Directional Devices

You may be tempted to use maps such as Mapquest to find the location of the summer rental properties or enter their addresses into a GPS unit. These methods have severe drawbacks out on the lower end of Cape Cod. We suggest you use the hand-drawn maps linked to each of our listings. Comparing our little maps to the details on larger maps will give you a much better idea of the location. Both the Internet maps and the GPS system are incorrect as much as 75% of the time or more. Differences may range from the wrong location on the correct street to linking the property to an address in the wrong area of the town to giving incorrect directions.

Many roads on the Outer Cape were laid as long ago as Colonial times and have ceased to exist entirely or have become rights-of-way over developed property. These are called "paper roads". Other roads indicated on the GPS were drawn as part of earlier property development and are now private driveways. Some roads exist, but are one-lane dirt country roads that lead to cottages deep in the woods. Directions on GPS units and on-line driving directions tend to treat these totally inappropriate passages as shortcuts.

In addition, the methodology of the GPS system is to select a base name for a road and add other details later. Thus East Hill Road in Wellfleet is listed as "Hill Road", but there are also a "Hill Street" and a "Hiller Ave." in that town as will as Mill Hill, Liam Hill, etc. In Eastham, one of our rental cottages is on West Shore Road. "West Shore" is the name of the road, since it is on the bay side, and the Atlantic Ocean is considered the eastern shore. Since the directional devices eliminate what they consider to be directional locations on a street, this cottage shows up in Mapquest at the other end of town, 8 miles away, on Shore Road.

The Locations button bar on our web site attempts to correct these errors. Click on Locations and scroll to the owner's name for the cottage you are attempting to locate. Clicking on the name will take you to that owner's homepage. Clicking on the owner's address will take you to the closest available Internet map and explain any inaccuracies. Clicking on "GPS News" for that listing will explain any inaccuaracies or misleading routes found on the GPS system.

This page is under construction. It is slow, painstaking work to check every cottage in these systems. Some cottages are on roads without the telephone connections necessary for Internet maps to track them. In such a case, we've chosen a neighbor or adjoining street and explained the differences. Please DO NOT attempt to select a cottage using GPS or web maps to show its location. We cannot adjust a rental, give a refund, or relocate a tenant based on such a misunderstanding about a location. Please DO NOT attempt to give family or friends the GPS or web map location of a cottage if they are joining you for a visit. This could result in a lot of frustration and wasted time.

We have individual detailed maps for every property we rent that can be mailed, faxed, or emailed to you. At check-in, you are given such a map with directions to your rental cottage. If you need a copy of these directions for other members of your rental party or guests, call or visit our office to make arrangements for a map to be left on our outside bulletin board.