About 20 years ago, my husband and I went to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. He was teaching a diving class, which left me with the kind of glorious solo beach days that readers dream about — lounging by clear, turquoise water with two novels tucked into my tote. It was bliss ... for a little while.
A few days in, I finished both books and went looking for more. The hotel gift shop had sunscreen and aspirin, magazines and puzzle books. The shops in town had beautiful jewelry, breezy women’s wear, and endless bottles of rum. What they did not have was a bookstore, or even a spinning-rack of paperbacks tucked away in a corner. I spent the rest of the trip flipping through magazines and promising myself I would never again end up book-less at the beach.
Now I love choosing beach towns where there’s an indie bookstore close enough to rescue me the minute I finish a novel too fast. If you’re like me and never want to run out of reading material, here are four east coast beach towns worth building a getaway around.
Chatham, Massachusetts
If you’ve ever dreamed of living in a coastal-town version of Gilmore Girls’ Stars Hollow, Chatham on Cape Cod, needs to be on your bucket list. With hydrangeas spilling over white picket fences, weathered shingle houses, sailboats bobbing in the harbor, and evenings cool enough for a sweater over your sundress, you’ll never want to leave. It has that polished, nostalgic Cape magic that makes you feel like you’ve wandered straight into a Nancy Thayer novel.
Where the Sidewalk Ends is exactly the bookstore you’d expect to find in a town this charming: a mother-daughter-owned shop tucked inside a welcoming two-story antique barn, with the kind of warmth that makes you feel like a member of the family. The Children’s Annex, covered deck, and cozy spots for coffee and browsing make it the kind of vacation place you’d pop in to grab the new Emily Henry novel and wind up browsing for an hour.
