Falmouth, Mass. is flanked by sound and sea. It sits on a short sag of a peninsula at the south end of the Cape’s limb-like reach into the Atlantic, bounded by the Nantucket and Vineyard Sounds to the south and Buzzards Bay to the west. The summertime population swells to 100,000, but by November that drops by 70%

We’re heading into ‘low’ season on the Cape. Summer is long over; fall isn’t quite the novelty is was a few weeks ago, and beach towns in general can sometimes feel a bit uncanny out of season. As a visitor at least, there’s a sense that you’re not seeing these places at the peak of their powers.

But there are other powers at work. Fall in Falmouth strips away the sunny-day veneer of the Cape. It shows the real rhythms and beauty of this chain of interlocking sea towns running up the coast: the ferries keep running, the locals cautiously emerge for breakfast, and the blare and noise of of it all cools with the air. Head down to nearby Woods Hole, and it’s quiet enough that you can hear the masts knocking together in the harbor.

Low has its own heights in Falmouth. When it’s cold and clear, you can cinch up your hood and make out the low lines of Martha’s Vineyard across the water. You can trawl Main Street shops without squeezing sideways through aisles and toppling conch shells. You can watch the sweep of the Nobska Lighthouse beacon at night, and look for the disembodied blinks of ship lights. And feel like you were really here.