Bourne Town Profile

Bourne Defines by the Canal That Splits It

Bourne is the gateway to Cape Cod on the western end of the Cape Cod Canal. The town was split by the canal when it opened in the early 20th century; it includes seven distinct villages – Bournedale, Buzzards Bay and Sagamore Beach on the mainland side of the canal; Cataumet, Monument Beach and Pocasset on the Cape side of the canal, and Sagamore straddling the canal on its eastern end.

The Buzzards Bay section of town is home to Massachusetts Maritime Academy, a four-year state college, as well as the National Marine Life Center. Also in Buzzards Bay is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which controls and maintains the canal and the three bridges that span it – the Bourne and Sagamore bridges handling automobile traffic, and the Cape Cod Railroad bridge, a lift bridge.

The canal is a popular place to go walking, running, in-line skating, fishing or biking. The Scusset Beach State Reservation on the eastern end of the canal offers camping and a large stretch of beach on Cape Cod Bay and along the canal. Bourne Scenic Park Campground is on the canal between the two bridges.

On the Cape side of the canal, Monument Beach was once the summer home of President Grover Cleveland and continues to be the local focus for both summer and year-round residents. The Aptucxet Trading Post Museum, a re-creation of the building where European settlers and Native Americans traded goods, is located nearby. Cataumet and Pocasset are quaint villages with mainly single-family homes on large lots.

South of the canal, Bourne’s beaches stretch along Buzzards Bay and provide beautiful views of marshes and wild seascape terrain. The jagged coastline creates numerous coves to explore, and makes for a great place to boat, fish or shellfish. The town hosts the annual Bourne Scallop Festival, which attracts visitors from around the country.

Bourne is also home to a portion of the 22,000-acre Massachusetts Military Reservation, which hosts the Army National Guard’s Camp Edwards, the Otis Air National Guard Base, the Coast Guard’s Air Station Cape Cod and the Massachusetts National Cemetery. The town has a number of restaurants that range from fine dining to takeout.