Why is it called The Map House?

Wellfleet is a fishing town and during it’s evolution, life depended on maps. As do tourists. We chose as a decorating theme to collect different interesting and beautiful maps of the Cape, which you’ll find hanging on walls throughout. From topographical and oceanographic maps to art deco renderings, shipwreck maps, and vintage postcards.

Is the house walking distance to water?

We are a 20 minute walk to our favorite pond, Duck Pond, down a road, past an Alpaca farm, down a dirt path, and to the least crowded, most serene freshwater beach in town. We’re a mile and a half or so from Bay and Ocean beaches, which is a heartier walk than we like, but a pretty quick bike ride or drive.

When does your rental week start?

During the summer season through October, we are a Saturday to Saturday rental week. In May, we run Thursday to Thursday so that the guests who stay during Memorial Day week can have the whole weekend. Saturday starts begin the first Saturday after Memorial Day.

Do you allow pets?

Dogs yes. See the Dog-specific FAQ in the navigation.

Do you really sleep 10?

There are three bedrooms. The downstairs has a queen bed. The two upstairs bedrooms each have a queen and two twins. So, yes, there is space for 10. Most of our guests are families, so it’s all about arranging the right mix of sleeping quarters for the adults and kids. Most of our parties are fewer than 10 adults, though parties of 10 adults have certainly enjoyed themselves.

Can I get a sense of everything in the house and any rules you have?

Of course. We have prepared a comprehensive guidebook for the house, which you can download here. The guidebook contains everything you could need to know as well as information on local attractions, restaurants, and things to do. It’s long — Matt used to write software documentation and long ago learned that it’s better to confuse people with too much information than confuse them with too little.

What is there to do around Wellfleet?

Oh, boy. In the last several pages of the guidebook you can download above there are lists of restaurants, beaches, outdoor activities, indoor activities, rainy day activities. Among our favorites are taking in a Cape Cod Baseball League game (a large percentage of major leaguers spent time in the CCBL), sipping an apres beach cocktail at the Beachcomber, seeing a play at the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, biking the dune trail at Provincelands, nature walks at the Audubon Society, and wow… so much more.

Is Wellfleet good for kids?

Matt’s family started bringing him and his younger brother here when Matt was four. Milo’s first trip here was at one. The Drive-In is a fantastic family activity, there’s mini-golf, Milo’s absolute favorite rainy day activity was visiting the Cape Cod Potato Chip factory (not in Wellfleet, but still). The ponds are a great place for pre-swimmers, the Red Cross conducts morning swim lessons at Gull Pond, there’s an awesome playground across from Mayo Beach. Teens often like to transition to the Ocean by way of the Bay.

We’d like to speak before renting? Is that possible?

Not only possible, but preferable. Since this is a home and not a hotel, we care very much that we get to know the people renting — not in an awkward B&B way, but we want to make sure this is the right house for your vacation. Please shoot us an email and we’ll arrange a call.

I see you have an EV charger. What kind and is there a fee?

We have a Chargepoint Level 2 EV charger with a standard J1722 port. This fits most electric and plug-in hybrids except Teslas. We have an adapter that will allow Tesla owners to use the charger. We do charge a reasonable fee ($100/week) for it’s use, but our goal is to neither make nor lose money providing EV charging—we want to encourage sustainability so that the climate change that has already taken a toll on the Cape doesn’t get worse. There is also a pay as you go L2 charger at Town Hall and a Tesla Supercharger in Orleans.

What other “green” amenities do you have?

The Map House is largely powered by a 9kW solar array and is outfitted with EnergyStar appliances and LED light bulbs in most places. MASS Saves, the energy auditing program, audited the house, blew an extra 12” of insulation into the attic, and tested for weather-tightness. We provide eco-friendly soaps, laundry detergent, and paper products. There is a whole-home water filter, so you are even showering in filtered water from the well on our property. In addition, we don’t use pesticides around the house, plant native grasses to give shelter to pollinators, and try our best to conserve this fragile ecosystem. Matt wants to place a bat house on the property to naturally eliminate ticks and mosquitos from the neighborhood, but Marie is freaked out by bats. We are as green as we can be without having built the house ourselves. In fact, we appear on a list of 20 featured green homes on Cape Cod.

Speaking of green, what’s the cannabis situation?

Wellfleet has 3 dispensaries, there are at least three more up in Provincetown, and there’s one in Eastham. We are agnostic about cannabis use as long as it’s limited to guests above the legal age. The Map House does not allow smoking of anything indoors and we ask that you keep fragrant “flower” outside the house so the next guest doesn’t have to explain the aroma to her young child. Have fun, be responsible, don’t walk through a screen door.

Do you rent for the whole season or year?

From mid-April through October, the Map House is only available weekly and for a maximum of two weeks. We will consider a long off-season stay between November 1 and March 31. We do not rent for the full year.

You don’t provide linens and towels — why not and what can I do?

Because of the turnaround time between guests leaving Saturday morning and guests arriving Saturday afternoon, there is no time for our cleaner to do sheets and towels. All our beds are standard size Queen (3) and Twin (4), so your linens will almost certainly fit our beds. If you would prefer to rent, there is a rental service in Wellfleet that will drop off and pick up whatever you need.

Is there disabled access?

While there is a bedroom on the first floor, unfortunately there is no access to the house that doesn’t involve stairs.

I might have to work while there. How is the wifi?

First of all, we’re sorry you might have to work while here. But we do have Gigabit service to the house and blazing fast WiFi covering the whole house, Game Room, and much of the outside. This is the strongest internet plan available through XFinity in Wellfleet and is capable of multiple Zoom calls, 4k video, and streaming music all at once.

Are there security cameras on premises?

We have security cameras over the driveway. These are necessary for us to manage the house remotely. They are used to ensure check-in/out compliance, see when cleaners and other service people arrive, and for general security purposes. They only look out over the driveway and they do not record sound. There is also a camera in the attic, which is off limits to guests — we’re happy to tell you the story of why we have to have a camera in the unfinished attic, but for now let’s just say that teenagers sometimes mistake themselves for funny and you might notice the faint remains of a patch job in a ceiling where a foot went through. None record sound.

Are there any additional fees?

There is a State-mandated short term rental tax of 14.45%. We can’t negotiate over this without breaking the law, so please don’t ask. It doesn’t apply to winter guests staying longer than a month. We charge a cleaning fee of $225. If you stay for more than one week, you will only be charged the cleaning fee once. If you stay for several months during the winter, we will ask you to hire our cleaner once a month. If you want to use our EV changer, that’s a $100/week fee for unlimited charging of one EV (for month+ stays in the winter, you’ll pay for the utilities so there is no extra fee for the charger). We charge a damage deposit of $1,200, which is fully refundable assuming you leave the place in good condition.