CHATHAM — Having lost his satellite communications equipment to a severe storm, transatlantic rower Guirec Soudée is managing to pass along word that he remains well and is continuing to make headway in his bid to row to France. Following a storm earlier this month, Soudée’s satellite equipment went silent, with no voice or text communication and no automatically updating GPS location for his 26-foot ocean row...

CHATHAM – The former Cumberland Farms store at 859 Main St., which has been vacant since 2016, has been purchased by a local homeowner who plans to upgrade and lease the property. The site has been considered an eyesore since the building was boarded up after Cumberland Farms moved to new quarters near the downtown rotary. Located at the busy intersection of Main Street and Crowell Road, the property's rundown...

CHATHAM – Mary Phelps' family still lives in the house in Chatham's Old Village where her ancestor Marcellus Eldredge was born. “We're very proud of all this and what he did,” she said, referring to the man that her mother called “Uncle Cel” and to the building that bears his name, the much-beloved Eldredge Public Library. On a sunny Sunday afternoon, as the Chatham Band played, Phelps cut a ribbon strung a...

CHATHAM – The building opened to the public on July 11. But all the pomp and circumstance took place a few days earlier, on July 4. Flags and bunting decorated the brand new brick building, and at 3 p.m. a band played and school children marched in procession down Main Street. All of the girls wore roses, a gift of Marcellus Eldredge, who had spent $30,000 of his own money to build the town's new library. The ...

CHATHAM — For French adventurer Guirec Soudée, it’s been a difficult couple weeks. Winds and currents have kept his ocean rowboat swirling in circles south of Newfoundland, wasting precious time and supplies. After finally reaching the Gulf Stream, he encountered an ocean storm whipping up 45-knot winds with 25-foot breaking waves. For three days, Soudée was out of contact with his support team. While his em...

CHATHAM — The latest round of water tests show a decline in the concentration of PFAS contaminants in a public supply well off Training Field Road, but officials aren’t celebrating yet. “There’s more questions in these numbers than answers, unfortunately,” Chatham Health and Natural Resources Director Robert Duncanson said Tuesday. In April, town officials shut down a well off Training Field Road after PF...

CHATHAM — With evidence that microplastics are showing up in local waters, salt marshes and wildlife, the contamination from discarded plastic waste is clearly no laughing matter. But a new anti-littering campaign hopes to reach Cape visitors and residents with a light touch and a bit of humor. The posters, to be displayed in digital media, convenience stores and other public locales, are a cooperative proje...

CHATHAM – A few years ago, Graeme Milley was on Block Island when he learned about the Glass Float Project. Each year since 2011, a glass blower has created glass “floats” – solid glass balls – that he hides around the island for anyone to find and keep. “I thought that was the coolest thing out there,” said Milley. “Just the idea that there are things out there for anyone to find.” If it can work on Block ...

Chatham is the third most lucrative port in the state and first on the Cape, with close to $19 million paid to fishermen in 2018. Captain Greg Connors says the success is partly a testament to the versatility of the fleet, which harvests lobster, scallops, and when groundfish like cod are less abundant, fills the gap with skates and dogfish. “Geographically we are very fortunate,” Connors, captain of the F/...

CHATHAM – A soggy forecast forced the cancellation of an Independence Day fireworks display planned for Veterans Field Thursday, and organizers say they'll try again Aug. 5. Northstar Fireworks of Montpelier, Vt., made the decision to cancel the event late Thursday morning based on the prediction of heavy rain in the evening, said Steve West of the Chatham Athletics Association, which was sponsoring the firewo...

NORTH CHATHAM — White sharks are just offshore virtually all summer long, but when are they actively hunting and when are they just cruising? More than a matter of scientific curiosity, the answer is key to improving beach safety, officials say. The first research done on white sharks off Cape Cod began to show how many individuals might be in the area, and revealed that they’re here in greatest numbers in Aug...

CHATHAM – One day Sheryl Proctor, owner of Drew’s Sports Shop, was sitting in the bait shop with the windows open when she overheard three or four college-age men talking in the parking lot. “Oh, God, there’s a woman in there,” she recalls one saying. “We’ll never find out where we’ll go fishing.” But Proctor was ready for them. “They think that, oh God, a woman, I don’t know much. And I’d think, I’m gonna ...