>> NARRATOR: Come along for a once-in-a-lifetime journey through New England as you've never experienced it before.

A true insider's guide from the editors of Yankee magazine.

Join explorer, adventurer, and traveler Richard Wiese, and his co-host, Yankee senior food editor Amy Traverso, for behind-the-scenes access to the unique attractions that define this region and uncover the hidden New England that only locals know.

It's the ultimate travel guide from the people who know it best.

This week, Richard goes on an off-road ramble to the Cape Cod National Seashore.

>> WIESE: You know, I feel like I'm on the end of the earth, and the maps all say, you know, "Don't go beyond here in the ocean."

>> NARRATOR: Amy boards a ferry to the Maine island of North Haven, a place so beautiful, the locals call it "North Heaven."

>> Living on an island off the coast, access to fresh vegetables in the wintertime is better than gold.

>> NARRATOR: Then it's south to Narragansett Bay to hear the story of the Rose Island Lighthouse.

>> WIESE: This is truly spectacular.

>> Oh, what a day you chose to come, I'm so glad.

>> NARRATOR: And back in the test kitchen, Amy cooks up a cobbler made with real Maine blueberries.

>> TRAVERSO: When I think of Maine, I think of wild blueberries.

It's the perfect summer dessert.

>> NARRATOR: That's all coming up on Weekends with Yankee.

♪ ♪ >> Funding provided by: ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> The Vermont Country Store-- the purveyors of the practical and hard-to-find since 1946.

♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: Provincetown, Massachusetts, is a scenic seaside village at the tip of Cape Cod.

♪ ♪ Home to both artists and fishermen, it's actually here, not Plymouth, where the Pilgrims first landed back in 1620.

We're visiting the 40 miles of pristine sand dunes and beaches known as the Cape Cod National Seashore.

To lead the way, Richard joins local expert Rob Costa of Art's Dune Tours, whose family has led guided trips to this beautiful seascape and its famous artist cottages since 1946.

♪ ♪ >> WIESE: You know, it's funny-- when I fly over Cape Cod, it's such a distinct arm of sand.

You know, I feel like I'm on the end of the earth, and the maps all say, you know, "Don't go beyond here in the ocean."

>> I call it the Outback of Provincetown.

It's out there, it's 4,000 acres of sand dunes and beaches and forest land.

>> WIESE: This, to me, is magic-- oh.

♪ ♪ My gosh.

I mean, we're only about 100 yards off the main road, and it's already spectacular.

(shutter clicks) (car door shuts) Beautiful.

♪ ♪ >> When the Pilgrims came here, this was all forest.

>> WIESE: Oh, this was forest, really?

>> Basically, this was all forest, yeah.

The early settlers, many Portuguese fishermen and English settlers, they came to Provincetown to fish.

So what do you need to do?

Build up the fishing village with a lot of wood.

So they started coming out here and chopping trees down.

Once the trees were gone, the wind came along, blew the topsoil away.

Eventually, the sand was uncovered, and the wind created these dunes from man's destruction of the forest.

>> WIESE: This is a national park, right?

>> Yeah, this is the Cape Cod National Seashore, which is a division of the national park system.

The government had this open for a while for the public, but too many people were doing too much destruction over the years, so eventually they just left it open for commercial-use dune tours and people who live out here in shacks.

Actually, there's one right up there.

You want to go take a look?

>> WIESE: Yeah!

>> Okay.

>> WIESE: Oh, my gosh.

So this is the little shack with the bazillion-dollar view.

>> So, Richard, this is one of the 19 shacks that are still remaining out here.

>> WIESE: I have to smile, because on occasion, I've stayed at some very what would be considered fancy hotels or homes.

But the idea of staying in a shack, surrounded by these magical sand dunes, with the Atlantic Ocean on one side, and kind of cool town just down the road-- doesn't get any better, five-star accommodations.

>> That's right.

And the government now leases these shacks to nonprofits.

