"Cape Cod bracelets are all over my TikTok For Your Page," Halie LeSavage, senior fashion and beauty news editor at Marie Claire, told me at a recent team meeting. In an office in midtown Manhattan, yet 250 miles from the Massachusetts peninsula where I grew up.

I was three years old when I received my first Cape Cod bracelet, a thin silver band fastened with a gold screwball clasp. It was a gift from my grandmother, who raised my mother on the Cape and lived there year-round. The bracelet stayed on my wrist throughout my sun-drenched childhood. When I eventually outgrew it, my mother repurposed the tiny child-sized bracelet into a key chain, which I still use today.

I never got my Cape Cod screwball bracelet again. It felt like a treasure from my youth that I didn't want to tarnish, and its coastal connotations didn't really fit the vibe of my Manhattan-based adulthood. Until this summer, I assumed that people outside of New England would have no idea what this bracelet was, and I was content for it to exist in my hometown bubble.

Victoria Avillard, a Massachusetts-born and Massachusetts-raised writer, released a TikTok in June that garnered 2 million views: "[The Cape Cod bracelet] is not only back, it has broken containment.

A tap on TikTok showed Rex Nicolator, a coastal grandma trendsetter, with 350,000 followers in tow, out shopping in Nantucket for a silver and gold screwball bracelet. And we found clips of women who "never set foot on the East Coast" buying trendy styles that cost as much as $35 on Amazon, and TikTok has officially cored it.

But like many of the platform's notable pieces, the background surrounding classic coastal styles was lacking. Most noticeably, as many commenters and other users pointed out, the truly authentic Cape Cod screwball bracelets were only available at a small, family-owned business called Eden Hand Arts in Dennis, Massachusetts (halfway up the Cape for those who use their arms as a map) It means they are only available at the boutique.

The story behind the bracelet's creation is sound indeed: In the 1960s, Eden's then-owner, John Carey, was puzzled when his wife and business partner, Eve, would lose her jewelry. As a solution, he designed what is now the distinctive 14k gold clasp screwball bracelet that never falls off unless the wearer keeps twisting it. This design is a registered trademark of Eden, and the Cape Cod bracelets are identified as authentic by the apple-shaped tag hanging from the hoop. Bracelets manufactured and sold by other boutiques and brands are copies or "dupes."

TikTok's discovery of the Cape Cod screwball bracelet (aka Dennis bracelet) was not its first mainstream moment: in the late 90s, local Cape Codder, actress Amy Jo Johnson, in the drama "Felicity" wore a screwball bracelet and its popularity skyrocketed. (As an incredibly classic Cape Twist, my father grew up across the street from Johnson and remembers playing with her in the front yard.) In 2010, Chris Lambton, a contestant from Dennis on Season 6 of The Bachelorette, wore a silver and gold screwball with that season's peak came when he presented it to star Ali Fedotowsky. (Lambton did not win Fedotowsky's heart, but he did finish second.)

The important detail about Eden Hand Arts, however, is that at their core they are the antithesis of what it means to go viral. Instead, they are notoriously, almost ridiculously exclusive, and their stores are far from the spotlight.

Eden only accepts cash or checks (bracelets start at about $250, with prices going up depending on size and style) and has almost no Internet presence. It is almost impossible to contact them (Eden did not respond to my voicemails twice and emails three times). After the "Bachelorette" boom, Rachel Carrie Harper, the store's current owner and daughter of John and Eve Harper, told the Boston Herald, "I think it's a great idea. This only makes our lives more complicated." Currently, visitors must reserve tickets online in advance to visit the store, but even then, there is no guarantee that they will get a piece, as all jewelry is handcrafted in limited quantities and custom-fitted to each wrist.

"But that specialness is part of the fun," says my sister. She gets her ticket and waits in the long line at the Dennis boutique to get her hands on a classic screwball bracelet in silver and gold. A family friend who has five bracelets says she has visited Eden Hand Arts at least 15 times since she was a young teenager. As any local Cape Codder or tourist will tell you, it's a rite of passage.

As I looked at the new wave of Cape Cod bracelets, I realized something: I need to go to Eden again and replace the children's one that used to hold my mother's house key.

My sister got tickets for my mother and me in early July. After a bellyful of lobster rolls, the three of us arrived at Eden at the appointed time. Nervously waiting in line, watching as a family of four was nearly turned away due to a ticket malfunction, we were eventually ushered inside.

We asked for three classic silver and gold screwball bracelets. She confirmed that "a lot of young women are coming to Eden this year because of the Instagram and TikTok craze," but the store adheres to its traditional insular practices. To the chagrin of content creators, cell phones and cameras are not allowed in the store. Eden has not let its newfound social media stardom affect its business.

Twisting the shiny silver band onto my wrist, my mother pulled the key chain from my bracelet and compared my old one to the new one. Emily did the same with the Eden bracelet she had received when she was four years old, and gave it to my niece on her sixteenth birthday. I left the store feeling a new bond with my mother, my sister, and even Emily.

Nicolleta, the mother of the grandmothers along the coast, felt the same way after her first purchase. She said, "These bracelets have created a sisterhood of women on the East Coast. In my videos, I get comments like, 'I haven't taken it off in 20 years.'" Whether you're a native Cape Codder, a seasonal tourist, or a novice who discovered the style on TikTok, you're all connected by the same silver string and golden screwballs.

The seaside signature doesn't exactly mesh with my current Manhattanite wardrobe, but I'll never take off my new bracelet. It is a small piece of the Cape that I want to have on hand at all times. When I look at my wrist as I walk down a soot-covered New York City sidewalk or wait on a crowded subway platform for a train that may not come, I am temporarily back home, the sun on my shoulders, the sea breeze on my face.

I cannot in good conscience introduce you to non-branded Cape Cod bracelets. What I can do, however, is put together similar silver, gold, and mixed-metal styles to tide you over until you can stop by Eden in person.