Why there's more to the Cape than Kennedys

IF Cape Cod sounds familiar to you, it's because the Kennedys - America's most famous (and tragic) family - grew up there. JFK used his childhood home on the hook-shaped peninsula as a summer White House during his time as president.

I'm just outside it now, in a town called Hyannis Port. It's more "compound" than home - three houses set over two hectares of prime coastal real estate. The Kennedys look across the blue waters of Nantucket Sound. From up here, I can see seals sunbaking and a flotilla of million-dollar yachts.

Sprawling white clapboard holiday homes stretch right along the coast and American flags fly on a breeze that smells of fresh-cut lawn. The money's very old here, but the cars are all brand-spanking-new.

Travel all 150,000 kilometres of mainland America's coastline and you won't find a more privileged setting; except the Hamptons, on Long Island. They're 200 kilometres south of here and are full of holiday homes for New York's polo set.

But Cape Cod is different: there's a lot more to this place than Kennedys and their kinfolk.

I arrive at Cape Cod by ferry from Boston. The barman recommends a Bloody Mary, even though it's 9.30 in the morning: "You'll want this for P-Town," he tells me. Provincetown (P-Town to its locals) is perched on the outer reaches of the cape, at its northern tip.

Once a tiny Portuguese fishing village, it's now a haven for anyone who doesn't really fit in America. "We're not gay-friendly," town crier Daniel Gomez Llata tells me when I arrive at the wharf. "We're gay."

P-Town is the American headquarters of the LGBTIQ+ community, and it's long been a haven for artists, writers and musicians. There are more cannabis dispensary shops than supermarkets, not to mention back-to-back bars and clubs set along beaches bordering the town's main street.

"See that bar," Gomez Llata says, pointing at one of them. "There's not one Pulitzer Prize-winner who hasn't fallen off their chair there." Tennessee Williams wrote A Streetcar Named Desire here, while The Grapes of Wrath author John Steinbeck and famed playwright Eugene O'Neill both lived here for a time.

People have come here seeking an escape from society since the town was first settled in the 1600s. "That's the oldest gay bar in America," Gomez Llata points across at an old brick establishment called the Atlantic House. "It opened in 1798, the long arm of the law couldn't get you there."

Centuries-old oak and elm trees grow right over its pretty main street, and vines grow across the shingles of its 300-year-old buildings.

Everyone knows each other - walking through town with Gomez Llata is as exhausting a social experience as you'll have on the Cape.

As I stroll past shops with names like Cock'n'Bull Leather I couldn't feel any further removed from the Kennedy compound and its American Royalty mythology.

Lunch is served on the upper deck of one of P-Town's most famous eateries, The Lobster Pot. It's Anthony Bourdain's favourite lobster eatery - he filmed his TV series, Parts Unknown, here. Below me, seals the size of sea lions swim laps by the shore.

Just beyond town, I'm taken on a 4WD tour across hectares of sand dunes to a beach where three humpback whales breach at almost exactly the same time and a pod of dolphins follow us down the coast. Sandbars are exposed at low tide. Centuries ago land pirates sat on the shore here waving lanterns to mimic lighthouses so ships would run aground (they'd then loot them).

There are 19 historic dune shacks out here with no running water or electricity, which artists can rent. These once housed the likes of Steinbeck, Williams and Jackson Pollock. Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway filmed The Thomas Crown Affair here in 1968.

I take the road south, following the Cape Cod National Seashore - a 64-kilometre stretch of coastline first protected by JFK's administration in 1961.

There are beaches like Coast Guard Beach, rated among the country's top 10. They're not like most beaches in Australia - swimming's not advised (the Great White Shark signs might curb your enthusiasm), but you can walk along the sand thinking you're the last person on Earth.

Famous naturalist, essayist, poet and philosopher Henry David Thoreau traversed this entire coast by foot for his novel, Cape Cod. "A man may stand there and put all America behind him," he wrote.

The Cape is entirely bounded by water - there's not a corner I go around without a better vista than the one before. I doubt there's a more scenic part of America; for it's not just the ocean, I pass through some of the oldest villages in America (Cape Cod was actually where the Mayflower pilgrims first stepped foot in the New World in 1620).

I visit towns like Hyannis, Chatham and Dennis, and discover bars with friendly locals that defy the region's old-world money stuffiness. There are art galleries full of local art - the Cape is home to the longest on-going art colony in the US - heritage cinemas, and cafes and restaurants set on the dreamiest parts of the coast.

And there's privilege too, plenty of it; a rare chance to look in on America's richest families.

There are $30 million homes set across hectares of America's prettiest coastline that remind you exactly where you are. I pick out at least five dream homes I'll buy then I hightail it to the Duck Inn Pub in Hyannis's main street for a $3 beer and a turn of karaoke.

Getting there: Fly to Boston via LA with Delta Airlines, then rent a car - Cape Cod is only 90 minutes south. Or take a 90-minute ferry to Provincetown.

Staying there: Have a view over the water 10 minutes' walk from Hyannis's main street at Anchor In.

Tours: Take a tour through the Peaked Hill Historic Sand Dunes with Art's Dune Tours.

Explore more: capecodchamber.org

Craig Tansley travelled courtesy of Brand USA.