There's three of them locally.

And they support artists-in-residency programs, so it opens it up for public access through the art world.

>> WIESE: So what-- who are some of the artists or writers I would have heard of?

>> Well, there's a huge list.

But Eugene O'Neill... >> WIESE: Of course.

>> Tennessee Williams... >> WIESE: Wow.

>> Jack Kerouac, Sinclair Lewis, Jackson Pollock, e.e.

cummings, Annie Dillard, the writer, Mary Oliver, the poet, Norman Mailer has been out here before.

So I think the most common thing is everyone finds it very serene and beautiful.

>> WIESE: For sure.

>> But everyone finds their own special way to appreciate this area out here, I think.

>> WIESE: So I'm assuming this is off the grid.

>> Yeah, there's no electricity, there's no running water.

They use propane gas for stove and refrigeration needs.

They use an outhouse for the toilet, there's a wood stove in there-- it's like camping, but you got a nice little shack here.

>> WIESE: Hello, bonjour.

>> How are you?

>> Hi.

>> WIESE: So, what's it like to spend the night out here?

>> It slows you down, makes you think, it makes you really appreciate what you have, more than ever, more than when you are in town.

>> WIESE: Yeah.

>> You know, I just want to listen to the wind, to the birds, to the waves.

And they're the only interference.

Otherwise, it's pretty pure out here, you can catch those special moments.

>> WIESE: You know, they say that wealth is measured in many ways, and I think, right now, you're the richest woman I know.

>> And I know it, and I count my blessing every day.

>> WIESE: This is as magical a place as there can be on earth.

>> Yeah, well, I have a lot more to show you.

>> WIESE: I'd love to see it.

>> You ready?

>> WIESE: Yeah.

>> Let's go.

>> That truck over there.

Smell those leaves.

(sniffs) ♪ ♪ (wind blowing) Now I'm going to take you down and show you the coastline.

♪ ♪ >> WIESE: You know, I'm sure people have asked you a thousand times why are the dunes so magnificent and large here in Provincetown?

>> So this is a map of the Cape Cod National Seashore, half of it, anyway.

And up here is Provincetown, and that's our town line there.

And when the glacier formed Cape Cod tens of thousands of years ago, and the ice melted, you had the arm of Cape Cod, but it used to stop here.

And then 6,000 years later, all the glacial debris came up the coast and deposited all this sand, over 6,000 years in the making.

Provincetown was formed as a sand spit.

Erosional forces, ocean and wind, carrying up the sand, depositing the sand into the shape of Provincetown.

So hikers are allowed to drive through here.

>> Hello.

>> WIESE: Hello.

Even though people can't drive their own trucks through here, people are still allowed to hike through here, so often we'll see hikers in the trail or crossing it.

It's a pretty nice terrain to just hike through here.

♪ ♪ >> WIESE: Boy, driving on the beach is really a treat.

It's something I don't get to do very often, and this is certainly one of the prettiest beaches that you could find on the East Coast.

>> Yeah, this is certainly beautiful.

This is Race Point Beach, the... on the Atlantic Ocean side.

So look at this, we are just feet from the Atlantic Ocean.

>> WIESE: I know, and it's hard to imagine that these waves come right up to the dunes during storms, but this is just a gorgeous day with just us and a bunch of seagulls, huh?

>> Yeah.

♪ ♪ >> WIESE: I mean, the fact that we're driving right up to the water's edge is pretty darn cool.

>> Yeah.

>> WIESE: What a spectacular day.

>> Awesome.

>> WIESE: You know, this a view you never get tired of, and I just want to thank you.

This was more than a tour, this was an exclamation point to Cape Cod, Provincetown, the magical dunes that you took us around.

So I know the tour ends, but the memories last.

>> Yes, they do-- thank you so much.

>> WIESE: Thank you so much.

It's been a great tour.

>> Thank you.

♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: For our next stop, we head up the coast to Maine, where Amy boards a ferry for the hour-long ride to North Haven Island.

♪ ♪ >> TRAVERSO: I wish you could smell how fresh this salt air is.

These are some of the most coveted sailing grounds in the world, partly because the winds are really good, partly because there's so many places to go.

This bay is dotted with hundreds of islands, some of which have year-round populations, and some of which are totally uninhabited.

Now, these Maine islands are tiny.

The ones that are even inhabited are so small, they have populations, maybe 300 people year-round, which, of course, swell in the summer.

But each one has its own culture, from Vinalhaven to North Haven to Monhegan, each one is very different, and to explore each culture is one of the great joys of exploring Penobscot Bay.

♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: Here she discovers a stunning coastal farm, with pastures rolling down to the sea, and brings some of its bounty back to the kitchen of Nebo Lodge, an inn and restaurant that's been named one of the world's best destinations for food lovers.

>> My name is Hannah Pingree, and I'm the business manager of Nebo Lodge.

It was a small business started by my mom and a group of women in 2004.

And we're on the island of North Haven, which is a tiny island off the coast of Maine.

I don't think it was any of our dreams, necessarily, to be innkeepers, but we live in this tiny island of 350 people, and people need a place to eat, and they need jobs.

And so our goal was really to create a wonderful restaurant that would use the fish and the lobsters and vegetables from local farmers, but it would also be a place where year-round people could get jobs.

♪ ♪ >> Brendan is our farm manager at Turner Farm.

He and his girlfriend came here just two years ago from Michigan, and he's an incredibly hard-working, smart farmer.

We are very lucky to have talented, hard-working farmers that make all of this possible.

>> TRAVERSO: So, how large is this operation?

>> Um, so we're doing a lot of different things here.

We've got about two acres in certified organic vegetable production, both outside and in greenhouses and hoop houses.

We do 30 pigs in the woods.

>> TRAVERSO: Uh-huh.

>> We're also milking two dairy cows, and all of that milk is used to make cheese and yogurt in our North Island Creamery, right here in the barn.

>> TRAVERSO: Wow.

Diversified.

>> Yeah, we're diversified, and then we follow all of our cows with chickens and pastured poultry so that we can scratch in the manure and help benefit the pastures.

So, Amy, I know it seems hard to believe, but all of these plants were started as tiny seeds back in mid-February in our heated greenhouse.

>> TRAVERSO: So we're kind of at the end of the tomato season now, aren't we?

Kind of that last glorious burst of September tomatoes.

>> Yeah, you guys are here on a great day of transition.

It's a farmer holiday, we're actually ripping all of these tomatoes out and get our cool-season crops established for winter.

>> TRAVERSO: I can't imagine that you're harvesting fresh vegetables on North Haven in the winter?

>> Yeah.

So planting the right type of crop at the right time of year in order to get it established enough so that you could still be picking off of it, so...

Living on an island off the coast, access to fresh vegetables in the wintertime is better than gold.

This is Pink Beauty tomato, and it's absolutely delicious.

Go ahead and take a bite.

>> TRAVERSO: Can I-- oh, really?

>> Yeah, take a bite out of that.

>> TRAVERSO: Okay.

Mmm, wow.

It's so sweet.

>> Yeah.

>> TRAVERSO: Well, I see a lot of varieties here, and I'm really excited to see what else you've got going on on the farm.

>> Let's show you.

>> TRAVERSO: Okay.

>> So that's Vinalhaven, right over there, and then Isle au Haut is just in the distance.

♪ ♪ >> TRAVERSO: So, Brendan, I have to say, when I think of Maine islands, I think of fishing.

I don't really think of farming.

>> Well, it's interesting you say that, because North Haven Island has a very unique agricultural history.

It supported a surprising number of commercial farms.

>> TRAVERSO: Wow.

>> In fact, back in 1860, according to the agricultural census, there were over 70 registered farms on North Haven Island.

