CHATHAM – For the second time in less than three years, a group of residents has formally appealed the conservation commission's approval of a revetment along the town's eastern shoreline. Ten residents, including former conservation commission members and the town's former conservation agent, objected to the approval of a 40-foot rock wall at 602 Old Harbor Rd., an extension of a previously approved 140-foot ...

CHATHAM – A number of white sharks cruising around Cape waters are sporting not just one but two tags, which is expected to add significantly to the body of knowledge about the area's most notorious summer visitors. Along with acoustic tags that record a shark's movement when it passes by receivers deployed in waters throughout the region, Dr. Greg Skomal of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries has b...

CHATHAM – Looking for a house in Chatham? There's a nice three-bedroom, post-and-beam Cape available, and the price is pretty reasonable. In fact, you can have the house for nothing; you just have to have someplace to put it. At a time when historic homes are disappearing as new owners clear lots for new, more modern structures, it's unusual for an owner of a more contemporary home to offer it up for free, ...

CHATHAM — Using a low-tech approach, contractors may have fixed the sticky Mitchell River drawbridge. The bridge, which has a timber superstructure, periodically did not close completely, and engineers speculated that the problem was related to the wood swelling during humid or wet weather. Last Wednesday, the contractor shaved away some of the timber on the fixed portion of the bridge where it abuts the mov...

CHATHAM – A crowd gathered Sunday morning on the front lawn of the First United Methodist Church to witness the rededication of the facade of the historic downtown building. Pastor Barbara Kszystyniak blessed and dedicated the newly renovated front of the building “to the glory of God, the people of Chatham and people of faith.” The crowning achievement of a multi-year restoration, renovation and preservati...

It's no secret that housing is a problem both locally and Cape-wide. The hot market for seasonal homes has driven costs beyond what's affordable for most working people, and the supply of modest, reasonably priced homes is woefully inadequate. Specifically targeting the need for affordable – and livable – year-round homes for working people, Cape Cod Young Professionals, in partnership with the Cape Cod and Is...

CHATHAM — At some point in the future, Lower Cape residents and policymakers will be engaged in a very difficult debate. With rising sea levels, key roads like Route 28 – and entire neighborhoods – may need to be relocated away from the encroaching waves. And that debate will need to be informed by extremely reliable, detailed data. To that end, federal officials are planning to install a state-of-the-art tide...

New Book Profiles 139 Local Residents What makes a Cape Codder? A new book, “I Am of Cape Cod: People and Their Stories,” sets out to answer that question. From Native American Wampanoags to 12 th generation descendants of colonists to recent washashores, 139 people across the Cape tell their stories using what author Anne LeClaire of South Chatham calls, in her introduction, “a collage of voices.” The ...

CHATHAM – For years, downtown merchants worked to lure pedestrians to the east end of the Main Street business district, lobbying the town for crosswalks and an extension of the sidewalk on the north side of the road and holding special promotions to highlight shops in the area. Slowly the improvements came, with the January approval of the town's purchase of the Eldredge Garage property for parking at the eas...

CHATHAM – It's been 13 years since Lynne Fletcher O'Brien started Pantry Partners. With the help of local summer real estate rental companies, the program continues to collect leftover food from summer visitors to help stock the shelves at the Chatham Food Pantry. The idea behind Pantry Partners is deceptively simple. When people leave their short-term summer rentals, ask them to drop off unopened food or pape...

CHATHAM — Gov. Charlie Baker last week received some tangible evidence that many local residents and visitors oppose the federal taking of more than 3,000 acres of state-owned tidal flats and submerged lands west of the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge. Baker's office received a petition with 1,013 signatures urging him to actively support H.R. 1157, a bill introduced by Congressman William Keating, D–9 th ...

CHATHAM – Hoping to send a message to would-be thieves and pranksters, officials this week filed charges against a 21-year-old man who allegedly stole one of the sharks from the Sharks in the Park art exhibit. On Monday, police charged Kevin J. Martin of Bellingham with wanton destruction of property, a misdemeanor, after an incident in the early morning hours of July 4 that saw the allegedly stolen shark reco...