Cape Cod Activites, Events & Things to Do: Golf, Fishing, Whale Watches, Beaches, Shopping: Biking Yarmouthport: Sunday Sunrise Loop-de-Loops

Yarmouthport is great for history-laced biking. Pedal west from the Dennis line on Route 6A, the Old Kings Highway. Turn right at Oliver’s restaurant onto Bray Farm Road.

 

Coast down to bucolic Taylor-Bray Farm. Continue on Bray Farm Road North, turning right when it ends onto Embassy Lane, then right in a block onto Longfellow. A left at the T loops back to Bray Farm.        

 

Settled in 1639, its 23 acres with barn and pasture nestle beside Black Flats Marsh. Enjoy glimpses of chickens, sheep, and remarkable Scottish highland steer.

 

Here, return to 6A or take your first right onto Nottingham Drive for a loop past modern homes in Salt Works Cove. Back at 6A, turn right, cruising Old Kings Highway until the blinking yellow light. The playground to your right was the Old Church Green in the 1700’s. Turn right onto Old Church, continuing past its merge with Center at the stop sign. Curve left toward Bass Hole and its splendid boardwalk.

 

Novelist Lauren Wolk has written of this panorama, also called Gray’s Beach, “It’s a great vantage point for viewing the cradles of seawater in the marsh. Some teem with baby fishes and eels, fiddler crabs and marsh snails, while others bloom with bouquets of blue mussels.”

 

Abandon tranquility, steer for 6A, but go straight along Center past Winter, and turn right onto 6A. Perched on Zion Hill on your left is the stately Congregational Church with its 135-foot spire. When sloops and schooners sailed from Boston, they watched for this landmark.

 

Just after a curve and opposite the white Colonial House Inn, turn right onto Church Street. Admire the lovely church on your left, now a private home. In a block, go left onto Thacher Shore Road. A marker in a nearby field explains that Anthony Thacher sailed from England in 1635, shipwrecking off Rockport. Four years later he co-founded Yarmouth. Several descendants still live in town.

 

Relish this twisty lane’s beauty – homes, gardens, quiet. Past lush greenery, glimpse salt marsh and bay. At a small triangular green bear right onto Water Street. Turn right at the T, pausing at the one-lane bridge. Here, the current swirls into Mill Pond and otters frolic.

 

Continue west until Keveney Lane intersects with 6A, turning left toward the village center. More than 50 sea captains’ homes lie within a mile, each identified by Schooner markers. Look for No. 115 on the right just before the banks. Once the home of Captain Nathan Hallet, an early packet master, this house is one of Yarmouth’s oldest.

 

Soon, notice Hallet’s Store on your right, a village institution. Built in 1889 for T.T. Hallet and still family-owned, there’s a charming old soda fountain and beautiful apothecary cabinets.

 

At the blinking yellow light, turn right up shady Summer Street. Pass Woodside Cemetery, then pause at Dennis Pond for a swim or foliage admiration. Retracing your path, turn right on 6A. Just after The Olde Yarmouth Inn, turn right onto Strawberry Lane before the village green.

 

Head straight at the stop; the road is now White Rock. Go forward after the West Yarmouth Road stop sign. When you reach a second stop, cross onto Starbuck. This coils its way to its juncture with Weir Road. Since “weir” means fishing nets and stakes, this name is apt, as perch and herring were plentiful in the 1700’s. Turn left on Weir, which will return you to the Old Kings Highway. The next loop is of your devising.

 

Route 6A can be busy even in the off-season. My favorite time to ride is Sunday dawn. Such loop-de-loops are delightful in solitude.