The Cape has come a long way since its early days as a fishing and whaling center. There's still farming and fishing going on, but it's now much better known as the playground of presidents and supermodels. Nestled among the scrub oak, pine and sea grass of this 65 mile (105km) long scythe-shaped peninsula are dozens of small villages and towns. Falmouth, the Cape's second largest town, is near the southwestern corner. It's got a fine village green, 19th century houses and the ubiquitous white church steeple. Woods Hole, at the Cape's southwestern tip, is a world-famous marine research center, and the local National Marine Fisheries Service opens its aquarium to the public.Farther north is Brewster, a sleepy village best known for its outstanding Cape Cod Museum of Natural History. The museum has photographic exhibits, fish tanks, whale displays and three short nature trails that cross cranberry bogs, salt marshes and beech groves. Wellfleet, halfway up the inner shore, is quiet, picturesque and untouched by commercial development. It's a good place to browse galleries, loll at the beach and gorge yourself on tasty Wellfleet oysters. Provincetown, at the bottom of the northern tip of the Cape, is the peninsula's liveliest resort town and the gay mecca of New England. On any given day you'll see cross-dressers, children eating saltwater taffy, barely-clad rollerbladers and Middle America wondering what they've stumbled into on their way to a whale-watching ferry. Provincetown has been a major arts colony since the turn of the century and is home to over 20 galleries.Provincetown is 128 miles (205km) southeast of Boston, almost a three hour drive. It's just as quick, and far less hassle, to catch the daily ferry. Two daily buses ply between Boston and major towns on the peninsula.

Concord was the Redcoats' next stop, but the guerrilla tactics of the Minutemen proved too much for them and they hightailed it back to Boston. White church steeples and oak and maple trees make this a quintessential New England town, located about 22 miles (35km) northwest of Boston. You can stick you finger in the hole left by a British musket ball at Bullet Hole House. The home of Concord sage Ralph Waldo Emerson is now a museum, and the remains of local hermit Henry David Thoreau's cabin grace the shore of nearby Walden Pond, just a few hundred yards southeast of the center of town. Thoreau and Emerson are buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, along with other such famous Concordians as Nathaniel Hawthorne and the Alcott family. From downtown Boston, Concord is a short trip by car or a 45-minute ride via commuter train.

Lexington is a repository of the kind of American History that comes in capital letters and reverent tones. On 17 April 1775, Paul Revere and two companions rode from Boston to Lexington in the predawn hours to warn the colonial militia - the Minutemen - of the impending approach of British troops. What followed was the first battle of the Revolutionary War, which took place on Lexington Green (now called Battle Green). This leafy, placid town has a number of historic houses and taverns, such as the 1695 Munroe Tavern and the 1689 Hancock-Clarke House, where John Hancock and Samuel Adams hid out from the Red Coats. Lexington is about 18 miles (29km) northwest of downtown Boston and is accessible by a combination of the subway and public bus.

If you feel oppressed by the morbidity of Salem, Marblehead is a good place to clear your head with a big hit of sea air. Just a few miles southeast of Salem, Marblehead's narrow winding streets are excellent for exploring on foot. The best sights are in Old Town, also known as the Marblehead Historic District, where most of the town's colonial and early federal houses are. The 18th century Jeremiah Lee Mansion is now a museum with period furniture, toys, folk art and nautical and military artifacts. At the southern end of Old Town, a causeway leads a few hundred yards east to the wooded island of Marblehead Neck, where mansions share the place with the Audubon Bird Sanctuary.

Salem's mild-mannered suburban aspect doesn't immediately make one think of witches and warlocks hanging from the gallows, but 300 years ago the town was rife with rumors and accusations, and 19 people got the rope for consorting with the Wicked One. These days Salem takes a Disneyesque approach to its bewitching past. Open to the public are the Witch House, where suspected sorcerers and sorceresses were interrogated; the Salem Witch Museum, which uses dioramas, exhibits and audiovisual materials to explain the witch scare; and the Witch Dungeon Museum, where dramatic recreations of the witch trials follow transcripts of the original proceedings. The most famous house in Salem is the House of the Seven Gables, eponymous star of the 1851 Nathaniel Hawthorne novel. It's open to visitors year round. Salem is 20 miles (32km) northeast of Boston, about a 35 minute train ride away. The Salem Trolley takes visitors past all the major points of interest.