Massachusetts - Cape Cod

South-east of Boston the Cape Cod peninsula reaches out into the Atlantic like a gigantic crab's claw. Its western end is an outlier of a range of hills belonging to the Appalachian system; the central part consists of an Ice Age terminal moraine and associated glacial drift; and the eastern section, curling round to the north, is made up of narrow spits of land and dunes. The gently undulating landscape of sandy and gravel soil, once covered with forests of oak and pine, has long been an area of small farms specialising in the growing of cranberries. With its beautiful sandy beaches Cape Cod is now also a popular holiday area for the people of nearby Boston and New York.