to stay around $1500 or below. Well, as luck would have it, we found an AirBnB for right around $1550 for the month of July. We were finally going to stay a month in Massachusetts!
Our stay would be in a quaint little seaside town called Fairhaven, surrounded by Acushnet River and Buzzards Bay. The cozy rental unit would be on the second floor, with a small bedroom and a nicely decorated living room.
Our stay started off nice, as cool evening breeze really made life easier for us in the first week or so. That, however, wouldn’t last, as the hot and humid summer weather really kicked into high gear.
With temperatures reaching 90 degrees, our small wall-mounted air conditioning unit in the living room couldn’t handle the heat. The older, but larger bedroom unit wasn’t doing any better, as it was just pumping out what felt to us like, outside air, and not the cool air.
After suffering for few days, we finally notified our hosts to check over the unit. Although they couldn’t do much with the 2 air conditioning units, they did successfully turn off the heating unit, which had been spewing hot air!
After turning that off, it felt so much better. Even our small living room air conditioner seemed to work better afterwards. We’ll take it.
Despite this little mishap, we still managed to enjoy our stay. We took frequent walks around the neighborhood, checking out the river and its local inhabitants (ducks, geese, birds). We also got to enjoy many epic rainy days in New England, looking out the windows to see the changing world below: the streets looking so much cleaner thanks to the cleansing effect of the rain, and the plants/trees finally rejoicing the coming of the much needed rain…
It’s always a treat to see rain coming down anywhere…
Using Fairhaven and the rental unit as our base, we got to explore several attractions within an hour’s driving time. Here are some of our favorite attractions below:
- Plymouth, Massachusetts
Plymouth is historically significant as the first Pilgrim settlement in the New World, and the second permanent English settlement (that distinction goes to Jamestown, Virginia). Plymouth Rock, a boulder in Pilgram Memorial State Park, marks the place where settlers are thought to have landed on shore.
I was fascinated to see the rock some 40+ years ago, and was excited to see it again, but this time with my wife.
We left our humble abode in Fairhaven heading east, towards the town of Plymouth. At a distance of about 30 miles, it would take under 40 minutes to arrive in town.
After doing some research on best place to park for free, I found it at the Town Brook Park, near the Plimoth Grist Mill. The parking lot isn’t big, and it does fill up on the weekends, but we had no trouble finding a spot on a weekday.
The park and the parking lot sit near a pond and with cute ducks in it, we got to do some bird watching on our way to the waterfront area. The walk wasn’t too long, maybe about 10 minutes or so.
Along the way to the waterfront, we took some time enjoying some of the nicely restored and preserved historic homes in town. It felt like we were truly in New England, with many Cape Cod style homes (symmetrical and rectangular shaped homes), the town church, and town courthouse.
We arrived at the Pilgram Memorial State Park in no time, and we were happy to be back after all these years. Our last trip was with my in-laws, all the way back in 1998(!). Wow, I feel kind of old.
Well, it sure was good to see the place again, and we celebrated it by heading straight towards the scenic waterfront with the views of the famous Mayflower II, a replica of the Mayflower and also a museum. Mayflower was the ship that brought the Pilgrims to America back in 1620.
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| Scenic waterfront |
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| Mayflower II |
We reminisced about the time we were last here with our family while slowly walking around the park. We stopped at the Plymouth Rock, a must stop attraction at the park to view the boulder again. It’s always good to see a real piece of American history, and this was one of the most significant places in all of America.
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| Plymouth Rock |
The place was humming, with many visitors at the park. We decided to do a quick pit stop (luckily a public restroom was nearby inside the park), and afterwards, we grabbed a bench to take a break from the walking the last 30 minutes or so.
We saw many families with rambunctious children, we saw many walking their dogs, and we saw people like us, just lounging at a chair under a shade watching the world go by. It was a nice place to be doing nothing at all, with that nice sea breeze coming in from the east, and with a beautiful mature tree providing much needed shade, we were in heaven…
After few minutes, we decided to walk further out, going north, when we encountered the same place our family had been together, back in 1998! It was so good to see. We stopped to take another photo, then continued onwards towards the Plymouth Jetty.
The Plymouth Jetty is a beautiful spot for photos, fishing, and for a fantastic view of the harbor. We had to check it out.
We found bunch of fellow tourists walking out on to the jetty, and we duly followed. Built out of rocks (of all sizes), the going was a bit rough, and we definitely had to watch our steps.
Views opened up nicely the further away we went.
