CHATHAM – This is not the easiest town from which to spot whales. Provincetown is the place to see the frolicking just offshore, although at times huge mammals can be glimpse from the Lighthouse Overlook breaching not far off the beach. But for the next few months, Chatham will be a great place to spot whales. At least in local shops and businesses. “Where are the Whales?” is this year's summer scavenger hu...

EAST HARWICH — Biology students from Monomoy Regional High School got waist-deep in science last week during a cooperative research project held at Pleasant Bay Community Boating. The teens collected marine life from the bay and its shoreline, taking tiny samples for DNA testing. Part of the “Bioblitz” project organized by Northeastern University's Ocean Genome Legacy Center, the effort aims to preserve a ge...

HARWICH — Rain did not dampen the Memorial Day spirit as more than 150 people attended the ceremony, moved from Brooks Park to the community center on Monday morning. The trip to the community center was a worthy one, as Staff Sgt. Jeremy Armstrong, a 2003 graduate of Harwich High School, who served for seven years as a U.S. Army Cavalry Scout and is now a non-commissioned officer serving as an Infantry Squad ...

HARWICH — The Resilient Family Farm is under more town pressure to bring the commercial farming operation into compliance with town requirements. Building Commissioner Raymond Chesley has requested applications be filed with his department for “unpermitted” structures on the property. The property owner, Barry Dino Viprino, has contended he is operating a farm that has established agricultural exemptions at 35...

HARWICH — Treasurer/Tax Collector Amy Bullock said Wednesday that she is postponing a controversial auction of tax liens. In an email, Bullock said she was putting off the auction to a future date, "to allow more time for conservation and the Real Estate Open Space Committee to look into properties the town may have an interest in." Those possibilities were cited by several town officials Tuesday in urging ...

HARWICH — Helen Davis attended fifth and sixth grades in the former Harwich Middle School. Now an artist, she is renting one of her former classrooms as studio space. “This place has such a huge ability to be a great arts center,” Davis said. “It brings artists together and artists need artists.” The former Harwich Middle School is quickly emerging as a cultural center providing space, opportunity, camarade...

HARWICH ─ The Monomoy boys lacrosse team showed immense progress last week in their final game of the 2017 season against D-Y. Though the team ultimately fell 4-3 in overtime to the visitors, it was a game the Sharks will look back on with pride. Connor Santoni scored twice in the match, with Owen Smith adding one more as the Sharks and the Dolphins traded goals throughout regulation play. D-Y struck firs...

HARWICH ─ The Monomoy boys baseball team was slated to host Sturgis East in their final home game of the season. Instead, it became the game that wasn't, bringing to a close the team's 2017 season with a rainout and a laugh. While not every team was rained out in their last games of the spring, most Monomoy teams wrapped things up recently, with a handful of exceptions. Members of the track team enjoyed a pr...

Authors Rob Conery, a Chronicle contributor, and Susan Blood of Orleans will release their new books during a party that also marks the launch of their new publishing venture, Surface Popper Publications, on June 3. You know that friend who describes life’s trials and tribulations in a way that makes you laugh? That’s Blood in her debut book “How Not to Do Things.” When her daughter asked what Blood would c...

Not The Town It One Was Editor: Chatham is not the Chatham of 15 or 20 years ago. The small fishing village with beautiful beaches is no more. It's lost its charm and affordability for the average family. A weekend visit averages $400 to $450 per night with a minimum of three nights. The Dolphin is gone. The Bradford Inn is gone. The Town House is gone. The Ridgevale Motel is gone. Chatham has demolis...

Recently overheard in a nearby store: Local man (with a tone of disgust): “Well – they’re here again. I saw them yesterday.” Store owner: “Who?” Local man: “Them. They had bicycles on the back of their car.” The local man: a retired resident of the Cape. Them: Visitors. Tourists. Early vacationers. People he was not terribly happy to see. Was he thinking as he spoke, “I wish they would close those bri...

Even climate change skeptics can't dispute the evidence which shows that regional sea level rose approximately one foot over the last century. That's the highest rate in 3,000 years, according to a recent study on sea level rise in Pleasant Bay conducted by the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown under the auspices of the Pleasant Bay Alliance. In another century we may be nostalgic for that historic sea l...

The Alzheimer’s Family Support Center of Cape Cod is offering new free support groups for people with MCI or early-stage Alzheimer’s/dementia disease, and for their caregivers. The groups, which run simultaneously, will take place on the Cape Cod Hospital campus every third Tuesday of the month from 5:30 to 7 p.m. People with MCI will meet in the Cape Cod Medical Center Board Room, while caregivers meet in the Ca...

ORLEANS — The Cape Cod cottage is a recognized architectural style, and Cape Cod artists are recognized as individual stylists. Put them together and you have the community known as Artist Cottages at Orleans Market Square. The sheds clustered off Old Colony Way may be more utilitarian than the standard Cape, but the creators inhabiting them this summer have their own distinctive takes on a wide range of med...

ORLEANS — Cape Codders are invited to show their support for the nationwide March for Truth June 3 by gathering on the Boston Common from 2 to 5 p.m. or at the Orleans-Eastham rotary from noon to 2 p.m. The Our Revolution Cape Cod Affiliate has joined forces with Lower Cape Indivisible to encourage a big turnout. Our Revolution, a national organization that grew out of the Bernie Sanders campaign, lists thre...