The Baseball League Hall of Fame in Hyannis has a collection of drool-worthy baseball memorabilia from 10 Cape Cod teams, covering more than 100 years of amateur league play. Bats, balls, and cards autographed by minor leaguers stand beside those from the same players once they hit the majors. The Boston Red Sox have dipped into the Cape league for...

The Cahoon Museum of American Art, like many old 1775 Colonial farmhouses in Cotuit (Barnstable), has had several identities: It did indeed serve time as a farmhouse, has been a tavern, a way station on the Hyannis-Sandwich stagecoach line, a home and art studio, and now pays a Cape-centric homage to American art. (The building was majorly renovated in 2016...

Geared for pre-schoolers and early elementary ages, the Cape Cod Children’s Museum in Mashpee is more of a play-and-explore space than a museum. Gleefully messy art programs, story times, and an imaginative array of hands-on exhibits make it fun to interact with your small charges. There’s a dress-up trunk and climbable mast in the 30-foot pirate ship, a puppet theater, a...

At the Cape Cod Museum of Art in Dennis, seven galleries and a sculpture garden hold nearly 2,000 works by outstanding artists of the past and present from the Cape and southeastern Massachusetts. Ongoing exhibits, workshops, lectures, first-run foreign and indie films, music performances and events offer a refreshing blend of appreciation, exploration, and playfulness for adults and families.

Visitors to the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History in Brewster get their feet wet, literally, learning about the plants and critters that live on the Cape. Bring a pail and wear water shoes on the popular Mudflat Mania exploration (early July through Aug). Two floors of exhibits, including aquariums and tanks filled with creatures, and interactive activities, keep kids entertained...

A Victorian house filled to brim with the je ne sais quoi of artist Edward Gorey. Take the 20-minute tour to learn more about the creepy, macabre, and endearing art made famous by the lead-in illustrations he rendered for the PBS “Mystery” series. Hunt down the alphabetical Gashlycrumb Tinies stashed in various nooks around the house (one is missing —...

The pirate ship Whydah sank in a storm off Cape Cod in 1717, and Expedition Whydah trolled the ocean floor looking for its booty. Along the way, the Expedition recovered goods from more than 50 other ships that sank back in the day. A trove of these goods are on display at the Pirate Museum in West Yarmouth, as well as...

There are several buildings in the two-acre museum complex, Falmouth Museums on the Green, operated by the Falmouth Historical Society. The Conant House (a circa1760 structure) contains sailors’ valentines, scrimshaw, and old tools. One room honors Katharine Lee Bates, a Wellesley College professor and author of the lyrics for “America the Beautiful” who was born nearby in 1859 at 16...

Hallet’s has been a community fixture in Yarmouth Port since it was built as an apothecary in 1889 by Thacher Taylor Hallet. Today, great grandson Charles owns and operates the store, which boasts an old-fashioned oak counter and a marble-topped soda fountain. As time stands still, sit on a swivel stool or in one of the wrought iron, heart-shaped chairs...

The sweeping grounds at Heritage Museums and Gardens in Sandwich are filled with collections of trees, flowers, herbs, shrubs, as well as several museums, a carousel, fine art, folk art, a labyrinth and a maze, a windmill, a mind-blowing automobile collection, and galleries, and…you get the picture. The original owner, Charles O. Dexter, set the scene with his renowned experiments...

If you were a mariner coming ashore to rest your weary bones at the turn of the last century, you would find things pretty much the way they still are at the Highland House Museum in North Truro. Many rooms in the Highland House are set up as mini-exhibits of the days of yore, filled with items culled from shipwrecks,...

The small JFK Hyannis Museum has provided an intimate portrait of the Kennedy family, bathed in homey Camelot hues, since 1992. Nearly 100 photos sketch out JFK’s life on the Cape from 1931 to 1963. A video stitches together home movies of those charmed, early years, and a moving statue forecasts a future that could never be: JFK walking on...

The Greek Revival Meeting House Museum in Orleans, one of manyCape structures built as a Universalist meeting house, now houses the Orleans Historical Society museum. It is packed with the stuff of everyday life: deeds, diaries, photos, local artwork, ships’ logs, Native American artifacts, and lots more. A variety of events held May through November offer insight into and celebration...

The Pilgrims spent five weeks exploring the Provincetown Harbor in November and December of 1620, before finally settling in Plymouth. The Pilgrim Monument, a 252-foot granite obelisk begun in 1907, was built to commemorate their time in Provincetown. As you take on the 116 steps to the top, note many interior stones donated by municipalities throughout the U.S. The Provincetown...

Begun in 1914, PAAM was well situated in what was then considered the largest art community in the world: Provincetown. Founding Impressionists clashed with an emerging Modernist movement in the 1930s, resulting in a coin toss deciding on which end of the gallery each artistic movement would be hung. Nowadays, the museum embraces many movements, including sculpture, music, dance, and...

The depot itself at the Railroad Museum in Chatham is a museum piece. This restored 1887 structure is one of the finest examples of the all-American “railroad gothic” style. Outside stands a New York Central caboose open for exploration. Inside you will find thousands of model trains, photos and equipment, and a realistic diorama of the Chatham Rail Yards from...

The Sandwich Glass Museum boasts an impressive exhibit of art, science, and history. It introduces wonder into the everyday world of glass, 5,000 pieces of which are displayed with natural backlighting. Follow the development of color and form as it evolved through time. You could skip the 20-minute video, though it is rich in historical context. The glass-making industry’s golden...

Mashpee Indian Meetinghouse is completely restored and located on the edge of what was once a Wampanoag-only cemetery. (“They even took our burial ground away from us and made it theirs,” laments a volunteer guide.) This is the Cape’s oldest surviving meetinghouse. It was built in 1684 by the descendants of Massasoit and moved to its present spot in Mashpee...

This Georgian Winslow Crocker House, known for its elaborate paneling, stood out for its fancy design, set as it was amidst humble farmsteads and fishermen’s cottages. The Yarmouth Port gem was built around 1780 by a wealthy trader and land speculator. In 1936, Mary Thatcher moved the Crocker house down Old King’s Highway, next door to her ancestral home. She...

Located near the Woods Hole Library, Woods Hole Historical Collection has two galleries with changing exhibits of local historical interest. It also maintains a good library on maritime subjects, more than 500 local oral histories, and a scale model of Woods Hole in the late 1800s. Dr. Yale’s actual 1890s workshop is in a separate building. The adjacent Swift Barn...