There used to be more sheep than people.

>> TRAVERSO: And there's a lot of soil, like, there's a lot of arable soil here.

>> Yeah, part of that is due to the geological differences.

Vinalhaven has more granite than North Haven, but the story goes that farmers used to also pull seaweed off the coast and bring it onto their farms to help build their soil.

>> TRAVERSO: Wow-- I wish I was here for more than just a day.

This is such a spectacular place.

It's been such a pleasure to be here.

And I'm definitely going to come back and stay longer and cook meals with your produce.

>> Please, please-- yeah, thanks so much for coming out.

We'd love to have you again.

>> TRAVERSO: Thank you.

>> Thank you!

>> NARRATOR: Now that Amy has picked the produce at Turner Farm, she heads back to Nebo Lodge to create a salad with her beautiful tomatoes.

>> TRAVERSO: So, Freida, I know whatever you're making has got to be really good, but what are you making now?

>> I'm going to put together a tomato salad with heirloom tomatoes and cherry tomatoes and some feta cheese from Turner Farm.

>> TRAVERSO: Does all that come from Turner Farm?

>> Everything here, except for-- >> TRAVERSO: Those flowers?

>> Yeah, everything-- the flowers, the micros.

Everything except for the olive oil and the vinegar.

>> TRAVERSO: Okay, so where do you start with this?

>> So first we'll chop the tomatoes, slice them.

>> TRAVERSO: Okay.

>> Just whatever Brendan has given us this week.

>> TRAVERSO: Okay.

Should I layer this around on the plate, or...?

>> Yeah, so I like to try to create a little bit of height here.

>> TRAVERSO: Okay.

>> So...yeah, perfect.

>> TRAVERSO: Stacked or, like, layered?

>> I usually stack it, kind of askew.

>> TRAVERSO: Okay, okay.

These are not unripe tomatoes, these are ripe tomatoes, right?

>> They're ripe green tomatoes.

>> TRAVERSO: Just green, yeah.

I love the variety of shapes and textures you've already got going on on this plate, it's so beautiful.

>> It is.

>> TRAVERSO: So do you literally have a farmer showing up at the backdoor with incredible produce on a regular basis?

>> We do, we do-- a few times a week usually.

>> TRAVERSO: That sounds like a chef's dream.

>> This is just a shallot sherry vinaigrette, it's super simple.

Shallots grown at Turner Farm, olive oil, sherry vinegar, and salt.

>> TRAVERSO: Okay.

Tomatoes and any kind of onion-y thing are just so good together.

>> I agree.

So now we will just layer a little bit of cheese on here.

This is feta cheese from Turner Farm.

>> TRAVERSO: Okay-- wow.

This is beautiful, but how would you describe how you style your food and what you want it to look like?

>> Well, we're working with such beautiful ingredients, I think that we really want those ingredients to shine.

You know, we don't want it to look too precious, we don't want it to look inedible, we want it to look like food.

>> TRAVERSO: So those are little baby herbs, right?

>> Yes, that's... those are little young herbs.

There's some dill, basil, amaranth.

>> TRAVERSO: And then these are edible flowers, I'm guessing?

>> This is an edible flower mix, yup.

>> TRAVERSO: That is so beautiful.

>> Yeah.

>> TRAVERSO: Well, I'd love to try a taste of this.

I'm going to pull in my little fork here.

>> Absolutely.

>> TRAVERSO: Mmm, oh, wow.

I love the sort of really zingy, sharp, salty feta playing off the acidity of the tomatoes and creaminess, it's just so good.

And the herbs really are so fragrant, it's so flavorful.

Well, thanks for inviting me into your kitchen, showing me this gorgeous salad, letting me have a sample of the farm produce, that was really wonderful.

>> Thanks for coming.

♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: For our last stop, we head south to beautiful Narragansett Bay, off the coast of Newport, Rhode Island.

