Scusset Beach State Reservation

About this park

Scusset Beach State Reservation covers 459 acres in Sandwich at the eastern end of the Cape Cod Canal, occupying land that was once part of the Sagamore Hill Military Reservation before being converted to public recreation. The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation manages the park under a lease agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which still operates the adjacent canal itself. The reservation offers a long sandy beach facing Cape Cod Bay, alongside salt marsh habitat and direct access to the Cape Cod Canal's service road, a flat, paved path popular with both cyclists and anglers who fish for striped bass and bluefish from the canal's rocky banks during their seasonal runs. The canal's strong currents and the mixing of bay and canal waters make this stretch a genuinely notable fishing destination, drawing surfcasters from well beyond the immediate Cape Cod region. A full-service campground with RV hookups, showers, and restrooms sits just behind the dunes, giving campers direct beach access and making Scusset Beach a popular gateway stop for visitors entering or leaving Cape Cod via the Sagamore Bridge. Its position at the very start of the Cape, rather than deeper into the peninsula, gives it a slightly different character from the more traditional Cape beaches further south and east.