Chatham

History

Native American tribes who lived in the area before European colonization included the Nauset, specifically the Manomoy or Monomoy people. The expansive lands over which they roamed were known to them as Manamoyik or Monomoit. Explorer Samuel de Champlain landed there in October 1606 at a place he christened "Port Fortuné", where conflict arose with the Nauset. Twelve years later, another group of Europeans gave it the name "Sutcliffe's Inlets". Although urban sprawl has invaded the Cape, the town of Chatham still boasts a quaint and walkable Main Street, home to numerous family-owned and -operated shops, restaurants, and businesses. During the summer, concerts are held in a gazebo in Late Gould Park on Main Street. The town also hosts the Chatham Anglers baseball team as part of the Cape Cod Baseball League on the peninsula. The League is for collegiate-age players. Chatham, like much of Cape Cod, suffers from an exodus of young people and young families due to high housing prices and a lack of social and professional opportunities. The majority of homes in Chatham sit empty in the winter months until the summer when second-home owners come to use their summer/vacation homes. Some are used as weekly rentals for tourists. As of June 1, 2023, the average listing price for a home in Chatham was over $1.1 million US dollars. In summer, Chatham grows to a population of an estimated 30,000, making facilities overcrowded, and there is limited parking in the Main Street Business District. Parking for the beaches is also limited, and the town's most popular beach, Lighthouse Beach, has only off-street parking. * Atwood House (1752) * Caleb Nickerson House (1772) * Chatham Railroad Museum (1887) * Josiah Mayo House () chathamconservationfoundation.org * Chatham Marconi…

Geography

The town occupies the southeast corner (the "elbow") of Cape Cod. The town's villages include Chatham proper, Chatham Port, North Chatham, West Chatham, and South Chatham (west of West Chatham). Chatham is bordered by Harwich to the west, Pleasant Bay and Orleans to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and Nantucket Sound to the south. The town is south of Provincetown and east of the Sagamore Bridge, east of Barnstable, and southeast of Boston. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which is land and , or 33.88%, is water. The mainland portion of the town is typical of Cape Cod, with several ponds, brooks, rivers, harbors, and inlets around the town. The town includes two narrow strips of land that serve as a barrier between the Atlantic and the mainland; the northern of these is the southern part of the Cape Cod National Seashore. There are several islands, including Strong Island, Tern Island (which is a sanctuary), Morris Island, Stage Island, and Monomoy Island, a island south of the corner of the town which is home to the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge. Erosion has changed the region over the years—for example, an island named Slut's Bush once existed until it vanished underwater by the mid-19th century.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  26,617
• American herring gull, Smithsonian Gull

  Larus smithsonianus Coues, 1862 · Aves
  24,777
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  24,341
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  22,146
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  21,405
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  19,959
• American Goldfinch

  Spinus tristis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  18,716
• Great Black-backed Gull

  Larus marinus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  18,023

Largest nearby schools

• Monomoy Regional High School
  High · Harwich · 702 students · 11.7:1 ratio
• Cape Cod Region Vocational Technical
  High · Harwich · 666 students · 10.6:1 ratio
• Nauset Regional Middle
  Middle · Orleans · 528 students · 9.8:1 ratio
• Harwich Elementary School
  Elementary · Harwich · 477 students · 10.8:1 ratio
• Monomoy Regional Middle School
  Middle · Chatham · 439 students · 10.5:1 ratio
• Ezra H Baker Innovation School
  Elementary · West Dennis · 340 students · 8.9:1 ratio
• Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School
  Middle · East Harwich · 250 students · 11.9:1 ratio
• Stony Brook Elementary
  Elementary · Brewster · 230 students · 9.2:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 3.6 — 2020-11-08
  10 km S of Bliss Corner, Massachusetts
• M 2.5 — 2005-11-17
  4 km S of Plymouth, Massachusetts
• M 3 — 2002-03-12
  52 km E of Chatham, Massachusetts