Bourne

Cataumet, a tiny Upper Cape village in the town of Bourne, has both accessibility to Boston and waterfront living. Locally owned restaurants and businesses line state Route 28A, the two-lane thoroughfare in the eastern part of the village. From there, roads snake westward along a peninsula, passing tall oaks and evergreens with cedar-shingle-sided homes resting behind them. Though some year-round residents live in the section closest to state Route 28A, many homes are inhabited less than six months of the year. Neighborhood clubs have tennis and pickleball courts for members, and they organize social events and camps for children. With access to harbors, sandy beaches and Buzzards Bay, time on the water is a regular way of life. As with other parts of the Cape, beach parking is regulated by a sticker system. Cataumet homeowners can purchase a sticker to park at all of Bourne’s beaches, including Squeteague Harbor Beach in the village. People can also hike along the shoreline of Squeteague Harbor to the sandy beach on Lawrence Island, which is owned in part by the Bourne Conservation Trust and the Animal Rescue League. From there, they can launch kayaks, go quahogging (with a license) or take their dogs for a swim. Those who live on Scraggy Neck, a gated peninsula, can visit their three private beaches. “There are always people running, biking, walking and dog walking,” says Pam Alden, Realtor with Exit Cape Realty, who has been visiting Cataumet since birth and living on the cape full-time since 2000. “It's very spa-like.” Members of the Cataumet Club can use the clay tennis courts and harbor dock , and many send their children to its popular summer camp. “The kids learn lifelong skills — some are sailing a boat on their own after about two weeks,” Alden says. Not all recreation in Cataumet revolves around the water, though. The 95-acre Cataumet Greenway offers 2 miles of hiking trails that pass cranberry bogs, salt marshes and fields of wildflowers. Throughout the summer months, the Cape is busy with concerts and events, including art fairs and local theater. Within the village, the Cataumet Club, the Cataumet Civic Associates and the Scraggy Neck Recreation Association each organize gatherings for their members. New residents can join a club and immediately have social events to attend, such as cocktail parties, tennis tournaments and sailing races, as well as several clambakes. The Barnstable County Fair also takes place in July at the Cape Cod Fairgrounds, about 6 miles east of Cataumet. “We go for the concerts, but they have everything — rides, a demolition derby, animals and fair food,” Alden says. The Cataumet Civic Associates also organize annual Easter egg hunts and the Christmas Tree Lighting and Carol Sing in December. Aside from the post office and the Cataumet Arts Center, the majority of Cataumet is residential, but restaurants can be found along state Route 28A. Somerset Creamery has been the village’s ice cream shop for nearly 90 years, while spots such as the Parrot and the Courtyard Restaurant and Bar serve a dual purpose, Alden says: “Families come for dinner until about 9 p.m., and then they're popular places for singles after nine o’clock.” The Daily Brew Coffee House is often crowded in the mornings, as commuters and vacationers stop by to pick up breakfast sandwiches, smoothies and lattes. It also has a shaded patio where those who aren’t in a rush can stop to relax. In the evenings, many folks head to the Chart Room, which is open seasonally. “People go there to watch the sunset,” Alden says. “They usually have someone who plays piano at night. Sometimes, a star passing through for a theater gig will join the pianist for a tune." There are small farm stands during late summer and early fall, and the Bootstrap Farm Club offers seasonal produce and farm-fresh eggs from April through December. People can pick up groceries at the Market Basket in Sagamore or at the Stop & Shop supermarkets in Sandwich or Mashpee; all are around 11 miles from Cataumet. Housing in Cataumet is divided into three sections: Scraggy Neck, or just “Scraggy," Cataumet Village and the homes closest to Route 28A. Scraggy is a private community only accessible by boat or via the gated causeway. Many homes on Scraggy have been in the family for decades and have been renovated from summer cottages or rebuilt, Alden says. Only a few reach the market each year, and they are often priced from around $2 million to nearly $4 million. Cataumet Village residences are also hard to come by. “I have a list of people who want to live in Cataumet,” Alden says. For an expanded Cape Cod-style house on 1 acre of land, buyers might spend from $800,000 to over $1 million, and homes with waterfront access will exceed $1 million. Those who live along the water may need to purchase flood insurance. Closer to state Route 28A, housing is mostly year-round, and prices for mid-1900s Cape Cods and ranch-style homes fall between the mid-$500,000s and $700,000. Cataumet’s location near state Route 28 connects it to the Cape Cod Canal and towns and villages all along the south side of the Cape. Boston, Providence and Newport are all within 70 miles or less, and drivers can follow state Route 28 across the Bourne Bridge to head toward any of them. On weekends during the summer months, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority CapeFLYER trains make trips to and from Boston’s South Station. The nearest station is in Bourne Village, which is around 7 miles from Cataumet. Local bus service is provided by the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority, which has buses that also make stops in Bourne Village, as well as in Cataumet and Mashpee. Year-round residents can send their children to Bourne Public Schools, a district that receives a B-minus Niche rating. Kindergarten through second-grade students can attend Bournedale Elementary School before transitioning to Bourne Intermediate School for third through fifth grades. Both schools earn B-minus ratings. At Bourne Middle School, which gets a C-plus score, there is a designated block during each school day for students to participate in enrichment or receive specialized help. Bourne High School earns a B rating, and it offers educational pathways in fields including business and health care. Students who wish to get a head start on college can also take Advanced Placement classes and dual-enrollment courses through the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. Private schools nearby include Falmouth Academy, a middle and high school located about 10 miles south of Cataumet that Niche rates with an A-plus. Cataumet borders Joint Base Cape Cod, home to the Massachusetts National Guard’s Camp Edwards as well as a Coast Guard station and other federal facilities. In the past, contaminants such as fire extinguishing chemicals have been used on the site, some of which have leached into parts of the Cape’s Sagamore Lens aquifer. Beginning in the late 1990s, the National Guard began cleanup activities and weekly monitoring of area wells. When contaminants are detected, the town of Bourne shuts down impacted wells. In addition, human activity on the Cape has contributed to high nitrogen levels in the soil and waterways, which can damage the cape’s ecosystem and water quality. All towns on the Cape, including Bourne, are developing plans to upgrade septic systems and water treatment facilities in order to reduce nitrogen levels and protect the Cape’s waterways over the next decade.