CHATHAM – Demolition of the historic Stage Harbor Coast Guard boathouse, scheduled for Monday, has been put on hold. Officials in Hull, where the structure has been for more than a year, agreed to hold off on enforcement orders requiring the removal of the boathouse from a shorefront property by Jan. 1. Earlier this week it appeared that the boathouse, built in 1936 and once sheltered the historic CG36500 G...

CHATHAM – Nancy Ryder Petrus had no misgivings about getting the COVID-19 vaccine. “I'm 100 percent positive,” she said. “At my age, I'll take my chances.” On Tuesday, a team of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians took over the dining hall at the Victorian Assisted Living facility in North Chatham and set up check-in and inoculation stations so residents and staff could receive the vaccine. Along with the ...

CHATHAM — It’s more than a COVID-safe way to celebrate New Year’s Eve. This year, First Night Chatham is a tribute to ingenuity. For public health reasons, the town’s traditional family-friendly New Year’s party couldn’t happen as usual this year, but First Night volunteers and the artists they celebrate found some creative ways to provide at least a sampling of the usual festivities. To help set the scen...

CHATHAM – There's no escaping the pall the COVID-19 pandemic cast over everything during 2020. Despite a relatively low number of positive cases, Chatham did not escape the impact, economically, socially and politically. Main Street was shut down for weeks, events and celebrations were canceled, and schools went remote as officials wrestled with how to keep residents safe without rending the fabric of the comm...

CHATHAM – The historic Stage Harbor Coast Guard boathouse may not make it off the shore in Hull, where it has been sitting derelict for more than a year. David Doherty, who spearheaded the effort to bring the boathouse back to Chatham, said he was informed late Tuesday by the attorney for the structure's current owners that an agreement to purchase the building was off and that his deposit check would be retur...

ORLEANS – The COVID-19 pandemic is altering First Night Chatham, but it isn’t stopping the Lower Cape Figure Skating Association from holding its annual Holidays on Ice show at the Charles Moore Arena in Orleans.   However, this year’s show will look a little different — it’s going to be a virtual event featuring masked participants.   Forty-three figure skaters ranging from ages 6 to 17 participated ...

To honor 'Hidden Wound' Veterans HARWICH — The Route 137 bridge over Route 6 could take on another purpose than just carrying vehicles over the state highway. An eighth grade civics class at Monomoy Regional High School wants to have the bridge honor veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and other lingering effects of their service. The state Senate is weighing that idea now. The idea was s...

Baker Launches Small Business Relief Effort HARWICH PORT — Outer Cape Health Services is now providing COVID-19 testing for asymptomatic people at its Harwich Port health center. Appointments are required to receive a test; to reserve a space, call 508-905-2888. Tests are also available at Outer Cape Health Services’ sites in Wellfleet and Provincetown. Asymptomatic people will receive an Abbott BinaxN...

We're finally at the end of 2020, a year that has been challenging at best. Despite a pandemic and all of the complications that came with it, the Helping Neighbors Campaign hasn't merely met its goal to raise $65,000 for hungry individuals and families on Cape Cod. It sailed on past it and raised an incredible $85,010 and still counting. With so many in our community experiencing job loss, housing insecurity ...

HARWICH — Looking back to 2019 and the tornado that cut through Harwich Center that July, the sense was abnormal events couldn’t get much more bizarre. That was quickly set aside in 2020 when the coronavirus made its way to our shoreline, disrupting every aspect of normal life. In early March, the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed on Cape Cod. By March 10 the pandemic was taking hold across the state and Go...

HARWICH — Restaurants are struggling to make ends meet. With the latest announcement from Gov. Charlie Baker limiting seating capacity to 25 percent, there seem to be two decisions being made: shut down for the winter or recreate yourself. How does a restaurant recreate itself in winter on Cape Cod.? One answer is igloos. If anyone has driven by Jake Rooney’s restaurant on the curve on Route 28 separating H...

ORLEANS – One of the crown jewels of the Lower Cape will now shine even brighter. On Monday, Orleans Firebirds president Bob O’Donnell presented Orleans Select Board Chair Kevin Galligan and Department of Public Works Facilities Manager Ron Collins with a $40,000 check to offset the town’s costs to fully recondition the lights at Eldredge Park, the Cape Cod Baseball League’s oldest field. The Firebird...

In the days before the ongoing pandemic reached Cape Cod's shores, if you swung by the Hot Chocolate Sparrow on a sunny afternoon when the weather was warm, you'd likely find Roger Boucher working in one of his sketchbooks. A closer look, however, reveals impressively detailed drawings that could easily find their way into a local gallery. Boucher, an Orleans native, has been drawing since he was a little boy,...

After the wind and rain of a winter storm, the beach was quiet and empty. Seaweed and seashells had been tossed about and gulls in dull winter plumage watched me warily from their spots on the upper beach as they waited for the tide to turn. There wasn’t a sound except the slush of the waves against the sand. The sky was full of fat clouds tinged with lavender and the raw, damp cold seeped in though every openi...

As of Monday, more than 330,000 Americans had died of COVID-19. That's more than one in 1,000 citizens and more than twice the number of deaths as India, a country with a population of 1.3 billion. That is beyond tragic; it is unimaginable and unforgivable. As we look back at those we lost during 2020, that number looms over everything. Locally we have escaped a high death toll from the novel coronavirus, but ...

Applaud Ban On Nip Bottles Editor: I think the last thing that folks want, who drink and drive, is to be caught driving impaired with an open container in their car. Nips provide a convenient way for so many drivers to avoid that. I applaud those communities on the Cape who recognize that and have instituted a ban on the sale of nips. Let's hope Harwich joins them. Karen Goggins  East Harwich   ...