Chatham is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. Chatham is located at the southeast tip of Cape Cod and has historically been a fishing community.

First settled by the English in 1664, the township was originally called Monomoit based on the indigenous population's term for the region.[1] Chatham was incorporated as a town on June 11, 1712, and has become a summer resort area. The population was 6,594 at the 2020 census, and can swell to 25,000 during the summer months.[2]

Location in Barnstable County and Massachusetts
Coordinates: 41°40′55″N 69°57′37″W

There are four villages that comprise the town, those being Chatham (CDP), South Chatham, North Chatham, and West Chatham.

History

Native American tribes who lived in the area before European colonization included the Nauset, specifically the Manomoy or Monomoy people. The expansive lands over which they roamed were known to them as Manamoyik or Monomoit. Explorer Samuel de Champlain landed here in October 1606 at a place he christened "Port Fortuné", where he contacted (and skirmished with) the Nauset. Twelve years later another group of Europeans gave it the name "Sutcliffe's Inlets".[1] Neither name stuck, and the location was not permanently occupied by Europeans until English settlers reached Monomoit in 1664.[1] The town was incorporated on June 11, 1712,[1] at which point it was renamed after Chatham, Kent, England. Its territory expanded with the annexation of Strong Island and its vicinity on February 7, 1797.[1]

Located at the "elbow" of Cape Cod, the community became a shipping, fishing, and whaling center. Chatham's early prosperity would leave it with a considerable number of 18th century buildings, whose charm helped it develop into a popular summer resort.

Chatham is home to the Chatham Lighthouse, which was established by President Thomas Jefferson in 1808 to protect the ships circling the Cape. The 1808 towers were replaced in 1841 by twin brick towers that were eventually lost to erosion. The pair were rebuilt in 1877 out of cast iron across the street from its original location, where the light is today. The northern of the two was moved to Eastham to become the Nauset Light in 1923, when the northern tower was declared surplus. Today, the keeper's house is home to a Coast Guard station which patrols the waters of the Atlantic and Nantucket Sound from Wellfleet to West Yarmouth. The first reforesting project in America took place on Great Hill in 1821 when Selectmen had pine trees and beach grass planted to prevent erosion and to keep sand from blowing over the village.[3]
Although urban sprawl has invaded the Cape, the town of Chatham still boasts a quaint and walkable Main Street, home to numerous family-owned and -operated shops, restaurants, and businesses. The main shopping area features pedestrian-friendly crosswalks, on-street parallel parking, and some parking lots that are off Main Street. During the summer, concerts are held in a gazebo on Main Street, and not far from the shops is where the Chatham Anglers baseball team plays, as part of the Cape Cod Baseball League on the peninsula for collegiate-age players.

Notable people

• Zered Bassett, pro skateboarder, grew up in Chatham
• Shirley Booth, actress
• Ruby Braff, musician, died in Chatham
• Louis Brandeis, Supreme Court Justice
• Bernard Cornwell, best-selling author
• Franklin Cover, late actor
• David Drumm, former CEO of Anglo Irish Bank[22]
• Todd Eldredge, champion figure skater
• Jack Forrester, Scottish-American professional golfer[23][citation needed]
• Lisa Genova, best-selling author
• Bobby Hackett, musician
• Julie Harris, actress
• Gilbert Knapp, Wisconsin State Assemblyman
• Karen E. Lasser, medical researcher and senior editor at Journal of the American Medical Association
• Joseph C. Lincoln, author of Cape Cod Stories
• Joseph Lord, Puritan pastor
• Martha MacCallum, talk show host
• Sara Pennypacker, children's book author
• Bill Richardson, American politician, author, and diplomat[24]
• Christopher Seufert, film director/photographer
• Maxim D. Shrayer, bulingual author
• Archelaus Smith, Nova Scotia pioneer
• Bob Staake, cartoonist & illustrator
• Tisquantum (Squanto), died in Chatham and is buried in an unmarked grave on Burial Hill, overlooking Ryder's Cove
• Stuart Varney, talk show host
• Bernard C. Webber, heroic Coast Guardsman who was award the Gold Lifesaving Medal for leading a rescue to the SS Pendleton in 1952