Orleans

Spotlight

Harwich Port's Clinic Closed Oct. 23. Next Visit, Maybe Video.

Oct 29, 2026

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5 min read

Harwich Port's Clinic Closed Oct. 23. Next Visit, Maybe Video.

OCHS says its East Orleans site opens in November. Until then, the Harwich Port pharmacy is closed and its Quest lab is done.

Arthur Radtke

Spotlight

Her Story Starts Decades Before the House Did

Oct 28, 2026

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5 min read

Her Story Starts Decades Before the House Did

Frommer's put Orleans' 1875 inn on its most-haunted list. Its ghost reportedly worked there in the early 1800s, the list says.

Arthur Radtke

Chatham

After 1:59 on Halloween Night, the Clock Says 1:00 Again

Oct 28, 2026

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8 min read

After 1:59 on Halloween Night, the Clock Says 1:00 Again

Four days, Brewster to Provincetown, in start-time order, with two library parades and the hour the clocks hand back Sunday.

Arthur Radtke

Wellfleet

There's Always Someone Walking at Your Pace

Oct 22, 2026

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7 min read

There's Always Someone Walking at Your Pace

The club's first walk, at Kent's Point in 2022, drew 11 people. It now counts 3,000-plus members and asks every newcomer to take a clinic first.

Arthur Radtke

Chatham

The Prize-Winning Chowder Has Flour. The Oldest One Had Wine.

Oct 22, 2026

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9 min read

The Prize-Winning Chowder Has Flour. The Oldest One Had Wine.

Mac's menu says no flour. The Lobster Pot's prize bowl has a little. A 1751 recipe used claret and no milk. Pick your side.

Arthur Radtke

Chatham

The Famous Wellfleet Oyster Started Out as an Import

Oct 15, 2026

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11 min read

The Famous Wellfleet Oyster Started Out as an Import

OysterFest fills Main Street this weekend. The shell from your first dozen has a year at the transfer station ahead of it, and the town's founding oyster story has a neighbor's name penciled in the margin.

Arthur Radtke

Spotlight

He Washed Dishes at Pate's in 1984. Now Rock Harbor Grill Is His.

Oct 15, 2026

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3 min read

He Washed Dishes at Pate's in 1984. Now Rock Harbor Grill Is His.

In 1984 Tommy "Chooch" LeBlanc was washing dishes at Pate's. Now he and Amy run Rock Harbor Grill in Orleans, and their first big decision came from the people already waiting at the door.

Arthur Radtke

Spotlight

Hap Farrell's Slip Is Going to a Captain Whose Grandfather Fished the Same Harbor

Oct 8, 2026

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2 min read

Hap Farrell's Slip Is Going to a Captain Whose Grandfather Fished the Same Harbor

After 46 years in the Rock Harbor charter fleet, Capt. Hap Farrell is retiring. The harbormaster said his slip transfer didn't meet the criteria. The select board approved it.

Arthur Radtke

Chatham

Route 6 in Harwich Will Start Closing at Night. Here's the Way Around.

Oct 8, 2026

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3 min read

Route 6 in Harwich Will Start Closing at Night. Here's the Way Around.

State bridge work along Route 6 in Harwich starts this month and runs into 2028, with overnight closures expected on work nights, Sunday through Thursday.

Arthur Radtke

Chatham

Oct 1, 2026

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11 min read

Same Word on the Board. $18 Apart.

Mac's prints both on one board in Chatham. One came out of the tidal mud in 1916, the other out of Ipswich because it could survive a freezer, and one of the windows closes Monday.

Arthur Radtke

Spotlight

At the Men's Store, She Figured Out What Orleans Women Would Buy

Sep 24, 2026

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10 min read

At the Men's Store, She Figured Out What Orleans Women Would Buy

Two women left Watson's to start a boutique on the other side of Main Street. The racks are going now, and nobody has named the last day.

