ORLEANS — The Governor Prence Inn on Route 6A, which did not open this season, could be acquired by the town for housing and other uses. Select Board Chair Kevin Galligan made the announcement at his board’s Sept. 16 meeting. Earlier this year, the town was approached by the Ross family, which owns the Governor Prence as well as the nearby Seashore Park Inn; the latter was open this summer. In July Gov. Pren...

ORLEANS — Firefighters from several towns snuffed a brush fire in the woods behind Orleans Elementary School around 8:30 Tuesday morning. Alerted by a neighbor on Brewster Cross Road, firefighters acted quickly to contain the blaze, Fire Chief Geof Deering said. “With the dry conditions and the wind, we brought in as many personnel as we could from our department, as well as Eastham, Harwich and Brewster,” h...

ORLEANS — Notre Dame de Paris was built eight centuries ago by people who believed in miracles. Something like that happened last weekend, outside the cathedral’s charred ruins, when an international group of volunteer carpenters raised an oak truss created of the same materials and by the same methods as the roof supports lost in the blaze. “The main thing was showing the public that the cathedral can be re...

ORLEANS — If the Orleans Historical Commission gets its way, one of the oldest buildings in Orleans will be preserved either in its current location or a new location. The seven-member board voted unanimously at its virtual Aug. 26 meeting to impose a 12-month demolition delay on the front building at 12 West Rd. The building is “one of a handful of properties in Orleans that is still standing that was buil...

ORLEANS — By this time next month, it’s expected that Nauset Regional High School can end fully remote classes and institute a hybrid model of remote and in-school education. “We’re thinking we can do this by Oct. 15 and get a lot of this work completed and approved, and get it approved by all the people who do inspections for us,” Superintendent Tom Conrad told a relieved regional school committee Sept. 10. “...

ORLEANS — The winds have shifted for the town’s ship of state, and it’s time to trim the sails. Next month’s special town meeting is an opportunity for a mid-course correction that could help deal with even rougher seas ahead. Voters will be asked to increase fees and, for the first time, institute a $25 residential beach parking sticker. That measure has been rejected by town meeting in the past, but the beac...

ORLEANS — “I have grown gray in the service of my country,” George Washington said in 1783. This week, the town’s wastewater wars veterans, their locks now silver and white after decades of advocacy, gathered on the village green to break ground for a pumping station for a downtown sewer system and treatment plant. At the ceremony Sept. 8, Select Board Chair Kevin Galligan spoke of the moment in 2014 when wh...

ORLEANS — The zoning board declined to sink the Atlantic Workshop’s boat last week, leaving it up to Building Commissioner Tom Evers to fire another warning shot across its bow. The woodworking workshop at 94 Main St. was allowed by special permit as a customary home occupation by the board in 2017, with a number of conditions ranging from no retail sales to no signage and including an annual review. Since t...

ORLEANS — Like information, water wants to be free. And, like information, it isn’t. Your water bill pays for the infrastructure that pumps the liquid out of the town’s wells, treats it to ensure quality, and sends it out to homes and businesses. It flows into a house’s or store’s own pipes, where it’s controlled by the turn of a faucet – or is it? Things happen. Pipes leak or break, toilets keep running,...

In-Car Town Meeting One of Several Options  ORLEANS - They're stopping short of bringing back Liam's for car hop service, but the option of an in-vehicle town meeting at Nauset Beach next month is on the select board's agenda for Sept. 9.   It's one of several pandemic-moment alternatives that include a back-to-school approach (indoors at Nauset Regional Middle School or outdoors inside the school's trac...

ORLEANS — With parts of Nauset Regional High School suffering air circulation problems, classes will be fully remote when instruction begins Sept. 16. That’s a switch from the original hybrid plan that called for split weeks of home and in-school learning. “We will… remain remote until the ventilation system is repaired and brought up to COVID standards,” Principal Chris Ellsasser wrote to teachers Tuesday m...

ORLEANS — With a million-dollar operating budget shortfall forecast for the fiscal year beginning July 2021, the select board and other officials are taking a hard look at expenses and revenues in a series of fiscal stability workshops. Last week, the focus was on fees the town charges for its services, and the potential for asking October’s special town meeting to make some changes that can take effect as early ...