Like many Colonial-era coastal towns, Chatham has evolved with the tides of commerce. Since William Nickerson bought 4 square miles of land from the Monomoyick tribe in 1656, the town has relied, in turn, on farming, maritime trade, fishing, and tourism, and its success in retaining links to its past earned it recognition in 2007 from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Visitors come here for the simple, old-fashioned pleasures the town affords: Friday night band concerts on the green, college summer league baseball, offloading of the day's catch at the fish pier. The waters off Chatham were the site of many shipwrecks in the 19th century, when they were part of one of the world's busiest shipping routes. Some of those wrecks were caused by Chatham's mooncussers, men who waved lanterns on murky nights in an effort to disorient sailors into grounding their ships so they could loot the cargo. Perhaps a bit of that rogue spirit lives on in a popular bumper sticker spotted around town: "Chatham, Mass.: A quaint little drinking village with a fishing problem."
Old and in the waves
Historic Cape Cod village offers simple pleasures amid seaside beauty
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The town boasts six public beaches along Nantucket Sound, two on Pleasant Bay, and four more on freshwater ponds (chathaminfo.com/beaches). The best known are probably South Beach on Shore Road and Hardings Beach in West Chatham. South Beach falls away from Chatham Lighthouse toward the famous Chatham Break, where a 1987 storm breached the barrier Nauset Beach and allowed the Atlantic to crash through into Chatham Harbor. There is a 30-minute limit on parking at South Beach, so those hoping to spend the day will need to bike or be dropped off. Hardings is a popular windsurfing and kiteboarding venue that offers a bathhouse, lifeguards, and two large parking lots. The Chatham Railroad Museum (153 Depot Road, 508-362-3225, open 10 a.m.-4 p.m., mid-June to mid-September, donations accepted) is housed in a station that operated from 1887-1937 and contains hundreds of railroading artifacts, including a 1918 caboose from the New York Central System. The Monomoy Theatre (776 Main St., 508-945-1589, June 24-Aug. 30, monomoytheatre.org) and its Ohio University Players have been staging shows for 51 years. This year, "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds" features longtime Chatham resident and American theater grand dame Julie Harris, from Aug. 19-23.Advertisement
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