CHATHAM — They're among the first seasonal residents to arrive each year, and they're a fixture on the local waterfront until fall arrives. Ospreys are a familiar, often beloved part of the local landscape. So when utility crews removed an osprey nest from a utility pole off Morris Island Road earlier this month, it left a number of neighborhood residents concerned and angry. In an email copied to The Chroni...

CHATHAM – Seth Rolbein, a long-time Cape journalist and former senior advisor to Cape and Islands Senator Dan Wolf, was named director of the Cape Cod Fisheries Trust last week. Rolbein will work with the trust's current director, Paul Parker, through the end of the year, when Parker will head up a new organization that will seek to bring the trust's model of community ownership and management of fishing quota...

CHATHAM – Despite the theft of four of the 43 sharks in the park – one of which has yet to be recovered – an auction of the whimsical sculptures exceeded last year's total by nearly $8,000. The online auction, which ended last Friday, earned $50,079, half of which goes to the sponsor, the Chatham Merchants Association, and half to the individual artists whose work attracted thousands to the downtown display ov...

CHATHAM – Planned improvements at Old Mill Boatyard have been scaled back after bids for the work came in above the available funding for the project. The most significant element of the work – replacement of the bulkhead at the town-owned Stage Harbor facility – remain in new bid documents issued last week. Other items have been removed and a few included as alternatives which could be added into the project ...

William Shakespeare had a connection to Chatham. Sort of. That’s according to Bernard Cornwell of Chatham, the internationally best-selling author of nearly 60 novels, including the televised Sharpe series and the recent Lost Kingdom series. Cornwell, 72, spoke for 60 minutes last Sunday in the Eldredge Public Library during the annual meeting of the Chatham Historical Society. His topic was “Shakespeare’s ...

CHATHAM – Petite quahogs are off the menu, at least in Massachusetts. The state marine fisheries advisory commission has removed quahogs from a draft regulation that proposed allowing the in-state sale of undersized farm-raised oysters, surf clams and quahogs. Removing so-called “petite” or “gem” quahogs from the proposal was endorsed by Division of Marine Fisheries Director David Pierce and came at the strong...

WEST CHATHAM — Having just raised two of the walls for his new Habitat home, elbow to elbow with volunteers he'd only just met, Jean-Claude Butter said there aren't many words to describe the feeling. “It's a great experience, like seeing the birth of your child,” he said. Butter, his wife and three children came to Chatham from Haiti in 2012 and have been living in rented quarters. The prospect of living in...

CHATHAM – On a recent sunny morning, Harwich summer resident Deborah Cline was walking the loop in Chatham with her husband when she spotted a structure that resembles, from certain angles, a big bird house on a white post on the corner of Main and Water Streets. Intrigued, Cline paused to examine Enlow Free Library, two shelves of free books that tantalize from behind a glass door. Intrigued, Cline pulled out...

CHATHAM – Monomoy Regional School Committee member Amy Middleton is stepping down from the regional education panel. In announcing her resignation this week, Middleton said restrictions placed on school committee members limited her effectiveness as a representative of the community and, perhaps more importantly, as a parent. “It pains me to do it because I really felt like I could make a difference,” she s...

CHATHAM – The shark sculptures on the lawn of the Eldredge Public Library have once again proven too tempting; two were stolen earlier this week, but unlike one taken a few weeks ago, both were recovered. Sharks sponsored by Cape Cod Five and Ducks in the Window were taken down sometime during the night on Sunday or early Monday morning, according to Janice Rogers, who oversees the Sharks in the Park project f...

CHATHAM – The sighting of an injured and bleeding seal, apparently a recent victim of a shark attack, prompted the closure of Lighthouse Beach to swimming on Sunday. The beach was closed for about two hours while harbor patrol and park department staff searched the waters immediately adjacent to the popular beach. Harbormaster Stuart Smith said the seal was later seen along the shore, apparently alive but with...

Twenty-five years ago tomorrow, Hurricane Bob sped across Southeast Massachusetts, causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage and shattering a peaceful Cape Cod summer. Winds gusted to 98 mph in Harwich and 115 mph at Stage Harbor from the Category 3 storm, trashing the boats in area harbors, downing countless trees and leaving more than 300,000 Cape and Islands residents without power. Still, owing ...