Sandwich has been a place I've know since I was born. It has always been the home of my Grandma, and thus I've spent many winter days, summer days, holidays, and any days tucked into this town.

When my parents moved to Sandwich, I figured the winters would be sleepy and the town would be vacated. When I moved in with them from Thanksgiving 2006 to March 2007, I realized that Sandwich goes strong all year long. There is a thriving community of old-time Cape-Coders (young and old) who make living over the bridge their specialty and seem to have a pretty good time.

Sandwich is about 50 minutes to an hour south of Boston, on a good day in the winter when there's no vacation traffic. In the summer be prepared for a much longer journey, as the Cape seems to be everyone's destination in the greater Boston area come Friday afternoon. A roadway edit which changed the Sagamore Bridge's rotary into a straight shot right from the freeway onto the bridge has lessened that hassle some - but lots of people trying to get onto a four-lane bridge means that there will inevitably be some waiting.

Sandy Beach off of historically scenic Route 6A is a quaint little beach with good, soft sand and the possibly fantastic shell-find. Another great beach spot is across the Sandwich Boardwalk, depending on the tides. Almost every board of this walk is professionally carved with a message or a memory token. There are marriage proposals, remembrances, thank yous, and shout outs all written along your footpath as you cross the marsh before getting to the actual beach. At high tide you can jump off the highest point of the boardwalk into the current below; there are ladders built into the boardwalk's construction just for this purpose. It's a great stroll any day of the year. Both beaches require a beach-parking permit, for summertime beach adventures, which must be updated yearly.

For those new to Cape Cod, Sandwich is one of the oldest towns and is a great summer vacation spot as it is still relatively close to Boston and about an hour and half from Province Town. While there is a lot of new construction, downtown Sandwich has a thoroughly ‘olde time’ Cape Cod feel to the house construction and the town center itself is small enough to allow kids (8-18) to wander in, but large enough to handle the needs of any family. Mini-golf, ice cream shops, bagels joints, a duck pond and a historic grist-mill are all found within less than a mile radius of the center of town.

Sandwich is also famed for being home to the oldest building on the Cape, the Hoxie House. Plus - the Thorn and Burgess Society is right in the center of Sandwich, and is the home of Peter Rabbit and his animal friends. Finally, Sanwich has a great library which is connected to a fabulous network of libraries across Massachusetts - beach reading all taken care of! For a family interested in a richly historical, old-time American town, and a nice place to dig their toes in the sand, Sandwich really is a wonderful destination.

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