HARWICH — The selectmen and finance committee got a preview of the capital outlay committee's seven-year capital plan last week. The public will have an opportunity to hear the plan details at a hearing Monday. The grand total for the seven years is $85,275,420, and a large portion of the capital expenses are driven by wastewater projects scheduled for FY 23, at $17.4 million, and FY24, which carries a cost of...

All through the natural year there are reasons to love being outdoors. There are all the living things, animals and plants, that fill our senses with color and light as well as scents both wild and wonderful. There are the textures of the seasons, from soft and lush to brittle and stark. There is the ever-changing night sky and the ongoing symphonies that fill our heads and hearts with an amazing variety of sound...

“Who wants to ski alone?”asks Nancy Bradford of Harwich. That's part of the reason she joined the Cape Cod Ski Club over 20 years ago. “I love meeting like-minded people, chatting about our upcoming ski trips at the early meetings, and laughing about the past ones in spring.” She lists Vermont's Killington as her favorite New England ski area and especially praises both the on-mountain grooming and the good resta...

Tribute To Dancers And Pets Editor: I wanted to express my deepest gratitude to my beloved town of Chatham. After a year in the making creating a fundraiser at the Orpheum to benefit Monomoy Community Services, A Chance To Dance, and the MSPCA, I was able to raise $40,000. This was a result of the generosity of Chatham businesses and many residents of Chatham. I am particularly grateful to Rockland Trust fo...

The road to Chatham's special town meeting this Saturday has been a particularly long and tortured one. The main item on the agenda—authorizing selectmen to purchase land in West Chatham for a new senior center—was the result of a process that goes back years and includes the rejection at last May's annual town meeting of $6.6 million to build a new senior center on town-owned land on Middle Road. The new site is...

If autumn is my favorite season on Cape Cod, winter is the least welcome. Fall offers much that makes summer special without the traffic and crowds. Some places close but their offerings are soon replaced by the holiday activities that culminate in First Night. Autumn transitions us from the busyness of summer to the celebrations that bring our year to an end. Before I moved to Harwich I knew little of life...

With the new year and the new decade, many of us will be making resolutions to get fit and stay in shape. Participation in a regular exercise class can be a good way to set fitness goals and stay on track. The Chatham Community Center is home to 11 different fitness classes and is one of the most affordable options in the area, according to Georgia Farrell, Chatham's recreation program supervisor. "We offer...

HARWICH – From his boyhood on Cape Cod to this day, “Pleasant Bay has been my playground,” Mon Cochran told an appreciative audience at Pleasant Bay Community Boating last month. “I was out on the bay by the time I was 6 or 7 by myself in a fairly raggedy catboat.” Cochran, executive director of the Cape Cod Climate Change Collaborative and a former president of Friends of Pleasant Bay, crosses the bay on a mo...

ORLEANS – The story of 2019 is how different it was from 2018. Housing Twelve months ago, the affordable housing trust board had yet to hold its first meeting. The town hadn’t bought land to turn over to Habitat for Humanity to build an affordable home, nor had it purchased a condo unit to rent at an affordable rate. Working with the affordable housing committee and consultants, the trust looked at conver...

In tiny printing, a woman penned a simple note of thanks to the Family Pantry of Cape Cod, and that note tells the whole story. Year after year, season after season, the Pantry provides more than just nutritious food. It serves up compassion and dignity. Support Helping Neighbors Thanks to generous Cape ...

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...

CHATHAM – Residents who live near a proposed solar array on Middle Road are concerned about the impact of the facility on their quiet neighborhood, and recently asked the planning board for more time to study the plans before issuing site plan approval. The board concurred, noting that members had quite a few questions about details of the project. “It's very clear we need a lot more information,” said Chai...

CHATHAM — Though it would require a regulatory sea change to accomplish, a proposal to use parts of Nantucket Sound off South Chatham as a shellfish grow-out area has sparked some tentative interest. Stephen Wright, who co-owns Chatham Shellfish Company with John Richards, made a presentation to the waterways advisory committee last week, saying they are seeking to establish an experimental grow-out area in a ...

CHATHAM — As any seasoned First Night reveler will tell you, Chatham’s family-friendly New Year’s Eve celebration wouldn’t be the same without music. But this year, they’re striking up the band like never before. Inspired by new musical acts like Chicago Total Access, a Chicago tribute band; Beatles tribute band Studio Two; and rock band The Placeholders, First Night organizers chose “Strike Up the Band” as th...

CHATHAM – In 1998, the chamber of commerce was notified that Chatham was one of several towns in the state not represented at the State House with its own flag. The chamber sponsored a contest to come up with a town flag design; 23 artists submitted 63 different designs for consideration. The winning design—the Chatham Twin Lights and Coast Guard Station in a field of blue, with a cod, lobster, scallop and cla...