Latest Stories

EASTHAM — Colin Nobili says he wasn’t sure what to make of the first UFO-themed float he saw. He had come to the parade at the Windmill Green on Sept. […]

INCREMENTAL

EASTHAM — The select board voted 3-2 on Monday to implement a residential tax exemption (RTE) for the current fiscal year, which began on July 1, joining the other three […]

VACCINES

If you tried to get a Covid-19 vaccination at the CVS on Bradford Street last Wednesday, you would have been turned away. A pharmacist there told an Independent reporter on […]

ENFORCEMENT

WELLFLEET — Two head-on crashes on Route 6 here, one last week and one nearly a year ago, have been handled in strikingly different ways by local and state police. […]

OBITUARY

TRURO — Robert Jay Lifton, the eminent psychiatrist, author, and anti-nuclear activist, died on Sept. 4, 2025 at the Truro home he had shared for more than a decade with […]

WASTEWATER

WELLFLEET — As the town struggles to meet state requirements to reduce nitrogen pollution in Wellfleet Harbor — which comes principally from the town’s thousands of septic systems — residents […]

FINDING CARE

PROVINCETOWN — The week following Labor Day often feels like a deep and heavy exhalation here, as the community’s collective task of hosting, serving, and entertaining more than 10,000 guests […]

PSYCHOLOGY REVIVAL

ORLEANS — In April 2016, about 25 therapists, social workers, and friends gathered in a circle at Nauset Regional High School to discuss the future of the Cape Cod Institute. […]

MONUMENTS

TRURO — Maushop, the giant in Wampanoag folklore, making an offering of a pipe to the rising sun as he sits atop High Head may soon reappear overlooking land where […]

INTO THE DRINK

PROVINCETOWN — When I checked the weather forecast the night before the 38th annual Swim for Life, I saw that it would be in the 70s — beautiful weather for […]

HAPPY RETURNS

My father did all the cooking in our house when I was a kid — except for a regular “fend-for-yourself day.” His approach to cooking was a combination of a […]

CEPHALOPODS

It’s dark, well past 10:30 p.m., when I walk out the wharf, but I’m not the only one on Provincetown’s MacMillan Pier at this hour. Fluorescent boat lights shine on […]

THE SCUTTLEBUTT

The epic late-summer, early-fall striped bass run has continued through another week of great weather with no strong cold fronts to break the rhythm. And with a tremendous amount of […]

MEET THE MAKER

The prices of Provincetown houses, hotels, and vacation rentals reach new heights each summer. Most visitors can’t afford to buy a place to live on the Outer Cape, but they […]

BIRDWATCHING

I have spent quite a bit of time studying and imagining what our region looked like before Europeans landed. Even in my half century on Earth, and much of it […]

WARRIORS WATCH

EASTHAM — “Quick” was the word of the day for the Nauset girls soccer team on Monday afternoon. Coach Evan Botting used it repeatedly in the pregame huddle as he […]

CROSS-COUNTRY

EASTHAM — If a factory existed that manufactured perfect cross-country weather it would build the kind of day that greeted the runners at Nauset’s course on Tuesday afternoon. The race […]

FOOTBALL

EASTHAM — The Stoneham Spartans jumped out to a 24-0 halftime lead and went on to defeat the Nauset Warriors 45-7 in the season opener for both teams last Saturday […]

NATURAL SELECTION

Across the pond, the Royal Horticulture Society recommends the perennial Phytolacca americana as an ornamental addition to the cottage or informal garden. With an upright form, red-purple stems, drooping racemes […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, Sept. 9 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

WEATHER

Most of us check the weather forecast without giving much thought to how it’s made. We open our phones, look at an app, see that this upcoming weekend is going […]

FOUND AT THE FARMERS MARKET

Sept. 3, Wellfleet Fall fruit, incoming! You’ll find Asian pears that were organically grown in Wellfleet at the Wild Blossoms Apothecary stand in addition to herbal remedies. The pears will […]

THAT WAS THEN

From the Sept. 12, 1904 issue of the Daily Kennebec Journal, selected and edited by Kaimi Rose Lum With drawn revolvers cowing a nondescript crew, Chief Engineer Dee Miller of […]

