The Chatham Break’s

10/16/2026

Chatham History

The lifeboat was designed to carry 12 people. Bernie Webber brought it home with 36 aboard. On February 18, 1952, the tanker SS Pendleton broke in half during a violent nor'easter off Cape Cod, leaving 33 men stranded aboard its stern section. The Coast Guard sent 24-year-old Bernie Webber and crewmen Andrew Fitzgerald, Richard Livesey and Ervin Maske to find them aboard CG-36500, a 36-foot wooden motor lifeboat. The conditions were almost unimaginable. Nearby vessels reported waves reaching 60 feet. Crossing the dangerous Chatham Bar, a massive wave smashed the lifeboat's windshield and tore away its compass. Webber kept going. Somehow, in darkness and blowing snow, the four men found the broken tanker. Webber repeatedly maneuvered the tiny lifeboat alongside the towering wreck as the stranded sailors climbed down a Jacob's ladder one at a time. Thirty-two of the 33 men were rescued. Now carrying 36 people on a boat designed for 12, Webber had to find his way back without a compass. Eventually, the crew spotted the small red light of a buoy marking the entrance to Chatham Harbor and followed it home. All four Coast Guardsmen were awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal. Their mission is still remembered as one of the greatest small-boat rescues in U.S. Coast Guard history.

10/07/2026

The freshest seafood everyday

10/07/2026

Send DMF your saltwater fishing photos!

Get one of your saltwater fishing photos featured in our recreational fishing guide, on a 2027 permit hard card, or on our social media!

Calling all Massachusetts anglers! We're looking for photos that capture the excitement and joy of saltwater fishing off our coast. If you're interested in getting featured in our annual Recreational Saltwater Fishing Guide (opens in new tab) or highlighted on one of our social media channels, we'd love to see some of your photos! Please use the form below to upload your photo(s) and give us permission to post them in our social media or include them in our fishing guide.

Get one of your saltwater fishing photos featured in our recreational fishing guide, on a 2027 permit hard card, or on our social media!

10/03/2026

The Complete History of Chatham Bars Inn

The Cape's most luxurious destination since 1914.

Chatham Bars Inn was far ahead of its time when it first opened in 1914. Amenities like farm-to-table cuisine, saltwater baths and steam heat offered wealthy Bostonians a destination unlike any other on Cape Cod.

In modern times, Chatham Bars Inn remains the picture of luxury on the Cape, a distinction earned in no small part due to an extensive property-wide renovation undertaken in 2006.

Chatham Bars Inn's lobby, circa 1933.

Since then, the Inn has won numerous awards and is often named as both the best hotel on Cape Cod and one of the most luxurious destinations in the world.

As the family-owned Chatham Bars Inn continues to grow, the mission stays the same: setting the standard for resorts on the Eastern seaboard and remaining a world-class destination for discerning guests.

From Hunting Lodge to Luxury Lodging

Originally, Chatham Bars Inn served as a hunting lodge for wealthy New Englanders.

Charles Hardy founded Chatham Bars Inn in 1914. While Hardy was one of Boston’s most prominent stockbrokers at the time, his investment in Chatham Bars Inn was no sure thing.

Cape Cod had not yet established itself as a world-class tourist destination and no other equally upscale endeavor had yet been attempted in the region.

However, Hardy knew the Cape - his family had been traveling there to hunt for three generations. Confident that others would fall in love with the region’s natural beauty as he had, Hardy gathered a team of investors, bought up land in Chatham and erected a hunting lodge of unmatched elegance and splendor. Chatham Bars Inn was born.

The area around Chatham Bars Inn was less developed in 1914, but the view from the Inn was no less impressive.

The Inn, overlooking the pristine waters and ample sandbars of Aunt Lydia’s Cove, offered the best of civilization nestled in the heart of yet-untamed nature. Early visitors reveled in heretofore unheard-of luxuries, like peaceful, soundproofed accommodations and private bathrooms featuring both fresh and saltwater baths. They availed themselves of on-site entertainment including tennis courts, a nine-hole golf course and easy access to the Cape’s best hunting, fishing and sailing. At the end of the day, they gathered on the Inn’s veranda to watch the beautiful sky change colors over the water as the sun set.

