Plan to Get Away with These 6 Picturesque Fall Weekend Escapes Around the Northeast
Driving distance weekend getaways (and one longer respite) that include where to eat, play and stay in Boston, the Cape, the White Mountains, Maine, New York City and the Adirondacks.
Cape Cod, Massachusetts
A couple’s getaway is just what the doctor ordered at a resort equipped with its own beach, golf course, bars and restaurants, tennis courts and more. By Jamie Coelho
Ocean Edge Resort and Golf Club. Courtesy of Ocean Edge Resort and Golf Club.
We all know that rhode island has beautiful beaches and quaint villages, but sometimes it’s nice to get out of Dodge and enjoy a quiet getaway where you probably won’t see anyone who knows your name (Rhode Islanders have a reputation for never wanting to leave, but let’s prove them wrong, shall we?). Cape Cod is only a ninety-minute drive away, and it’s the perfect place to de-stress in the off-season.
The ornate staircase inside Ocean Edge Resort and Golf Club. Photo by Jamie Coelho
Friday afternoon: Leave before lunchtime and you’ll make it from downtown Providence to Brewster, Massachusetts, in about two hours. We pack a lunch (as locals do when they are traveling more than forty-five minutes!) and then check into the sprawling 337-room Ocean Edge Resort and Golf Club with accommodations in the mansion and multi-bedroom rentals with kitchens in the Villages. I head to the Beach House Spa for a delicious eighty-minute massage, while my husband checks out the pool, beach and tennis courts. Avid golfers can hit the course and craft beer lovers can sip brews at the onsite Bayzo’s Irish pub (oceanedge.com).
After my massage, we relax at the beach. We grab a drink at Ocean Edge’s Beach Bar which overlooks the entire stretch of white sand (open through Columbus Day weekend) and provides a front row seat to cotton-candy-colored sunsets. The full bar serves up frozen drinks and cocktails, and beer and wine from local breweries and wineries. We lounge on the provided beach chairs, and I dig into a book I’ve been trying to finish for ages.
Chatham Lighthouse. Getty Images/William Reagan
Friday evening: A ride into Chatham takes us past preppy clothing and gift stores, ice cream shops and even a penny candy counter. We book dinner at Pate’s restaurant (patesrestaurant.com) where the cocktails are even more inventive than the entrees. I try a lavender-hued Empress Butterfly cocktail made with gin, curacao, coconut and butterfly tea. We split a lobster street corn thin-crust pizza with lime crema as an appetizer. Surf and turf comes with a flat iron steak and lobster ravioli topped with truffle cream sauce and ahi tuna is served with black rice, garlic fried snap peas and mango-chili salsa. We skip dessert for ice cream in downtown Chatham at Buffy’s Ice Cream Shop (open until 10 p.m. in season; closes after Columbus Day). Get a cone with the signature pink sprinkles! We finish the night off with a stop at Chatham Lighthouse to see it at work at night.
Ocean Edge beach. Photo by Jamie Coelho
Saturday morning: I get up early for a run on the resort’s private beach with a view of the water sparkling from the rising sun, then we drive to breakfast at Sesuit Harbor Café (sesuit-harbor-cafe.com). Hefty stuffed omelets and spinach-and-tomato and bacon- bedecked eggs Benedict are served at no-frills picnic tables with the view of Sesuit Harbor and sand dunes in the background. After we fuel up, we rent bikes back at Ocean Edge, and get a map and directions for exploring the Cape Cod Rail
Bicycling on the Cape Cod Rail Trail. Photo by Jamie Coelho
Trail (mass.gov/locations/cape-cod-rail-trail). I pack water for the bike basket, and we embark on a twenty-mile round trip ride through Wellfleet and Eastham and Salt Pond Bay, ending at Coast Guard Beach. It is too early for brews other than coffee, but riding distance from the bike trail are First Crush Winery (firstcrushwinery.com) in Harwich and Hog Island Brewery (hogislandbeerco.com) in Orleans.
A burger and a salmon-topped salad at the Linx Tavern. Photo by Jamie Coelho
Saturday afternoon: We head back to the room to freshen up, then it’s off to the resort’s on-site restaurant Linx Tavern, located a short drive away in the Villages section, directly on the golf course. We earned a few cocktails from our bike ride, and share a mezze platter with hummus, olives, roasted red peppers and burrata served with pita chips. The menu includes burgers, sandwiches and salads with a view of the green. After lunch, we motor over to Devil’s Purse Brewery (devilspurse.com) in nearby South Dennis to sip brews like Hens and Chickens double IPA and Shiso and Berry Ale with shiso leaves and raspberry and blackberry puree.
Saturday night: The resort’s Oceanside Terrace restaurant serves our final dinner (oceanedge.com/dining/ocean-terrace). In cooler months, the restaurant and patio turn into the Frost Bar, a pop-up culinary experience with an arctic theme involving private igloos, fire bowls and special cocktail and dining menus. Inside the ornate mansion’s dining room, we share mussels with linguica in a tomato-garlic broth with crostini, and I enjoy halibut with saffron grits and asparagus. My husband orders the beef tenderloin with mashed potatoes and roasted carrots. After dinner, we wander the mansion and learn about its history. The home was once owned by Samuel Nickerson in 1888, who purchased the 1,800-acre estate that included what is now Nickerson State Park complete with a windmill and private game preserve. The original estate burned to the ground in 1906, forcing them to rebuild the home. It was later owned by La Salette seminary for nearly three decades, then was purchased by a private businessman in 1980, and finally became Ocean Edge Resort and Golf Club in 1986.
Beer at Devil’s Purse Brewing Company. Photo by Jamie Coelho
Belgian waffle with fruit at the Kitchen Café in Brewster. Photo by Jamie Coelho
Sunday morning: I cap off my Cape visit with another early morning run on the beach. Then we pack up and head to breakfast at the Kitchen Cafe (thekitchencafebrewster.com) in Brewster where we sip mocha and cardamom-spiced lattes with a fruit-topped Belgian waffle and breakfast burrito. It’s tough to leave such a peaceful place, but we’re glad we squeezed a couples-only getaway into our busy lives. And, I was right, we didn’t see a soul we knew from the Ocean State (well, the manager at Linx Tavern was from Warwick, so I lied).
NUTS & BOLTS
Travel Time: Two hours from Providence.
Miles: 91 miles.
How to Get There: Interstate 195-E to US 6-E.
Best Season to Go: Fall, summer and spring, but even winter can be nice with the Frost Bar.
Bucket List for Next Time: I’d hit up the winery and brewery that are located near the Cape Cod Rail Trail.
Worth a Detour: Explore Nickerson State Park for more outdoor activities like paddleboarding and kayaking, and shopping in downtown Chatham.
Ocean Edge Resort and Golf Club. Courtesy of Ocean Edge Resort and Golf Club.
Coming up: White Mountains, New Hampshire
