🐚 Not anti-growth. Just anti–grand slam.

Snow Inn, Civil War railroads, and a very Cape kind of Valentine’s.

Author

Arthur Radtke
February 13, 2026

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Hey, Cape people.

This was meant for Thursday morning, and I appreciate you giving me a little grace as it arrives Friday afternoon instead.

It’s Valentine’s on the Lower Cape — less roses-in-a-box and more boots by the door, wind off the marsh, oysters with cold fingers, and running into someone you know while deciding to stay out a little longer. Music starts before the sky fully goes dark. Fries get shared. Nobody’s pretending it’s Paris.

And if hearts aren’t your thing, that’s fine too. There’s a West Chatham reset bowl that cuts through February, a Rail Trail stretch hiding 1860s history under your tires, and a Snow Inn debate that sounds exactly like us — not anti-growth, just careful.

It’s all in here.

Go dive in and find the part that feels like your weekend.

Chatham Moods — the “reset” spot in West Chatham

When you need a break from fried platters and beige Cape lunches — this is it.

Salmon Bowl with brown-sugar butter lime.
Real-deal breakfast sandwiches with crispy home fries.
Jerk chicken, plantains, fresh juices.

Open year-round. Easy parking. Chef Orlando usually right there in the kitchen.

Simple outside. Big flavor inside.

🚲 The Rail Trail: Zero Hills for a Reason

Ever notice how the Rail Trail through Orleans feels… suspiciously easy?

No real climbs. No suffering. Just that smooth glide that lets you pretend you bike “all the time.”

That’s not fitness.

That’s steam engines.

In the 1860s, trains ran through this exact stretch carrying cranberries, mail, and vacationers to Provincetown. Before rail? Remote fishing peninsula. After rail? Summer destination. After cars? Bridge backups and bumper stickers. After the trains stopped? We quietly turned it into the Cape’s most civilized bike path.

The rails are gone.
The Civil War–era grade remains.

Which means every time you coast past the marsh, you’re riding 19th-century freight engineering.

⚾ They Don’t Need to Hit a Home Run.

Five hours. Sixty neighbors. February.

And the line everyone walked out repeating?

“They don’t need to hit a home run.”

The Snow Inn — standing since 1892 — is approved to grow from 32 rooms to 72. Bigger footprint. Longer season. More jobs. More traffic. More everything.

Some see momentum on Wychmere Harbor.
Some see Snow Inn Road getting tighter by the minute.

But that quote? That’s the whole Cape in one sentence.

We’re not anti-growth.

We just like it… proportional.

A clean single. Maybe a well-placed double.
Advance the runner. Keep the inning moving.

The project now heads to the next round of town approvals.

And around here, we don’t mind progress.

📰 The Most Hank Thing Ever

Before he was publisher, Hank Hyora was the kid digging quahogs because it paid better than delivering sandwiches.

He worked as a janitor at Chatham High while he was still a student there.

He gave staff an extra week of vacation if they used it to volunteer.

He loved the Bee Gees. Loudly.

And when corporations came calling to buy The Chronicle?

He said no.

Not because he couldn’t sell.

Because he wouldn’t.

He’d look around the office — at the people, the cats (Trigger, Buddy, Graycie), the stories stacked for layout — and decide that local mattered more than a payout.

That’s not nostalgia.

That’s character.

Hank didn’t just run a newspaper.

🐄❄️ Barnyard Rebellion, Cape Winter Edition

You know that 4:30PM Cape winter mood — already dark, wind off the marsh, everyone one snack away from losing it?

That’s why this one’s at 2PM.

You get out before the slump. Still daylight. Still energy. And by the time 4:30 rolls around? You’re already home, smiling about dancing cows.

At Cape Cod Theatre Company/Harwich Junior Theatre, “Click Clack Moo” hits that perfect winter sweet spot. One hour. No intermission. No meltdown window.

Cows are cold. Farmer won’t listen. Someone finds a typewriter. Boom — barnyard labor negotiations for electric blankets. It’s physical, quick, genuinely funny. The kids belly-laugh. The adults laugh for real.

But the best part?
2PM in West Harwich. Boots by the seats. Neighbors nodding hello. That warm little theater glow while February does its thing outside.

You walk out around 3. Still light. Still cozy inside.

Through Feb. 22. All shows at 2PM.
Honestly? A small, good Cape win. 🐄✨

A Little Love, the Cape Way

Valentine’s on the Lower Cape isn’t roses-in-a-box. It’s running into someone at Snow and saying, “Oh good, you made it out.” It’s clay hearts in Chatham with cold fingers. Oysters cracked open in Harwich while the wind’s still got teeth. Harp strings tuning in Orleans before dark falls early again.

And right alongside that? Vacation week chaos. Legos underfoot. Shark stories before coffee. The Orpheum glowing at 9am. The Squire loud by 9pm. Love here isn’t loud. It’s layered.

Arts & Culture - The thoughtful stuff worth slowing down for

Classes & Workshops — Learn Together, Make Locally

Community & Social - Rooms where the Cape overlaps

Family & Kids - Built to absorb motion

Food & Drink - Meals that buy you time

Games, Hobbies & Clubs - Familiar rituals. Low pressure. No explaining

Health & Wellness - Small resets that keep you functional

Music & Live Entertainment - Early sets, late nights, and places that stay open

Nature & History - Old ground. Shifting edges

Talks, Books & Big Ideas - Conversations that carry a little weight

Theater & Film - Give the night somewhere to land

🌦️ Lower Cape Weather — Feb 13 - Feb 18 (What Actually Matters)

Lower Cape’s doing that classic February thing again. ☀️

Friday shows up bright and crisp (mid-30s), the kind of day that makes the harbor sparkle but reminds you it’s still boot season. Saturday softens a bit near 37° — decent for a beach walk if you’re layered like a true Cape local. Sunday cools back into the low 30s with clouds sneaking in by night.

Monday gives us a quick little “hey, it’s still winter” snow shower — nothing dramatic, just a light dusting possible before some sun peeks through. Tuesday hangs gray but calm in the upper 30s. Wednesday gets a little messy — morning mix, afternoon rain — the kind of day where the parking lot at Snow’s fills up early.

No blockbuster storms. No polar vortex drama. Just steady February rhythm… and sunsets stretching a little later every evening. 🌅

That’s this week.

Somewhere in here is your thing — the plate, the room, the walk, the debate, the small win.

If you go to something, hit reply and tell me how it was.
If you skip it and stay in, tell me that too.
If you think we got something wrong — or missed something worth knowing — I want to hear that most of all.

This only works if it feels like a conversation.

What feels worth leaving the house for this weekend?

-Arthur

Arthur Radtke • REALTOR®, eXp Realty
MA License #9582725

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