Truro is the narrowest part of Cape Cod, where the land is so thin that you can see the ocean on one side and the bay on the other from the same low hill. It is a town of rolling dunes, scrub pine, heath and small cottages, with only a couple of thousand people living here year round, and a quiet that is unusual in this much-visited region. The Cape Cod National Seashore covers much of the town, protecting the dunes, cliffs and beaches, and the sense of space is wonderful.
The place has a great deal of history. In November 1620, the Pilgrims of the Mayflower anchored off the tip of the Cape, and a party went ashore at Truro, where they found a store of buried corn and took it, an act they later regretted and repaid. They stayed only a few weeks before sailing on to Plymouth. Later, the town became a whaling and fishing centre, and Highland Light, the oldest lighthouse on the Cape, built in 1797, stands on a bluff above the sea, a short white tower that has been moved back from the eroding cliff to keep it safe.
Truro has also been an artists' haven. The painter Edward Hopper began spending summers here in the 1930s, and his stark, luminous paintings of sunlit houses and dunes capture the light of the outer Cape, a pale, clear brightness that comes from sea and sand. The landscape has changed little since his time. A small vineyard in the town makes wine from grapes grown in the sandy soil. Down the road, the Pamet River valley is a glacial trough that cuts across the Cape.
Route 6 runs through the middle, a narrow road with a low speed limit and careful enforcement, and the ride is slow and scenic, with dunes, ponds and distant views of the sea. Fuel is not available in the town itself, so fill up at Wellfleet or Eastham or, to the north, in Provincetown, and be aware that services are limited out of season. The air is cooler on the bay side, and the wind can be strong. Summer weekends are crowded, but spring and autumn are quiet and bright. Stay for the sunset over the bay.