New Visitor Center Opens For Monomoy Refuge – And Beyond

CHATHAM – After the Morris Island visitors center was demolished in April 2024 as erosion cut into the nearby coastal bank, the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge went for more than two years without a public facility other than “Fred’s Shed,” literally a shed where Friends of Monomoy volunteers greet visitors to what was left of the Morris Island property. 

Now refuge officials are ready to open the doors to a new visitor center at 791 Main St., across from the post office. While the facility serves as a spot for visitors to learn all about the refuge off the town’s southern shore — which hosts the largest tern breeding colony on the eastern seaboard — it also has a new, unique function: it is the first visitor center for the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, an area of incredible biodiversity located 130 miles east of Chatham at the edge of Georges Bank.

Established in 2016 by President Barack Obama, the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument is one of five Marine National Monuments that are part of the National Wildlife Refuge system. It’s the only one in the Atlantic Ocean, and at 3.1 million acres it’s the size of Connecticut, according to Superintendent Patrick Moffett.

 “It’s an absolutely fascinating place,” he said, where the Gulf Stream, Arctic currents and the Continental Shelf meet to create an upwelling phenomenon that results in incredible biodiversity.

 The Monomoy refuge, where summer staff members have set up camp to monitor the terns, plovers and other shorebirds who nest there, is only reachable by boat, and most people never make it out to view its unique ecosystem. The Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument is even more remote. By making it part of the Monomoy Refuge visitors center, officials hope to educate the public about the value and importance of both, said Moffett.

 And there is a connection. A seal tagged on Monomoy by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was recently tracked to the canyons that make up the monument area.

 “That’s a long way,” he noted. 

 Grace Bottitta-Williamson, project leader of the Eastern Massachusetts National Wildlife Refuge Complex, which includes Monomoy, noted that the visitors center has always been located away from the main portion of the more than 7,000-acre offshore refuge. The Morris Island portion of the refuge where the visitor center was previously located was just a few acres, most of which has now been eaten away by erosion, although a series of trails are located a short walk away and remain open to the public. Being on Chatham’s Main Street provides a higher profile.

 “We’re trying to take advantage of downtown Chatham,” she said. “We’ll be in touch with more people [at the Main Street facility] and we can also direct people” to Morris Island. But they are “starting small,” she added. There’s still work to be done on outdoor displays at the front entrance, and the refuge is also trying to find a place to store its vessels; there’s not enough land at the Main Street property.

 The visitor center had a “soft” opening during the town’s Christmas by the Sea celebration, but is now ready for regular visits by the public, said Bottitta-Williamson.

The U.S. Department of the Interior purchased the Main Street property for $3,255,000 in March 2025. At the main entrance to the 2,982-square foot building is the visitor center, which features displays about the refuge and the Marine National Monument, many of them rescued from the previous visitor center on Morris Island as well as the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge in Sudbury, which, like Monomoy, is part of the Eastern Massachusetts National Wildlife Refuge Complex. The building also includes office space and living space for up to eight staff members. There are only two public parking spaces available; Bottitta-Williamson said visitors are asked to park in nearby public parking areas on Post Office Road or Veterans Field Road.

 Currently a sandwich sign in front of the visitor center announces when it is open. New signs are being made, Bottitta-Williamson said, and regular hours will be established as more volunteers are recruited to staff the center.

 “I’m sure we’ll encounter some bumps and problems along the way,” she said.