We're here to meet with Captain Chris Papp, who's bring us out to the historic Rose Island Lighthouse.

>> WIESE: Hey, Chris.

>> NARRATOR: In the 19th century, hundreds of lighthouses dotted New England's coastline to guide ships through its often dangerous waters.

Today, Rose Island Lighthouse, which has earned several Best of New England awards from Yankee, is both a museum and, for adventurous visitors, a place to stay for the weekend.

>> 1869 is when the lighthouse was built.

Fall River Line was one of the main means of transportation between New York and Boston.

>> WIESE: You know, it's kind of hard to imagine, you know, when it's foggy and rainy, and you're out of the harbor trying to find your way back in.

Some of these rocks are pretty scary.

>> Yeah, you can go from 200 feet of water to rocks within a matter of feet.

The light and fog bell are vital for shipping, especially the second half of the 19th century.

♪ ♪ >> WIESE: This one right here?

>> Yeah, you can stay in it.

♪ ♪ (chuckling) >> WIESE: This is really neat.

>> Yeah.

>> WIESE: I'm very excited.

I like the idea of islands.

>> Oh, I'm so glad.

>> NARRATOR: Once on shore at Rose Island, Richard meets up with education director Cathy Horridge.

>> WIESE: So I've only walked about 100 yards of this place, and already I'm falling in love.

>> It is... >> WIESE: I haven't even been in the place.

>> It's magical.

You know, not many people actually get to put their feet on this island, but Richard, you're a lucky one.

>> WIESE: I'm so anxious to see the inside, because already my imagination is running wild.

>> Yeah, we've kept it real special.

♪ ♪ >> WIESE: This is so clever, what is this?

>> This is our rock garden.

When people stay overnight, we invite them to go and find a piece of slate and leave us a message.

>> WIESE: This is so funny.

There's a fish that says, "Swedish."

"Dear ocean, thank you for making us feel tiny, humble, inspired, and salty all at once."

I can't even believe it's going to get better from here.

>> Oh, let's go inside.

>> WIESE: Okay.

Am I being seduced, or being transported to another era?

>> Oh, we're walking into the year 1912.

♪ ♪ The reason that we picked that time was because Mr. and Mrs. Curtis-- I don't know if you can see them on the wall... >> WIESE: Yup.

>> They were this older couple.

They were our keepers, and they were here for the longest period of time, over 30 years.

Mrs. Curtis would use this kitchen area to cook, she had a little pantry here with a red hand pump in it.

And Mr. Curtis-- oh, my goodness.

He loved to whitewash.

So outside of us sits a circular area, it's called a bastion.

It's stacked stone, whitewashed.

>> WIESE: Unbelievable.

I love this little kitchen window.

I mean, this is the million-dollar view.

>> We had to do things as authentic as we could, so when you look out there, the glass is very distortive of what you're looking at.

>> WIESE: Okay.

>> The lighthouse is up this way, Richard.

>> WIESE: Okay, wow.

There are a lot of steps here.

>> And they get steeper.

♪ ♪ >> WIESE: This is truly spectacular.

>> Oh, what a day you chose to come, I'm so glad.

>> WIESE: All these sailboats coming through, the heritage of America's Cup.

You know, your imagination, you go back to the time when American and British here, and even further back to Native Americans.

>> So that's the Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge.

It was finished in 1969, and, if you've been here at night, you know it's lit up, it's spectacular.

Beautiful.

Lights up this whole area of the bay.

So they didn't need a lighthouse anymore.

So in 1971, they turned out the light and that became the navigational aid.

>> WIESE: But, you know, lighthouses are such a part of the character of New England, and I know you're trying to preserve that heritage, but to me, what lighthouses do is preserve the romance of this area.

>> Oh, we do.

We have a lot of couples that come out here for the romance.

Engagements, we have weddings out here.

It is... oh, my gosh, it's magical.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: Back in the test kitchen, Amy cooks up a cobbler made with real Maine blueberries.