Arthur Radtke

Spotlight

Ninety Percent of the Questions Are About Squirrels

Aug 28, 2026

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6 min read

Ninety Percent of the Questions Are About Squirrels

Forty-three years behind the counter at Bird Watcher's General Store — a shop that opens at 9:17, and the man who hired himself when nobody else would.

Arthur Radtke

Wellfleet

They Hatch, and Then They Run the Wrong Way

Aug 28, 2026

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6 min read

They Hatch, and Then They Run the Wrong Way

Terrapin hatchlings turn their backs on the marsh — and the year the clutches got smaller was the best news Wellfleet's volunteers had seen.

Arthur Radtke

Chatham

Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?

Aug 20, 2026

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8 min read

Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?

Thirty-five years ago this week, Hurricane Bob came up Buzzards Bay and took the summer with it. We're collecting your stories — and running them next Thursday, with your name on them.

Arthur Radtke

Wellfleet

There's a Federal No-Go Zone in Cape Cod Bay, and Almost Nobody Out Here Knows It

Aug 20, 2026

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10 min read

There's a Federal No-Go Zone in Cape Cod Bay, and Almost Nobody Out Here Knows It

A bomb squad blew something up in Orleans on Tuesday. The reason it was sitting on the beach involves a Liberty ship they shot at for years, an artillery range along the Wellfleet cliffs, and a thousand-yard circle of water you are still not legally allowed to enter.

Arthur Radtke

Chatham

Tip O'Neill Said They Hung Him in Effigy in Truro

Aug 13, 2026

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6 min read

Tip O'Neill Said They Hung Him in Effigy in Truro

Sixty-five years ago, much of the Lower and Outer Cape fought like hell over the park it now can't imagine living without.

Arthur Radtke

Wellfleet

Aug 13, 2026

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4 min read

Two Dollars and One Cent

What a small ice-cream order costs at six stops from Orleans to Wellfleet. Same Cape, $2.01 apart.

Arthur Radtke

Spotlight

The Shoreline Doesn't Care About Town Lines

Jul 30, 2026

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3 min read

The Shoreline Doesn't Care About Town Lines

Forty-four parcels were studied. Six made the list. All six are in Brewster.

Arthur Radtke

Orleans

Jul 2, 2026

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1 min read

Orleans Runs the Show: Rock Harbor Fireworks, a 10 O'Clock Parade, and 250 Years on the Common

If the Lower Cape has a capital for the Fourth, it's Orleans — the bay-side fireworks everyone drives to, a parade worth the name, and a 250th night at the water's edge.

Spotlight

The Morning the Town Walks Into the Fire Station

Jul 2, 2026

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3 min read

The Morning the Town Walks Into the Fire Station

The Orleans Fire Rescue Association's annual Pancake Breakfast returns Sunday, July 5, 2026.

Arthur Radtke

Orleans

Harwich Port's Clinic Closed Oct. 23. Next Visit, Maybe Video.

Her Story Starts Decades Before the House Did

After 1:59 on Halloween Night, the Clock Says 1:00 Again

There's Always Someone Walking at Your Pace

The Prize-Winning Chowder Has Flour. The Oldest One Had Wine.

The Famous Wellfleet Oyster Started Out as an Import

He Washed Dishes at Pate's in 1984. Now Rock Harbor Grill Is His.

Hap Farrell's Slip Is Going to a Captain Whose Grandfather Fished the Same Harbor

Route 6 in Harwich Will Start Closing at Night. Here's the Way Around.

Same Word on the Board. $18 Apart.

At the Men's Store, She Figured Out What Orleans Women Would Buy

Ninety Percent of the Questions Are About Squirrels

They Hatch, and Then They Run the Wrong Way

Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?

There's a Federal No-Go Zone in Cape Cod Bay, and Almost Nobody Out Here Knows It

Tip O'Neill Said They Hung Him in Effigy in Truro

Two Dollars and One Cent

The Shoreline Doesn't Care About Town Lines

Orleans Runs the Show: Rock Harbor Fireworks, a 10 O'Clock Parade, and 250 Years on the Common

The Morning the Town Walks Into the Fire Station

Celebrate Lower Cape

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