ASTRAL PROJECTIONS

The Sun is still in Virgo and now conjunct Mercury and sextile Jupiter. This is giving us all a firm push to experience new things and allow those experiences to […]

PROVINCETOWN: THIS WEEK'S CURRENTS

Most meetings in Provincetown are held in person, typically with an online-attendance option. Click on the meeting you want to attend on the calendar at provincetown-ma.gov for a link to […]

TRURO: THIS WEEK'S CURRENTS

Meetings in Truro are often held remotely. Go to Truro-ma.gov and click on the meeting you are interested in for an agenda and details on how to join. Monday, Sept. […]

WELLFLEET: THIS WEEK'S CURRENTS

Most meetings in Wellfleet are in person, typically with an online-attendance option. Click on the meeting that interests you on the calendar at wellfleet-ma.gov for details. All meetings are at […]

EASTHAM: THIS WEEK'S CURRENTS

Most meetings in Eastham are in person, typically with an online-attendance option. Click on the meeting you are interested in on the calendar at eastham-ma.gov for details. All meetings are […]

PAINTING

In 2022, Julie Smith had a skiing accident in Telluride, Colo. that shattered her right arm. “It was horrible,” she says. “But at the time, I had this great studio […]

COLOR AND TEXTURE

Aaron Larget-Caplan wanted to be a rock star. Growing up in Denver, Colo., he played his electric guitar listening to cassette tapes of Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, and Ozzy Osbourne. […]

PUBLIC ART

Zipporah Potter Atkins was the first Black woman to own a home in Boston. She was born in 1645 to enslaved parents and purchased her house in 1670. LaRissa Rogers, […]

WOOD WORK

Duncan Johnson grew up near a dump in Rockport — “a makeshift playground,” he says — where he’d scavenge for treasures. After graduating from the Pratt Institute in 1987, where […]

FIVE PICKS

  Lydia Vivante, a visitor engagement associate at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum, is often the first person to greet a visitor to the museum. For Vivante, this is […]

POETRY

When I finally stirred myself to rise, Shaking off the vision of a faceless stalker, And myself, glimpsed in a full length mirror, Stalking around in trousers two inches too […]

POETRY

The wind sloshes against the locust leaves, as inside a cypress a warm-feathered wren wrings out her song against the breeze: Teakettle, tea kettle, kitty oo, kitty oo, diddly diddly […]

COMICS

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The Beat Goes On With Jackie Beat by James Judd | Julia Thacker Brings Provincetown To Wildness by Juliet Leary | Faces of the Community by Abraham Storer | Photography […]

VIGNETTE

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STEAMERS

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WATERCOLOR

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UNCONSTITUTIONAL

When the tortured history of this period in our nation is written, the most crucial question hanging in the balance right now will have been answered: will six Supreme Court […]

VIEWFINDER

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Three incidents on Wellfleet’s roadways in the last 26 months left three people dead. No one has been charged in any of those cases, and the families and friends of […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Remembering John Ullman To the editor: Your letter from the editor on AI [“ ‘The End of Creator’s Block,’ ” Aug. 28] reminded me of John Ullman, the managing editor of the […]

OBITUARY

Charles Giachinta, best known in town as the beloved manager of Liz’s Café, Anybody’s Bar for the past nine seasons, died at his Provincetown home on Sept. 1, 2025. The […]

OBITUARY

John P. Clancy Doucette, a handyman, carpenter, and dune shack caretaker who was active in the local recovery community, died of pancreatic cancer on June 7, 2025 attended by his […]

OBITUARY

Richard “Cookie” Cook, a Provincetown native and decorated U.S. Army veteran, died on July 14, 2025 in Lansing, Kans. The cause was cardiac arrest. He was 96. Richard was born […]

TIDE CHART

Know when to hit the flats.   This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.

Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from Sept. 2 to Sept. 5, 2025.  PROVINCETOWN Sept. 2. William F. Powell Jr. and William T. Davison to Keith R. Costa. […]

CLASSIFIEDS

FOR SALE OR FREE  Cyclone Rake Z-10 Leaf Collector. Briggs & Stratton Motor, extra tubing. Adapter boot, 7 in. hose diameter. 10 years old, never used. Garaged. List price $3059, […]

Healing the Heart (Thursday, Sept. 11) Wellfleet Public Library (55 West Main. St.) holds a community reading of Pema Chödrön’s When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times on […]

Anita Cocktail’s Drag Show Crown & Anchor Sat., Sept. 13, 9 p.m. $35-$45 plus fees at onlyatthecrown.com   Dina Martina: Now Living Crown & Anchor Closing weekend: Fri.-Sat., Sept. 12-13, […]

SELECT BOARD Notice is hereby given that a public hearing will be held by the Wellfleet Selectboard on TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2025, AT 6:00 P.M. both virtually and at the […]

SELECT BOARD PROPOSALS FOR 2025 ANNUAL TRAFFIC HEARING The Board is accepting traffic hearing proposals beginning MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, until 5:00 P.M. ON MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2025, for the 2025 […]

CATWALK

PROVINCETOWN — In a place so steeped in tradition, already-beloved things can encounter the challenge of living up to their renown. The fifth incarnation of Jimmy Lee Curtis’s Fashion Show, […]

FUEL FOR THOUGHT

TRURO — Officials from the county, state, and Cape Cod National Seashore (CCNS) gathered at the Truro Meeting House on Aug. 28 to discuss the threat of wildland fire on […]

ENVIRONMENT

WOODS HOLE — Scientists and engineers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) on Aug. 13 carried out the second test of a method they hope could reduce the ocean’s […]

MISSING

PROVINCETOWN — Days before a planned celebration of his 40th birthday, Michael Matar of Boston, a regular visitor here, was found dead in the marshes of Hatches Harbor near Provincetown […]

ON THE WATER

PROVINCETOWN — After several people objected to the new harbor cruises offered by the Dolphin Fleet of whale watch boats this summer — including at meetings of the town’s harbor […]

ENGINE FIRE

WELLFLEET — A tour bus filled with beachgoers caught fire on Ocean View Drive around midday on Saturday, Aug. 30, releasing thick plumes of smoke that could be seen across […]

PROFILE

EASTHAM — Joanna Stevens jumps from the deck of her boat onto a receding sandbar in the center of Nauset Marsh. Her black rubber boots squelch as she lands. In […]

REPTILES

EASTHAM — It’s hatching season for diamondback terrapins on the Outer Cape. Tiny turtles are crawling out of the sand at the edge of the bay and making their way […]

FROM THE LARDER

It must have been about this time last year when my neighbor Joan Marshall told me about the pie contest at the Highland House Museum in Truro. She intended to […]

BLOOMS

At Meryl Gartside’s garden in mid-August, there is little indication that she is growing with a different goal in mind than that of the farmers who sell their fresh bouquets […]

NATURAL SELECTION

The common evening primrose, properly known as Oenothera biennis, purses its four-petalled flowers tightly shut at noon — it finds the hot sun rather offensive. The stiff and upright biennial, […]

ON THE BEACH

This might not happen again for 100 years. I’m not referring to this summer’s strange fishing season but to the wondrously odd appearance of the very finest blackberry crop I’ve […]

WARRIORS WATCH

EASTHAM — The fall high school sports season starts this week with hundreds of Nauset athletes hitting the fields, gyms, links, and cross-country trails. This article covers football, volleyball, cross-country, […]

WEATHER

September is historically a pleasant month weather-wise around these parts. Outside of being braced for an occasional tropical system approaching the Gulf Coast and Eastern Seaboard, we certainly don’t look […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, Sept. 2 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

THE SCUTTLEBUTT

We are having one of the best late summer to early fall bass runs in recent memory — the fishing is white hot. All summer long, the bass have wanted […]

FOUND AT THE FARMERS MARKET

Aug. 25, 27, and 30 Truro, Wellfleet, and Orleans One of the delights of summer is an ear of fresh local corn, and at this time of year, it doesn’t […]

THAT WAS THEN

From the Sept. 5, 1878 issue of the Provincetown Advocate, selected and edited by Kaimi Rose Lum   The annual vacation of our city and inland friends is fast drawing […]

ASTRAL PROJECTIONS

It’s a good thing Carnival is behind us, because this week we’re expected to think practically and forgo all things grandiose. We’re reaching the height of Virgo season, and there […]