A tragic hunting accident claimed Hardy’s life in 1929 and ownership of the Inn fell to a newly-formed organization called Chatham Associates, who continued to invest in the Inn’s offerings and reputation, managing it along with the Hardy family trust.

A Home Away from Home

Even in the 1940s, Chatham Bars Inn made a name for itself as a family-friendly luxury destination on the Cape.

The decades that followed were world-historic, and as the resort of record on Cape Cod, Chatham Bars Inn played host to some of the most prominent figures of the age. Guests included Henry Ford, William Rockefeller and Henry Morgenthau Jr., the Secretary of the Treasury under FDR.

During World War II, Chatham Bars Inn even became a home fit for royalty. The German invasion drove the Dutch royal family into exile in 1940, leading Princess Juliana and her three daughters to reside at Chatham Bars Inn as a summer home. Juliana would go on to be crowned Queen of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1948, succeeded by her daughter Beatrix in 1980.

Guests take in the sun at the Beach House Grill, circa 1960.

Of course, Chatham Bars Inn remained a welcoming destination for all guests, famous or not, and it was not long until the resort saw multiple generations of the same family returning, season after season, to take in a summer on the Cape.

Over the course of the next few decades, ownership of Chatham Bars Inn changed hands several times. Chatham Associates sold in 1953 to a local businessman, Edwin McMullen, who managed the Inn along with his wife, Ursula. The pair sold in 1986 to William Langelier and Alan Green, the first owners to keep the Inn open year-round. Langelier and Green then sold to the Great American Insurance Co. of Cincinnati in 1993.

Modern Rejuvenation

Ongoing renovations help Chatham Bars Inn to maintain its status as a world-class luxury resort.

Chatham Bars Inn was nearly a century old when purchased in 2006 and remains family owned at this time. Transforming what was seen as a historic regional destination, a new vision was born - namely, to turn Chatham Bars Inn into a world-class luxury resort.

An extensive property-wide renovation project left nothing untouched. All rooms in the Main Inn were completely renovated, as were its restaurants and public rooms. The cottages were completely redesigned and reconstructed from scratch. Old world charm was retained but updated with every modern convenience and amenity. Further

09/30/2026

Chatham North Inlet – Shoaling Advisory

The Chatham North Inlet is experiencing significant shoaling following this past weekend’s storm, with depths reported at approximately 1 foot at low tide in some areas.

Mariners are urged to use extreme caution in and around the North Inlet and to carefully consider current tide and vessel draft before attempting passage.

Mariners are strongly advised to avoid transiting the area at low tide due to the significantly reduced depths. Alternative arrangements for transit should be considered whenever possible.

Conditions in the area may change rapidly. Mariners are encouraged to plan accordingly and exercise extreme caution.

09/28/2026

As of noon today, Monday September 28, 2026, the precautionary shellfish closure will be lifted for all Chatham waters approved for shell fishing

09/26/2026

THIS IS WHAT A MATURE COASTAL STORM LOOKS LIKE FROM SPACE.

This morning’s satellite view clearly shows a well-organized coastal low spinning offshore of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, with a large comma-shaped cloud shield wrapping around the circulation.

You can see the storm pulling moisture northward while colder, drier air wraps around the backside of the system. The circulation itself is broad, which is why impacts can extend well away from the actual center of low pressure.

The most important part isn't simply where the center tracks, I'm watching the pressure gradient, wind field, coastal flooding potential, marine conditions, rainfall and areas where power outages may develop as the system continues northward.

