HARWICH — Selectmen made it clear Monday night they support a referral of the Captains’ Row area of West Harwich to the Cape Cod Commission as a district of critical planning concern, but they held off requesting a pending a recommendation from the planning board. Residents of the area have come together in support of protecting the historic structures, many built by 19 th Century sea captains, along a stretc...

HARWICH — There is a new watercolor exhibit at the cultural center focusing on a dozen of the historic structures along Captains’ Row in West Harwich. There has been a major effort by residents of the West Harwich area to protect the historic character of the neighborhood, which was established by sea captains, ship builders and merchants. This summer the Harwich Historical Society has a Captains’ Row exhibit ...

HARWICH/COTUIT – After a stellar playoff run that earned them the East Division championship, the Harwich Mariners bid a bittersweet farewell to Cape Cod last weekend after falling in the finals to Cotuit. It was a summer of tenacity for the 2019 Mariners, who, after a bumpy start, found themselves battling their way out of the bottom of the East Division, doing so just in time to make the playoffs, where they...

CHATHAM – It's been almost 10 years since Chatham High School graduate Ken Owens died in a skydiving accident in Hawaii, and while the hole he left in his tight-knit family will never be filled, what helps is the support of loved ones and the annual Kenny Kup Ken Owens Memorial Soccer Jamboree, this year slated for Aug. 18 at Veterans Field. The 2019 event marks the 10 th Kenny Kup, an event Ken's parents, Da...

One of the best things about the Festival of the Arts presented by the Creative Arts Center (CAC) in Chatham, now in its 48th year, is that you can rely on finding both the things you loved at past fairs and something new among the 120 fine artisans and craftsmen. “It’s a nice mix of the familiar and the new,” says Angela Zoni Mault, the CAC’s executive director. The popular fair will run this summer from Frida...

With most plays, as far as the audience is concerned, what happens backstage stays backstage. After watching one of his own farces from the wings, English playwright Michael Frayn had an epiphany— the drama behind the drama could be very funny. The Cape Playhouse’s “Noises Off” hits the mark, maximizing Frayn’s organized bedlam and laugh-out-loud zaniness. The term “noises off” is a theatrical stage direction ca...

Embalmment and humor would seem like an unlikely pairing, but “Lenin’s Embalmers” is anything but lifeless. Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater’s production is the perfect combination of drama, political intrigue, and thought-provoking dark humor. The historical play opens in 1924, with Robin Haynes playing Lenin. He has been shot and proclaims that he wants “no graves, no monuments, and no shrines.” Tellingly, he a...

The dwindling of the school-age population in our area is a real concern; it is symptomatic of the failure to retain and attract young families. We all know the economic realities that contribute to the situation: the dearth of high-paying year-round jobs, the lack of affordable rental housing and the soaring price of homeownership. These are systemic, regional problems that Chatham, Harwich and Orleans cannot wh...

Park Is Meant For The Public Editor: Real estate has always touted the tag-line location, location, location, and while property value is affected by this, so is adjacent activity.  If you purchase property abutting or close to a public area, expect the public.  Because current or past use has been one way does not guarantee nothing will change in the future. It has always been my feeling that Chase Park...

August 15th, 1956 - August 4th, 2019 Chatham               Steven Jeffrey Turner, 62, died on August 4th, 2019 at Windsor Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing in S. Yarmouth from complications of COPD. Born in Braintree, Steven moved to Chatham in 1957 with his parents. He graduated from Chatham High School in 1974, and after an AFS exchange year to Denmark in 1974-75, he attended the University of Massach...

Every summer, a customer walks up to John Murphy Sr., owner of Land Ho! in Orleans, and tells him he has been coming to the restaurant since his grandfather brought him at age five. “Now he’s bringing grandkids,” Murphy says. “I’m thinking, ‘how old am I?’” Murphy is, in fact, 79, and 50 years ago, when he bought the restaurant, he was not yet 30. He met his wife O.J. when he was checking ID cards at the do...

ORLEANS — The town created an affordable housing trust fund board to move quickly when likely properties come on the market, but members are looking carefully before they leap. The board, with approval of the selectmen, funded the purchase in May of a half-acre lot at 15 Quanset Road on which Habitat for Humanity of Cape Cod will build a two-bedroom affordable home. It has backed analyses of the housing pote...

ORLEANS — The town's Goose Hummock bulkhead on Town Cove sees a lot of action, both by humans and nature itself. While the western bulkhead remains in good condition, the eastern one, which ties into Goose Hummock's private bulkhead, was rated “poor” in a study. “Multiple holes were observed through the timber sheets at the mudline and several large sinkholes are observable along the landward side of the str...

The Harwich Mariners fell to the Cotuit Kettleers in two straight games in the Cape League Championships. After Cotuit won a 15-inning squeaker on Thursday, they beat Harwich 10-3 Friday afternoon to end the series and the season. The majority of Cotuit's hits were homers, which didn't set things up well for the visiting Mariners, who were only able to push two runs across in the fifth, the first w...

Two home runs, clutch hits, solid pitching, and a never-give-up attitude led the Harwich Mariners to a 5-1 victory against the Y-D Red Sox tonight (Aug. 7) earning them the East Division Championship and a spot in the Cape Cod Baseball League finals.  The Red Sox made their way onto the scoreboard first with a run in the third inning, but a fourth-inning homer from Cory Acton over the left field fence gave the...