Sandwich Village Historic District

The western gateway to Route 6A and the oldest town on Cape Cod, settled in 1637. The village core clusters around Shawme Pond, where the white steeple of the First Church, the town hall and a run of 18th- and 19th-century sea captains' houses sit within a few hundred metres of each other — walkable in well under an hour.

What makes it work as a first stop:

• Shawme Pond with its swans, mill dam and footbridges is the postcard shot of the village
• Hoxie House, claimed as one of the oldest surviving saltbox houses in New England, sits on the pond's south shore
• Main Street has a handful of independent shops, a bakery and a couple of taverns for a coffee or lunch break
• Free street parking is usually findable outside the July–August peak; arrive before 11am on summer weekends

If you only stop in one 6A village, make it this one — the density of intact colonial fabric is higher here than anywhere else on the road.