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Chatham Athletics |
| The
Cape Cod Baseball League team plays in the summer
months at Veterans Field on Veterans Field Road off Rte.
28. |
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Atwood House
Museum
347 Stage Harbor
Road
508-945-2493
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This gambrel-roof home was built in
1752 by Capt. Joseph Atwood and expanded in 1833 by his grandson, John
Atwood. It holds Sandwich glass, antiques and maritime paintings inside
while its lawn displays the Chatham Chimes and a turret – a lighthouse
lantern – which belonged to Chatham Light from 1877 to 1970.
Open June, Sept. and
first half of Oct., Tues. – Sat. 1 – 4 p.m.
Open July and Aug.,
Tues. – Sat. 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
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Caleb Nickerson
House
1107 Orleans Road
(Rte. 28)
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Among the oldest pieces of Chatham
architecture still standing, the house belonged to Caleb
Nickerson, the great, great grandson of town founder William Nickerson,
who came to Chatham in the 1650s. The 1772 structure belonging to Caleb
Nickerson and wife Elizabeth Mayo was moved in 2003 to the Nickerson
Family Association property, a few yards away from the site of William
Nickerson’s 17th
century cabin. The house features three fireplaces – one a beehive oven
– and other period furnishings.
Open mid-June – late Sept., Wed 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. |
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Chatham Light
Main Street across from South Beach
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The Chatham
lighthouse is an
active U.S. Coast Guard station open for public tours every other Wed., from early May to late Oct.
The federal
government first erected two wooden towers here in 1808, 11 years after
the first Cape Cod lighthouse –
Highland Light – was built in Truro. The 40-foot lights were supposed to
help boaters differentiate between Chatham and Truro.
In 1841, the towers were replaced with two
brick ones built farther back from the eroding shoreline. But 38 years
later, the first tower fell into the beach, followed by the second one
and the keeper’s house about a year later. The two towers were replaced
with two new brick lighthouses, one with an attached lighthouse keeper’s
dwelling. One tower was moved to Eastham in 1923 to replace the “Three
Sisters of Nauset” lighthouses.
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Chatham Fish Pier and Fisherman’s
Monument
Shore Road and Barcliff Avenue
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The fishing pier shows a side of Chatham missing from
the town’s upscale beaches and charming downtown shops, one that goes to
the heart of the community. Summer days between noon and 3 p.m. are a
good time to see the fishing boats return with their catch. As you wait,
take in the Fisherman’s Monument, which depicts a hand pulling up fish.
Woods Hole artist Sig Purwin built the marker in 1992 to celebrate the
town’s oldest industry. |
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Chatham Railroad Museum
153 Depot St.
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The former railroad station sent out trains from
1887 to 1937, when the automobile took over. There was such excitement
for train service that a round-the-clock crew built the seven miles of
rail to Harwich in just seven days. Summer residents Mr. and Mrs. Jacob
Cox of Cleveland purchased the dormant Victorian-style depot in 1951 and
gave it to the town. It opened as a museum in 1960 and also features a
75-year-old New York Central System caboose outside. Out front is a
plaque to Frank G. Love, the museum’s founder and first director.
Open June – mid-Sept., Tues. – Sat., 10 a.m. – 4
p.m.
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Eldredge Public
Library
564 Main St.
508-945-5170
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This brick structure was built by Chatham native
Marcellus Eldredge, who, at the library’s 1896 opening, said he hoped it
would serve as "a beacon of light to guide future generations into easier
paths and more pleasant ways…” Eldredge bought the library’s Main Street
lot for $1,000 and his brother H. Fisher Eldredge donated its first
3,000 books.
While Marcellus Eldredge had gone onto become mayor
of Portsmouth, N.H. and a brewery owner in the seacoast town, he
remained active in his hometown. In addition to the library, he helped
extend the railroad tracks to Chatham in 1887 and in 1890, he built the
no-longer standing Hotel Chatham off Crow’s Pond, with his brother and
Boston tycoons Eben D. Jordan of Jordan Marsh Department Stores and John
Shepard of Shepard Department Stores. |
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The Mayo House
540 Main St.
508-945-4084
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| The
Chatham Conservation Foundation operates this
Cape-style house that belonged to Josiah Mayo, his wife Desire Harding
and their four children. The house served as a post office when Josiah
became postmaster in 1822 and later stored town documents during his
tenure as town clerk.
Open to the public from mid-June through Sept.,
Tues., Wed. and Thurs. 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. |
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Old Godfrey
Windmill
Chase Park, off
Shattuck Place
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Built in 1797 by Col. Benjamin Godfrey, this
windmill ground corn commercially until 1898. Originally located on
Stage Harbor Road, it was acquired by the town and moved to Chase Park
in 1956.
Open July and Aug., Mon. – Fri. 1 p.m. – 5 p.m.,
Wed. 9 – 3 p.m. and Sat. 9 a.m. – noon |
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Chatham Drama Guild
134 Crowell Road
508-945-0510
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Formed in 1931, this year-round Chatham theater is built upon
great passion. The first part of its theater building was erected from
pieces of a barn dismantled on the former Mattaquossom Hotel grounds and
carried across town. Performers put on occasional dinner theater shows,
along with their regular schedule. |
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Monomoy
Theatre
776 Main St.
508-945-1589
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| The Ohio University Players present this much-loved
summer theater. |
