Wellfleet cottage is 'so totally at the beach'

50 Ocean View Drive, South Wellfleet
Price $549,000
Style Contemporary
Built circa 1958
Square feet 484
Rooms 4
Bedrooms 2
Baths 1
Sewer Septic
surfsidevacation.com

WELLFLEET -- People interested in renting this South Wellfleet cottage usually have the same question: how far is it to the beach? The distance is measured not in yards or miles, but paces -- about 250 steps.

"It's so totally at the beach, it's ridiculous," said owner Kevin Harper. "You go over the dune and down the path and you're there."

Located within the Cape Cod National Seashore, the cottage is one of 18 at Surf Side Cottages, a colony built in the 1950s. This particular cottage, the Beachcomber, is nestled amid scrub pine, lending it a bit of nature's air conditioning and privacy. The boxy, modern design outside contrasts with the traditional knotty-pine camp décor inside. An open floor plan keeps the small space from feeling cramped. Entering through the porch and into the living room, there's a fireplace on the left, the kitchen at the back, and the bedrooms off to the right. An outdoor shower, an 8-by-12-foot screened porch, and a picnic area augment the tiny living space.

The cottages are condominiums. When the Seashore was created in 1961, the then-owners of Surf Side were granted a certificate that allowed the colony to continue operating as a business, in exchange for agreeing to a requirement that the cottages must be rented to vacationers for an unspecified period of time. Town zoning, however, prevents the cottages from being expanded.

"They wanted people to be able to come and enjoy the National Seashore," said Marcia Sexton , who owned Surf Side before the condo conversion.

The Beachcomber is one of the highest income-generating cottages at Surf Side, grossing about $34,000 last year. It rents for $1,850 a week in the summer, $1,000 a week in the fall, and $875 in spring, according to Sexton. Because of its proximity to LeCount Hollow Beach, its one of the first to rent. That location allows you to run back to the house if you've forgotten something, or even send the kids back alone to get something to eat or use the bathroom, Harper said.

Listing broker John Duane of Down Cape Realty in Wellfleet plans an Open House Saturday from noon to 2 p.m.

VANESSA PARKS