09/25/2026

Historical Cape cod history

A Life Saving Station That No Longer Exists

Cape Cod and the sea are forever intertwined. Being surrounded by the ocean has meant that the landscape of the area has been dotted with lighthouses to protect those vessels passing along the shores. However sometimes the safety precautions are not enough and countless shipwrecks have happened all throughout the Cape’s history. In the time before the United States Coast Guard was the modern rescue team that it is today there was another organization who was in charge of maritime rescue. The United States Live-Saving Service was established in 1848 and to assist them in their aid to distressed vessels there would be life-saving stations built along the shore. Originally nine such stations were built on the Cape in 1872 with that number eventually reaching thirteen, laid out in three-to-five mile increments along the coast in areas including Nauset Beach, Cahoon Hollow Beach in Wellfleet, Race Point in Provincetown, and Monomoy Point in Chatham.
In 1897 the Old Harbor Life-Saving Station was built in Chatham on North Beach just south of the Chatham Twin Lighthouses. It was built in that location due to the loss of the Calvin B. Orcutt, a three-masted schooner, in December 1896. The vessel went down with all of her crew and was the only wreck recorded along that section of the Chatham shore. It would be built in what became known as the ‘Duluth Style’ due to its unique layout designed by George Tolman, a US Life-Saving Service architect. In all his design would be used to create twenty-eight stations which included a rectangular lookout tower giving the buildings a unusual look. The nine-room, two-story station would be captained by Hezekiah Doane who had been reassigned there from the Chatham Coast Guard station and would remain in place until 1915.

The station would see some improvements to help accommodate changes to lifeboats in 1910. Though not as busy as some of the other Cape life-saving stations Old Harbor would see its share of action including the rescue of Joseph Dutra and Manuel Silva in their overturned dory just off shore in May 1912, and the rescue of the crew of eight men from the schooner Future in May 1914. The next year in 1915 the United States Life-Saving Service was absorbed into the Coast Guard.
Over time the life-saving stations of Cape Cod would become obsolete as the Coast Guard performed all of the same rescue duties. In the 1940’s the life-saving stations of the original 1872 ilk would be sold or razed. In fact only one of the original stations remains at the location where it was built, the Cahoon Hollow Station in Wellfleet which today operates as The Beachcomber. However the story of the Old Harbor Station had only begun.
The venerable station would be decommissioned and abandoned in 1947. It would remain that way until 1957 when the federal government would sell the property to Mr. G. Bearse who would turn and sell it to Howard Rose who would use it as a private residence. In the mid-1970’s the National Park Service would buy the building, though Rose had an occupancy permit which lasted until April 1978.
After its purchase the Old Harbor Life-Saving Station was nominated to be added to the Register of Historic Places in 1975. This opened up federal funds for its preservation. Before this the building was at the mercy of the encroaching Atlantic Ocean on North Beach. In Chatham at the time some felt the building should be moved to a safer inland area due to the fact that at times it sat roughly ten feet from the water. Others, decrying its relative inaccessibility, said money should be spent elsewhere. One radical idea was for the building to be taken down and floated up the coast to the dunes of Race Point in Provincetown.
The debate raged on until events pushed a decision to the forefront. In October 1977 a huge Nor’easter pummeled the Cape and the storm surge brought the ocean’s waves right up to the foundation of the Old Harbor Station. In November the National Park Service decided to spend more than $100,000 to lift the building from its spot on North Beach and float it thirty-six miles up the coast to Race Point. The building was cut in two and lifted onto a barge November 29th and was floated up to Provincetown in one day. The move came in the nick of time as only two months later the landmark Blizzard of ‘78 hit the Cape and likely would have destroyed the station.
Ironically the historic storm did affect the Old Harbor Station. The building had remained on the barge in Provincetown Harbor for months due to a poorly made foundation at Race Point, bad weather conditions, and the fact that the cranes which removed it in Chatham had taken longer than expected to reach Provincetown. The barge sustained some damage during the Blizzard of ‘78 but hung on. Finally in May 1978, more than five months after leaving Chatham, the Old Harbor Station touched down in the dunes of Race Point, 400-feet east of the beach parking lot.
After a year of renovations the building would open to the public in May 1979 as the Old Harbor Life-Saving Museum. Lastly a boardwalk for easier access over the dunes would be added in the summer of 1985.
Safely nestled among the dunes at Race Point, the Old Harbor Life-Saving Station will serve as a link to an important slice of Cape Cod’s past for many years to come.

By Christopher Setterlund