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| View from the jetty |
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| Plymouth Jetty |
After few minutes of taking in all the new stimuli, we were getting a little hungry and tired, so we looked for a place to eat. After a few minutes of searching, we found the same restaurant called Lobster Hut that our family had eaten at back in 1998 again.
The place looked the same as we remember, with great views of the harbor and it was still a no-frills type of a place with order-from-the-counter system. We were happy to be there.
We ordered a fish sandwich and a shrimp platter, which tasted great. For under $30, we thought the prices were still fairly reasonable. It was good to be back, and it was really good to see this place was still around.
After getting our stomachs filled, we started walking back towards our car. Along the way, we found a great vantage point with views of the harbor. Awesome!
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| What a view! |
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| Statue at the hilltop where we took the above photo |
- Downtown Providence (Rhode Island)
At a distance of just around 30 miles, we couldn’t pass up a chance to visit Providence, the capital city of Rhode Island, and a bustling college town, home to several of them, including the Ivy League school, Brown University.
We picked a fine looking sunny day in July to finally walk around the downtown area of Providence, which had been on our list of places to explore. We decided to eat first before walking around though.
For our lunch spot, we chose a Japanese market called Maruichi Japanese Food & Deli, which also runs a food counter with variety of goodies we like. We found a parking spot about a block from the market, then walked over to it.
The street was clean, modern, and relatively devoid of homeless population, at least near where we were. We ordered popular Japanese dishes like chicken katsu curry and shrimp tempura platter. With some sushi hand rolls we had purchased at the market while waiting for our order, we had a feast!
Foods were delicious and it really felt like we were eating proper Japanese food, not an imitation of one. I like to eat Korean food made by a Korean, Chinese food made by a Chinese, Mexican food made by a Mexican. Well, you get the idea.
Why not strive to eat foods made by the actual people that created them in the first place?
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| Downtown Providence, RI |
After our feast, we took off along Washington Street, to explore the city. We came upon a large, open square near the City Hall, and it was nicely laid out with a park (Burnside Park) right across the street from the city hall.
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| Providence City Hall |
Unlike the area near the Japanese market, we noticed prevalence of homeless people in and around the area. Most kept to themselves, but we were still wary of them. Always be vigilant especially when walking around any city is our motto.
We also kept to ourselves as we quickly moved through the square, then onto the popular Providence River Walk. At a length of 2.4 miles, the River Walk is something that every visitor should explore in Providence.
We found the area very clean, with many people (not much homeless people there) enjoying a sunny day in July. We saw many college campuses right along the River Walk, and it brought us back to when we were also college students, walking around or lounging near the campus.
It’s hard to believe how quickly time flies! It felt like just yesterday when we were attending college, yet here we are, retired (early for that matter), and traveling to new places at our leisure, with all the time in the world…
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| Providence River Walk |
We grabbed a bench under a shaded tree to enjoy the view of the Providence River and the surrounding buildings. We realized why this area was so popular for visitors and locals alike. It’s a perfect combination of the city life (with all its conveniences) with a scenic river (and the area to enjoy the river) running through downtown. Great civic design, whoever that was…
- Fort Phoenix State Reservation
Fort Phoenix State Reservation is located in Fairhaven, and it was just literally a 5 minute drive from our Airbnb. The park features scenic bay views, a popular beach, and a historic fort dating back to the Revolutionary War era.
We decided to check it out on like the hottest day we could possibly pick during our month long stay. The temperature was easily hitting 90 degrees and it was not even noon!
Well, we made the trip real short, that was for sure.
We arrived at the park on a busy weekend and found it was indeed popular. There were beach goers, people playing various sports, people lounging on the beach/grass, and then there was us, tourists who just wanted to see the bay views.
Well, the views of the bay were definitely scenic. It was worth the 5 minute drive to get there!
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| Views from the beach, Fort Phoenix State Reservation |
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| Clear waters of the bay |
In conclusion:
We were so happy we finally got to spend a month in Massachusetts, especially so close to Cape Cod and Providence. There are so many places to explore nearby, most within an hour’s drive from Fairhaven.
During the first week of our stay, the evening breezes were heavenly, as we didn’t need the air conditioning on several nights. We saw why visitors flock to the area during the hot summer months!
Cool evenings/mornings combined with bright sunny days make for a great way to enjoy everything that the area has to offer. Well, we certainly enjoyed ourselves during the month of July.
Thank you for reading and happy trails!
Jake
Wandering Money Pig
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