Adrianna is a 19-year-old college student from Romania whom I met while she was working as a clerk/bagger at a Harwich grocery store. She received permission from the U.S. State Department to visit the United States from early June through late September under its J-1 Visa Exchange Visitor Program under the summer work travel program category, one of 15 provisions that range from professors/research scholars to a...

The holiday we observe this week celebrates ideals enshrined in a document signed 242 years ago which continue to guide our government and society. These ideals are ingrained in the soul of America, and despite trying times, they remain our guiding principle. It may seem that the self-evident truths espoused in the Declaration of Independence – that “all men are created equal” and are endowed with “certain una...

Dear Summer Residents and Visitors: Welcome back to the Lower Cape! We’re glad you’re here again, visiting shops, eating in restaurants, and generally pumping up the local economy. We’re doing our part by avoiding left turns at intersections and trying to stay cheerful in traffic. While you were away, we had huge storms that knocked down trees and limbs. We had town meeting and spent some of the money you cont...

One Person's Treasures... Editor: After recently reading the article regarding new rules at The Treasure Chest, myself and others from Dennis take exception to Lincoln Hooper's comment about "people from Dennis dropping off truckloads of stuff, overwhelming Harwich and volunteers.” We are not your scapegoat. Look to home, Mr. Hooper. Deborah Randall West Dennis   Bursting Their Balloons Edito...

“Oh the shark, babe Has such teeth, dear And he shows them Pearly white………. You know when the shark bites With his teeth, babe Scarlett billows Start to spread”   I debated for a while on whether or not to open my article with the lyrics to “Mack the Knife.” This article is about the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy and all the good works they do. Since the Conservancy works so hard to ...

A half century is a long time. Not so long ago, it was longer than average life expectancy. While there are plenty of businesses and companies that have persisted that long, for a local establishment to reach the 50-year mark is extraordinary. To do so under the same ownership is almost unheard of. With events over the past several weeks, The Chatham Squire celebrated reaching the mid-century point under the o...

Losing Sight Of Simplicity Editor: When I read about the scarcity of submissions for the Chatham Preservation Awards this year, I wasn't surprised but was dismayed because award eligible candidates are disappearing. My wife and I will soon be celebrating our 30th year in our home on Shore Road, and have a locational vantage point which provides a view of what's going on in the neighborhood. As is obvious...

“Like an express train going through a tunnel.” That’s how my grandfather, Reuben Hopkins, described the sound of the German shell that screamed by his lookout post 100 years ago during World War I. The action he was seeing was not in the fields of France, but atop the Life Saving Station in Orleans. The artillery was from a U-Boat that had attacked a tug and its barges three miles off Nauset Beach. It was a p...

In the old days, people ate herring. They’re impossibly bony and oily, but they helped make human existence possible on Cape Cod since the beginning of time. The Wampanoags and the European settlers who followed relied on them as a food source during long winters, and as a means of fertilizing crops in the springtime. But what have herring done for us lately? Plenty, it turns out. Atlantic herring and their...

'Hooked' On Parade Planning Editor: On behalf of the 2018 Chatham Independence Day Parade Committee I would like to sincerely thank the previous committee for all of their hard work and incredible organization. Brad Schiff, Danielle Jeanloz, John King, Stephanie Hamilton, and Jan Fields left us an incredibly detailed plan that made it very easy for us, as an entirely new committee, to pick up where they left ...

I was in my house, minding my own business, corralling errant dust bunnies from under the bed, when another, more critical bunny crisis descended upon me. The gran’chillun bounded in, clamoring for my presence in the backyard where their mom was on poop patrol. In the middle of the lawn, as she was about to fling a pile of you-know-what into a bucket, she thought she saw it move. It was not, in fact, a pile of yo...

We are about to enter that time of year when the various and diverse segments of Harwich’s society attempt to live together in relative harmony. Full-time residents, second homeowners, returning snowbirds, business owners, employees, and customers, J-1 Visa holders, college sports players, vacationers and tourists; over the next three-four months all of these will interact in ways that hopefully will prove mutual...