Cape Cod

[ctman987]

I just returned from one of my many trips I take to Cape Cod each year.

I'll try to make this a four part series

Part I : Chatham, MA

Chatham is a town with about a population of 6,500 which swells to between 30,000-40,000 during the summer months. Chatham is located at the elbow of the Cape and tries very hard to retain it's New England and Cape Cod charm. Chatham was a community built on the fishing industry as it is the town that sticks out into the water most out of any town in the country. Although fishing is not as big as it used to be the town lost a wopping 1.7 million dollars when the fishing areas had to be shut down for a time last year. Chatham draws in thousands of people from the Boston area, CT, NY and NJ who stay at the town's hotels and inns, rent a place or own one of the many vacation residences.\

Chatham has a view notable claim to fames. First of all Chatham has a pedestrian friendly mixed use downtown which is centered around Main Street. Main Street is filled with shops, restaurants, art galleries, ice cream shops, inns, the town hall, 3 churchs, and the public library. There are no vacant store fronts, the street is very small so pedestrians are welcome and it is yield to pedestrians in the street. Main Street is usually always hopping. There is on street parallel parking with the rest of the parking in a few designated public parking lots...and all parking is free (no meters).

Besides that Chatham is home to the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge which is thousands of acres of land which is comprised of islands that is a refuge for thousands of birds. On the water in Chatham is Chatham Light which serves as the home for the US Coast Guard. Chatham served as the home for the movie "Summer Catch" which stared Freddie Prinze Jr and Jessica Biel.

Chatham is a town that is filled with working class people as well as some very exclusive homes which cater to the rich and famous. There are hundreds of multi million dollar homes in town as well as the exclusive Chatham Bars Inn on the water.

First pics are of downtown Chatham

Chatham Rotary...traffic heading into downtown

Start of downtown

Chatham Wayside Inn on Main St

Chatham Town House Inn

Chatham Town Hall

Chatham Squire

Saint Christopher

[ctman987]

Monomoy....a private area that is almost all surrounded by little islands, sand barriers and water. It is home to the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge as well as tons of big times homes all located in treed neighborhoods with private water views.

Monomoy.....The rest of the area where the home base of the wildlife refuge is...this is a very treed and exclusive area

Seals off of Monomoy....there are more then 1500 seals off the Chatham coast and they are a big attraction. There are three differant companies that offer seal tours in town

View of Monomoy

View from Monomoy

More Monomoy

View of Stage Island Road (at the foot of Monomoy)

Start of Stage Harbor Road

Stage Harbor Road

More Monomoy

Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge

Morris Island Road - the road that leads to Monomoy

[ctman987]

Chatham Light Area

Chatham Light

Lighthouse Beach

Lighthouse Beach / Chatham Light Parking

Chatham Beach & Tennis Club by the Lighthouse

Main St Oceanfront Side towards Lighthouse

Little Beach Road

Lighthouse area continued

Oyster Drive

Lobster Lane

Area south of the lighthouse by Outermost Marina and Chatham Oceanfront Condominiums

Chatham Oceanfront Condominiums

Outermost Marina and Chatham Oceanfront Condominiums

Outermost Marina

Andrew Hardings Road

[ctman987]

Areas northeast of downtown along the water...including the exclusive Shore Road where parts of Summer Catch were filmed and the Chatham Fish Pier

Shore Road through the Chatham Bars Inn

Shore Road homes

Shore Road Beaches (private beaches)

Shore Road

A private home on Shore Road on the grounds of the Chatham Bars Inn

Homes on Shore Road from the Fish Pier

Hawthorne Motel

More of the Shore Road/Fish Pier area

South Beach

North Beach

Nickerson Fish Market at the Chatham Fish Pier

Chatham Fish Pier

Some more various Chatham scenes

Windmill Lane

[Cotuit]

This image catches a quirk of the Cape's geography:

You can see from the sign, you need to take Route 28 South to get to North Chatham. That's because the Cape sticks out into the water, then curves up, with Chatham being the elbow. South 28 runs east across the Cape, then runs north from Chatham. The Cape curves again in Provincetown so that you need to take East 6 to get to the West End of town.

