by Fred Bennett, transcribed and edited by Doreen Leggett (Captain Fred Bennett, a Chatham stalwart, has seen a lot, done a lot, and caught a lot of fish. Now 82 years old, we asked him to take a look back and inform us as to what fishing life and times were like around here half a century ago. Here is his tale.) In 1964, I started work at Ryder’s Cove Boatyard as a marine mechanic. Observing a few f...

CHATHAM – William Marsh, owner of Eastward Companies, has offered to donate to the town the two parcels of land in West Chatham which have been identified as a site for a new senior center. A special town meeting will be held tomorrow (Saturday, Jan. 4) to vote on acquisition of the land at 1610 Main St. Marsh and the town had agreed on a $750,000 price for the property. But at a meeting with Town Manager Ji...

Thousands said goodbye to 2019 and welcomed the new decade during the town's First Night celebration Tuesday. The Beatles tribute band Studio Two played to a full house at Chatham Elementary School. TIM WOOD PHOTO Beginning with the town photograph at Chatham Light at noon, the festivities encompassed everyth...

CHATHAM – The board of selectmen will do everything within its power to convince the Coast Guard not to remove the buoy marking the entrance to Chatham Harbor. Officials have already been in contact with Senator Elizabeth Warren's office to enlist her help and last week voted agreed to write to Coast Guard brass to stress the need to retain the navigational marker. Selectmen also plan to ask neighboring towns ...

CHATHAM – Todd Hearle, the investor with local ties who purchased the Chatham Squire in May, has added another iconic business to his portfolio. Hearle's Captain's House Operating LLC purchased the Captain's House Inn at 369 Old Harbor Rd. Dec. 17 from James and Jill Meyer, who had operated the historic complex centered around an 1839 Hiram Harding House since 2006. The Barnstable County Registry of Deeds list...

CHATHAM – Voters at Saturday's special town meeting will be asked to endorse a site for a new senior center for the second time in less than a year. Last May, town meeting rejected building a $6.6 million center to house council on aging programs on town-owned land off Middle Road. At the Jan. 4 meeting, which takes place at 1 p.m. at Monomoy Middle School on Crowell Road, voters will be asked to set aside $75...

CHATHAM – The iconic Chatham Fish Pier Market, founded more than half a century ago by Willard Nickerson, has been sold. Steven Gennodie, who owns a fish processing company on the Boston Fish Pier and two retail fish markets on the South Shore, purchased the fish market and take-out eatery adjacent to the town's fish pier last month from Andy Baler for $1.2 million. Gennodie said most of the market's staff ...

CHATHAM – Negativity and hope competed for attention in town during 2019. Voters turned down a new senior center, but hope remained that a new location would be approved; an ugly fight developed over a new master plan for the airport, with accusations about conflicts and insensitivity flying faster than a falling skydiver; extreme weather struck but the response was immediate and competent; failure to complete...

Funds Help Young Working Families CHATHAM — When it comes to meeting the high cost of living on Cape Cod, the expense of preschool and after-school child care is a big challenge for young working families. For several years, Chatham’s human services committee has funded a childcare voucher program, and in light of increased demand, town officials are expected to expand the program slightly in the next town bud...

SOUTH HARWICH — When the public park at Ryder’s Cove is finally built, there will be two comfortable places for visitors to stop and reflect, thanks to the volunteer woodworkers of the Chatham-Harwich Newcomers Club. The men are putting the finishing touches on two custom-made mahogany benches to be installed once the park is ready. Earlier this year, town meeting appropriated $79,000 to clear invasive species...

CHATHAM — The U.S. Coast Guard will soon be removing the “C” buoy, the main offshore navigational aid marking Chatham Harbor. And that’s raising a red flag with local mariners. Updating the waterways advisory committee last week, Harbormaster Stuart Smith said the Coast Guard published the decision in the lengthy Notice to Mariners, but no one took notice until he received a call from the chief of the cutter a...

CHATHAM – In 1985, artist Debbie Hearle and her husband Ron took a chance and bought an 1850s-era building at 488 Main St. and opened a gallery. They'd never operated one before, but felt the opportunity was just too good to pass up. “We teamed up to do it,” Debbie Hearle said, adding that their two boys, pre-teens at the time, also pitched in. Thirty-five years later, the Hearle Gallery is a Main Street ma...