CHATHAM – Wondering what the inside of the First Congregational Church of Chatham looks like now that the scaffolding is down and construction is done? The Chronicle got an early inside peek last week and can report the project has resulted in a beautifully refurbished and welcoming 190-year-old building that is now fully accessible to anyone who enters its doors. Founded in 1720, the Church marked its 300t...

CHATHAM – Whether the town moves forward with building a new dock in Stage Harbor for the Coast Guard depends largely on how the federal agency responds to concerns about a shift in the type of vessels stationed here. The select board deferred a decision last week on adding docking space for the Coast Guard at town-owned Old Mill Boatyard, referring the plan to the town's waterways committees for input. But...

CHATHAM – One of several annual town meeting articles aimed at boosting affordable and attainable housing won't go forward, after the owner of land in South Chatham the town hoped to purchase agreed to sell the property to a neighbor instead. Select Board Chair Shareen Davis said article 17, which proposed the purchase of 2.44 acres at 2337 Main St. for affordable and attainable housing will not be acted on at...

CHATHAM – For more than half a century, Richard Costello was the public face of The Chatham Squire, the iconic tavern in downtown Chatham. On most days, he could be found greeting customers and friends, making sure everyone was having a good time and the operation was running smoothly. For most of those years he was also deeply involved in the community, sponsoring numerous events, including the popular Costum...

CHATHAM – Robert Harned was the family physician to more than two generations of Chatham residents, treating all kinds of ailments and delivering an untold number of babies. He was also a musician who helped found the Cape Cod Symphony and the Chatham Chorale, and a dedicated community member who helped combat drug abuse in the late 1960s and early 1970s and founded Monomoy Community Services. “He was sometime...

Split Board Votes To Pursue Design CHATHAM — On a 3-2 vote of the select board, the town will move ahead with a scaled-down redesign of the intersection at Crowell Road, Route 28 and Queen Anne Road. Despite earlier concern voiced about the cost of the project, a majority of the board felt that the intersection poses safety and accessibility problems that can’t be ignored. The town has been wrestling wi...

This is the first in a series of stories on the ongoing housing crisis. After graduating from Chatham High School in 2010, Christina Caron knew she wanted to stay on Cape. She'd loved her high school years and made lifelong friends, but as the realities of life began to settle in for Caron and her future husband Charles, also a CHS grad, she watched a familiar scenario play out. “All of our friends moved ...

CHATHAM – For the second year in a row, the town's premier summer event, the Independence Day parade, has been cancelled. Instead, the town's Independence Day parade committee will focus on assembling a virtual parade, just as it did last summer. Both the committee and the board of health recommended that the parade be called off, and on Tuesday the select board concurred, voting unanimously to cancel the l...

The Monomoy Regional School District administrator's recommendation to create upper and lower elementary schools at Chatham and Harwich elementary schools does not sit well with many of the district's parents, judging from feedback at a community forum held by the school committee last week. “I don't think this will be good for either our children or our community,” said Meara Baldwin, a Chatham resident with ...

An upper and lower elementary school model makes the most sense for the Monomoy Regional School District, administrators told the school committee last week. Making Harwich Elementary School a pre-K to grade 2 school and grouping grades 3 and 4 in Chatham Elementary School would provide the best education for students and bring grade-level teachers together for better collaboration and curricular consistency, ...

Advanced bookings of hotels and vacation homes point to a busier-than-usual summer, travel and chamber of commerce officials say. With many people eager to travel but wary of flying, destinations like the Cape, within driving distance of tens of millions of people, are attractive getaways. Many local businesses worry that they won't have the staff to deal with the influx of visitors. That concern is especially...

CHATHAM – Chatham Elementary School Principal Robin Millen will be leaving her post at the end of the school year to become the director of curriculum assessment and student learning for the Nauset Regional School District. “It's my passion, truly,” Millen said of curriculum development. She was not actively looking for a new position but when the Nauset job came up, “I couldn't pass it up,” she said. She star...