Chatham has had a lot of problems with erosion. The islands and barriers off the coast move around a lot, split, join the mainland, and move again. Maps of the area change from season to season. A storm in 1987 broke through North Beach opening up the mainland to the ocean. The photos below from the Cape Cod Times show before and after erosion that took place as a result. Since then the break has stablized and the shore in this area has rebuilt itself (ctman987 shows some photos of the beach infront of the light house as it looks today). But a number of houses have fallen into the ocean over the last few decades in Chatham.

[GRDadof3]

Great pictures. Wasn't Chatham Bars Inn featured in a movie or television show? It looks very familiar, especially the pool/cabana area.

[ctman987]

The Chatham Bars Inn probably was featured on some movie...it is a very expensive and beautiful hotel. The main building is amazing. If you saw "Summer Catch" the girl in the movie had a summer home on Shore Road by the hotel...and they may have featured the hotel

Also going to mapquest and looking up Chatham on the map is helpful so you get a look at the geography and can see how the town sticks out into the water. My family owns a house in Chatham and year after year there is always a little worry about storms that come through town...and dont even talk about trying to get insurance for oceanfront property in town

[ctman987]

Provincetown, MA

Provincetown is the last town on the Cape meaning it is at the very tip of the Cape. Provincetown

[ctman987]

Orleans, MA

Orleans is located on the upper cape and is in between Chatham at the elbow of the Cape and Provincetown at the tip of the Cape. As you will see Orleans has a nice downtown area but is not as pedestrian friendly or as busy as downtown Chatham or Provincetown because it has given in to sprawl. There is Orleans Marketplace right in the back of downtown...a basic strip mall. The town is also home to a Stop & Shop, TJ Maxx and Staples...the only TJ Maxx and Staples between Hyannis and Provincetown and one of two Stop & Shops.

Orleans does have a very nice waterfront and is one of the towns that is part of the Cape Cod National Seashore

Orleans Inn

The Chocolate Sparrow

Old Colony Way and Main St

Main St

Mahoney Bar & Grill

Gallery 31

The Baseball Shop, Orleans Cycle

Snows Home and Garden

Orleans Marketplace

Earth House

Cemetery

Cape Cod Savings Bank

Army Navy Store

Route 6A

[ctman987]

TRAFFIC HEADING ONTO THE CAPE

There are two bridges that head onto the Cape...the Bourne Bridge and the Sagamore Bridge. To get to these bridges drivers take Rt 25 which is reached from I-495 and I-195. Saturdays cause major traffic jams on these roads and bridges. Once drivers get over the bridge most travel on Rt 6 which is a one and sometimes 2 lane highway that goes all the way to provincetown or take Rt 28 a small local road.

These pictures were taken around 9:00AM when the traffic really wasnt that bad yet.

Rt 25 Traffic heading to the bridges

Rt 6 traffic heading towards the Bourne Bridge for people leaving the Cape after their weeks vacation

Rt 6 Traffic

Canal Service Road

Bourne Rotary - they are currently trying to redo this rotary because it gets to be complete chaos when there are major traffic jams.

[Randy@Tacoma]

I love Prvincetown! The best gay tourist town on the face of this planet!

[rbdetsport]

God, I miss Cape Cod. My family and extended family all go to Cape Cod usually every other year. This year is our off year. We usually each rent out a cottage on Cooks Brook Beach or in Brewster. Thanks for the pictures. Its nice to get a taste of Cape Cod when I am wanting to be there.

[ctman987]

God, I miss Cape Cod. My family and extended family all go to Cape Cod usually every other year. This year is our off year. We usually each rent out a cottage on Cooks Brook Beach or in Brewster. Thanks for the pictures. Its nice to get a taste of Cape Cod when I am wanting to be there.

I go up to Cape Cod each year....my family has a place in Chatham. I love Cape Cod. Earlier this summer I was in Ocean City, MD and thought I loved it. They have a huge boardwalk there that was always filled with people. But it was just sprawl everywhere....with huge condo towers and chain hotels surrounded by huge avenues. When I went back to the cape I was very happy to return

[Cotuit]

What you labeled the Bourne Bridge and Bourne Rotary are actually the Sagamore Bridge and Sagamore Rotary.

The rotary in Sagamore is being replaced by a flyover which will connect Route 3 directly to the bridge.