>> TRAVERSO: You know, I love the food at Nebo Lodge so much.

They make this incredible peach cobbler there, but when I think of Maine, I think of wild blueberries.

They're a unique product to Maine and Canada, they only grow there.

So we're going to start with the topping.

Now, the topping is two cups of flour, and you'll see, this is so easy, truly anybody can make this dessert.

We've got a teaspoon and a half of baking powder, and a teaspoon of baking soda.

Then we've got a half teaspoon of table salt, and that is it.

There's no sugar in the topping.

With a cobbler, I kind of like a contrast between the savory top and the sweet filling.

And speaking of the filling, we're going to get started on that.

This whole thing comes together in just minutes.

So I've got six cups of frozen wild blueberries.

There we go, just spread them out.

And we've got half a cup of sugar.

I'm just going to sprinkle this on.

We've got a half a teaspoon of cinnamon, going to sprinkle that over there.

And then two and a half tablespoons of all-purpose flour.

This acts as the thickening agent, so it's not too watery when you cut into it.

With any blueberry dessert, I like to add a little bit of lemon, I think lemon and blueberries-- just a perfect combination.

So I want the zest and juice of half a lemon, so I'm going to take my zest and just sprinkle it over.

Okay, kind of sprinkle it.

That's going to go in with the blueberries.

So we just give that a little stir, doesn't have to be perfect.

So now we're going to finish making the topping.

Got the flour, the baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

So, we've got a stick of unsalted butter, and I'm just going to pour this in here.

I'm going to use a pastry cutter, you could also use two forks.

But you just want to cut this in.

Once the butter's sort of broken down, I like to use my fingers to mix it in.

I, of course, use clean hands, but I just kind of rub my fingers, and as you see, I'm creating these little flakes.

So there's just one more step to making the topping, and we're done.

Just a bit of buttermilk, about a cup and a third.

And you can kind of use just enough to get it to all come together.

That looks good to me.

So it's kind of soft and workable, you don't want any dry bits.

I'm going to take scoops of this biscuit mixture, and I'm going to just dollop it on top of the blueberries.

Now, as it cooks, it will spread out, it'll become more even than it looks right now.

Don't be afraid to just let it look raggy and shaggy.

And to give it a nice, shiny topping, I'm going to brush some buttermilk on there.

So this is just regular buttermilk, I'm just going to brush it on the top, dab it on.

All right, that's looking really good.

Okay, so I'm going to put this in my 375-degree oven.

And put it in the middle where the heat circulates well.

When you can start to smell whatever you're baking, it means it's getting close to being done, and you should start paying attention.

So I'm going to bring it over here and serve myself a little sample.

See how good it is.

Now, you see how easy this dish is.

Truly anybody can make it.

And it's like a little bit of Maine that you can bring home and taste in your own kitchen.

Okay, just one more little bit here.

Can't resist.

All right, that looks good.

Now, of course, with any cobbler, you've got to have a little scoop of ice cream, right?

♪ ♪ Perfect.

All right, so that's your classic Maine blueberry cobbler.

Ready to eat, perfect summer dessert, easy to make.

Let's have a taste.

Mmm.

I love how you have the savory topping, the sweet fruit, and then that creamy ice cream bringing it all together.

It's the perfect summer dessert.

For this and other recipes from the show, you can visit weekendswithyankee.com.

>> NARRATOR: For exclusive video, recipes, travel ideas, tips from the editors, and access to the Weekends With Yankee digital magazine, go to weekendswithyankee.com and follow us on social media, @yankeemagazine.

Yankee magazine, the inspiration for the television series, provides recipes, feature articles, and the best of New England from the people who know it best.

Six issues for $10.

Call 1-800-221-8154. Credit cards accepted.

>> Major funding provided by... ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> The Vermont Country Store, the purveyors of the practical and hard-to-find since 1946.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