Dennis Attractions

This Cape Cod Baseball League team plays at Red Wilson Field, Station Avenue, South Yarmouth during the summer months.

Once home to the Rev. Josiah Manse, the 1736 saltbox is a now a museum showcasing spinning and weaving looms and an exhibit on Dennis maritime history, including a diorama of the Shiverick Shipyard, the only Cape Cod yard to craft the great clipper ship. Also on the grounds is a plaque honoring Henry Hall’s experimentation with sand and cranberries in 1816 and the Old West Schoolhouse, the last of the town’s dozen one-room schools built in the 1800s.

The Josiah Dennis Manse is open late June – mid-Sept., Tues. 10 a.m. - noon and Thurs. 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.

Open July and August, Wed. 2 p.m. - 4 p.m. and Fri. 10 a.m. – noon.

The observation tower is the third built since 1874 atop Scargo Hill, the tallest slope on the mid-Cape. Gail winds toppled the first wooden viewing post in 1876. The second one, also built of wood, burned down in 1900. Today's 30-foot tower stands stronger in cobblestone and offers breathtaking views of Scargo Lake, the Atlantic Ocean and the upper Cape all the way to Provincetown.

The tower was given to the town in 1929 as a memorial to Charles Tobey and Frances Bassett Tobey, whose ancestors settled in Dennis in 1678.

Billed as “America’s Oldest Professional Summer Theatre,” the playhouse has brought big names to Dennis long before they were headliners, including Gertrude Lawrence, Humphrey Bogart and Bette Davis.

Raymond Moore founded the Cape Playhouse in 1927 when he bought a 19^th century former Unitarian Meeting House for $200 and moved it to its current plot. Today, it sits on 26 acres known as the Cape Cod Center for the Arts, alongside Cape Cinema, Cape Cod Museum of Art and Center Stage Café.

Raymond Moore opened the single-screen cinema in 1930. It shows rare art and international films along with mainstream movies. A unique feature is the 6,400-square-foot ceiling mural by American artist Rockwell Kent. It depicts a starry scene splashed with blues and gold, his concept of heaven.

Kent refused to install the ceiling himself because he swore not to return to Massachusetts after the 1927 conviction and deaths of Sacco and Vanzetti, but ended up breaking the vow to attend the cinema’s opening. The mural is one of Kent’s three remaining in the world. The two others adorn federal government buildings in Washington D.C.

Open mid-April – late October.

Interest in this museum featuring Cape Cod artists has steadily grown since its doors opened in a storefront in 1981. It moved to the Cape Cod Center for the Arts complex in 1990 and has been a year-round attraction since 2001. It also offers a travel group, art classes and film screenings.

Open year-round Tues. – Sat., 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., 8 p.m. close on Thursdays; Sun. noon – 5 p.m. Open Mondays Memorial Day – Columbus Day, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.