The Cape Cod Museum of Natural History, located in Brewster, offers a great, family-friendly opportunity to learn about the natural environment of Cape Cod and interact with the Cape’s native animals. There’s also a trail that will lead you to a nearby beach.
Ah, late fall and winter: The best times to visit Cape Cod.
Seriously. I mean it. I know it sounds like a New England sacrilege to say such a thing, but I can only truly enjoy the nature of Cape Cod when it’s, well, completely deserted. The hordes of people have left, it’s easier to drive around, and the ambience of the Cape transitions from a crowded summer tourist spot to that of small, quintessential New England towns. Of course, that means hiking and exploring in colder, windier weather, but that’s nothing that you can’t prepare for, or use as an excuse to treat yourself to a nice hot chocolate.
However, if being out in the colder weather just isn’t your thing, you can still find things to do on Cape Cod during the chillier months – visiting the Cape Cod Natural History Museum being one of them.
The Museum
We entered the museum, put our red wristbands showing that we paid around our arms, and proceeded to the first exhibit. While I was reading about the Wampanoag, Benny was reading about the wooly mammoths.
Or so I thought.
“Ouch!” I heard from the other side of the room.
To my disbelief, Benny was climbing up an old wooly mammoth tusk.
“Bob! This tusk is bigger than me!”
“Benny, really? Get down from there! Do you know how old that is?”
“It’s over 10,000 years old. That’s the last time there were wooly mammoths on the Cape. See, I’m reading and learning!” Benny wryly responded.
I couldn’t argue with him there. I took him down from the top of the tusk, told him not to climb it anymore, and went off to admire some arrowheads from the Native Americans.
It only took another moment before Benny found his way into mischief yet again.
“Bob, I don’t know about you, but I’m scared of being on top of this!”
I quickly turned around to see Benny sitting on top of what looked like a stone log.
“I guess you could say I’m petrified!” Benny said, as smiled. Of course, he was sitting on top of petrified wood.
“Okay, Benny, let’s get out of this room before we get asked to leave.” I took him down and started heading to the next exhibit.
I thought removing him from the situation would calm things down, but as we turned the corner, he called out, “The moon!” Come to find out, the Cape Cod Natural History Museum has some moon dust. That was really cool to look at. It made us think about the space exhibit at the Museum of Natural History in Providence.
As a random side note, I think it’s necessary to share that my pépère (grandfather for you not in the French-Canadian know) used to tell me that he would send me to the moon. Did I believe him? Absolutely. Ah, the naivete of youth.
After Benny had enough of staring into the moon dust, he leaped up and ran for another exhibit.
“BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSS!” he screeched. “BEEEEEEESSS, BEEEEEEES, BEEEEEEEESSSSS!”
“Benny, calm down, it’s not like they’re ali–” I cut myself off, seeing hundreds of bees moving around.
“Bears love bees, Bob,” Benny bellowed. (Now how about that for alliteration!)
“Let’s take them home! Then we can have an endless supply of honey!”
“I don’t think my wi–” Again, I was cut off, but this time by Benny’s getting up to run to yet another exhibit.
“Turtles!!!”
“Benny, you’re scaring that turtle. He’s in his shell!” I told him.
“But this one isn’t!” Benny ran up to another turtle and began stalking, I mean talking, to it.
“Hi, turtle!”
This turtle had much more energy. It ran to the back of the glass enclosure. I think it looked like it was trying to get as far away from Benny as possible. I told Benny that if he didn’t calm down, I was going to put him in this shark cage and put it in the bay.
That didn’t faze him at all, probably because he knew that I couldn’t deliver on my idle threat.
“Okay, Benny, you’ll need to take a breath and calm down. We’re going to down to the aquarium. Please don’t scare the fish.”
Benny continued to be incredibly excited. He ran down the stairs and approached the first tank that he could see.
“ANOTHER TURTLE! HI, TURTLE!” He screamed. “This places LOVES turtles!”
Thankfully, there was no one around us at the time, so I wasn’t too embarrassed by his outburst.
“There are a lot of turtles in this area, Benny. And different species….”
“TURTLE POWER!” he yelled, and then ran to see a fish tank.
I was having a hard time keeping up. Thankfully, he became entranced with this starfish. It seemed to have a calming effect on him. He just stayed there for a minute straight, staring.
Benny seemed to finally be relaxed. He tried speaking with one of the fish, but it just stared blankly at him. He was mesmerized by the jellyfish. Note to self: If Benny gets excited at home, get a fish tank.
Special note: We took a lot of video in the aquarium area. We’ll put this in a YouTube video about the museum soon. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and be notified when we publish the video.
The Trail
Near the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History there’s a trail that leads to Wing Island. It was cold outside, but like I mentioned before, cooler temperatures shouldn’t stop a true New Englander. At the trailhead, I read that high tides could block your path to and from the island, much like at Lawrence Island in Bourne. Did I pay any heed to this warning?
I’ll give you one guess.
Should I have? Absolutely.
As you can see, parts of the wooden planks to the island were slightly submerged. I was wearing boots so it was no problem, and I put Benny in my backpack for the journey across the marsh. If you go on this hike, don’t wear sneakers.
The island has a replica of a Native American solar calendar. This was incredibly cool to see; I’ve lived in New England my whole life, and I have never heard of this! Calendars like this helped the natives keep track of the seasons.
Benny tried to figure out how to use the calendar. He ran around it a few times, climbed the stones, and looked absolutely befuddled. “Did they have an app or something that worked with this?”
Sometimes, I just have no response for him.
The path leads to the beach. The best part about this? There was no one there! When do you get a whole beach on Cape Cod to yourself? The off season. That’s when. Maybe we’ll choose January for our next visit to the Cape Cod National Seashore.
Of course, Benny thought it would be fun to play in the sand. It took him a whole two minutes to realize that perhaps playing in cold, wet sand wasn’t the best idea.
After enjoying the quiet solitude and straining our eyes trying to the see the Boston skyline, we looped back.
Helpful hint: When you loop back, look out for this spot. This is where the trail leads off of the beach and back to the museum.
For more information about the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History, check out their website. Be sure to check their website for current hours – they change according to the season.
Join us on our New England adventures!
Looking for more things to do on the Cape? Check out these places and posts!
- The Knob, Falmouth
- Hidden Lawrence Island, Bourne
- Nobska Lighthouse, Falmouth
- The Sandwich Boardwalk, Sandwich
- Sagamore Hill, Sandwich
- Seal Watching
- 5 Free Things to do in Falmouth
- The Cape Cod National Seashore
Check out our map of places we’ve been in New England!
Find New England Travel Guides and Books. This is an affiliate link, and we may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Check out our map of places we’ve been in New England!
Find New England Travel Guides and Books. This is an affiliate link, and we may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Looked very interesting. Have to make a visit there for sure!!
Glad you enjoyed reading about our adventure!