KG around the cape summer 2021 - Flipbook - Page 68
A ROUND CA PE COD
First Night Chatham is a family friendly all day
New Year’s Eve gathering. For thirty years,
this alcohol-free, town-wide celebration
of the arts has been featuring numerous
performances and events that end with a
midnight firework show over Oyster Pond.
Arts
Main Street Chatham is home to more than a dozen fine art and photography galleries and studios. The
Creative Arts Center is a nonprofit organization with year-round classes and workshops in painting,
drawing, pottery, and jewelry. The Chatham Drama Guild on Crowell Road presents live performances
of dramas, musicals, concerts, and children’s events. The restored and rehabilitated 1916 Chatham
Orpheum Theater reopened in 2013 as a modern cinema featuring first-run major motion pictures, art
house films, documentaries, and work from local filmmakers. Every summer, the Chatham Merchants
Association presents “Chatham Art in the Park” at Kate Gould Park, a display and auction of uniquely
shaped wooden pieces painted by local artists.
Culture
Chatham has numerous museums and historic sites, including the Atwood Museum, a historic home with
art, artifacts, and decorative arts portraying life on Cape Cod since the seventeenth century. Residents
will also find the Chatham Marconi Maritime Center, the Chatham Railroad museum, and the Josiah
Mayo House on Main Street, a beautifully preserved 1820 home, which serves as the headquarters for
the Chatham Conservation Foundation. Also on Main Street is the Renaissance/Romanesque Revivalstyle Eldredge Public Library, a 1894 gift to the people of Chatham from one of its natives, Marcellus
Eldredge. The Godfrey Windmill is a historic 1797 windmill located in Chase Park and the iconic Chatham
Lighthouse is an active Coast Guard Station, whose beacon continues to guide mariners over the
Chatham Bar.
Education
Chatham and its neighboring town of Harwich are both part of the Monomoy Regional School District.
Chatham has its own elementary school, Chatham Elementary School on Depot Road for students in
pre-kindergarten through fourth grade. Chatham children grades five through twelve attend Monomoy
Regional Middle School, located in Chatham, and Monomoy Regional high School in Harwich. Also in
Harwich is Cape Cod Regional Technical School, another public school option for Chatham teens.
Geography
Chatham is located at the elbow of Cape Cod on the southeastern corner of the peninsula. With the
Atlantic Ocean to the east, Nantucket Sound to the south, and Pleasant Bay on its northeastern edge,
Chatham has only one land neighbor, the town of Harwich, which wraps around its western and northern
borders. The eight-mile-long spit of land that is Monomoy Island extends southwest from Chatham and
is home to the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge. Shifting sandbars and eroding barrier beaches are a
regular feature of the entrances to Chatham Harbor, and the town is also home to rivers, creeks, and salt
and freshwater ponds.
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