PROVINCETOWN: THIS WEEK'S CURRENTS

Most meetings in Provincetown are held in person, typically with an online-attendance option. Click on the meeting you want to attend on the calendar at provincetown-ma.gov for a link to […]

TRURO: THIS WEEK'S CURRENTS

Meetings in Truro are often held remotely. Go to Truro-ma.gov and click on the meeting you are interested in for an agenda and details on how to join. Thursday, Sept. […]

WELLFLEET: THIS WEEK'S CURRENTS

Most meetings in Wellfleet are in person, typically with an online-attendance option. Click on the meeting that interests you on the calendar at wellfleet-ma.gov for details. All meetings are at […]

EASTHAM: THIS WEEK'S CURRENTS

Most meetings in Eastham are in person, typically with an online-attendance option. Click on the meeting you are interested in on the calendar at eastham-ma.gov for details. All meetings are […]

UNFATHOMABLE

Mark Brennan’s studio, a small room down a deep flight of stairs in the basement of his house in Wellfleet, is illuminated by two small windows high on the wall. […]

DESIGN

The Swim for Life, founded in 1988 by artist Jay Critchley and dancer Walter McLean, has turned into an annual event to raise money for local health services and celebrate […]

THE SALLY PROJECT

Sasha Chavchavadze and JoAnne McFarland have had art studios in the same Brooklyn building since 1990. Several years ago, they met and began discussing their shared experiences and interests. They […]

MUSIC

The parking lots are emptier, the breezes feel chillier, and apples are beginning to replace peaches on the kitchen counter. Autumn is swiftly approaching, and that calls for a new […]

MEMOIR AND DOCUMENTARY

Robert Reich is having a moment. His powerful new book about income inequality, Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America, published last month by Knopf, was recently number one […]

COMICS

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George Gritzbach Wants You to Get Moving by Eve Samaha| Talween Colors Outside the Lines by Dorothea Samaha | Valerie Isaacs at Wellfleet Preservation Hall by Susan Rand Brown | […]

VIGNETTE

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STEAMERS

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THE YEAR-ROUNDER

I try very hard not to swap at the swap shop. I bring things to give away but very rarely take. I need absolutely nothing. I probably have enough material […]

VIEWFINDER

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

“How much would you pay for one guaranteed night of perfect sleep?” That was the odd question in a press release that appeared in my inbox the other day, and […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

A Challenge to the PPRTA To the editor: Re “Provincetown Select Board Votes Not to Raise RTE This Year” [Aug. 28, page A12]: I believe the officers of the Provincetown […]

OBITUARY

Artist Evelyn A. Sheffres, formerly of Wellfleet, died on Aug. 7, 2025 at Scripps Coastal Medical Center in Carlsbad, Calif. with her sons by her side. The cause was pneumonia. […]

OBITUARY

Frank Thompson, a longtime resident of Provincetown, died on June 17, 2025 in Pompton Plains, N.J. of complications from pneumonia. He served on several town boards, including as chair of […]

OBITUARY

Dartmouth Professor Emeritus of physics and astronomy Joseph David Harris died on May 21, 2025 at his home in Claremont, N.H. He was 91. Though Joe’s roots were in Kentucky […]

OBITUARY

William Bradford Goedicke, a tech expert and eccentric whose family has loved Beach Point for three generations, died in the middle of the night on June 29, 2025 at his […]

TIDE CHART

Know when to hit the flats.       This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.

Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from Aug. 25 to Aug. 29, 2025. PROVINCETOWN Aug. 25. Carl M. Sciortino Jr. and Francis Pemberton Brown to Douglas Hayes Rickert. […]

CLASSIFIEDS

MUSIC  Music at Mean Burgers. Irish, old time, country music, and more is ongoing at Mean Burgers in Wellfleet, 6:30-8:30 p.m., indoors every other Tuesday. Next sessions are Sept. 9 […]

What’s New? (Thursday, Sept. 4) Cape Cod Museum of Art (60 Hope Lane, Dennis) presents a gallery talk and reception for an exhibition of work from the Sigmund M. and […]

Anita Cocktail’s Drag Show Crown & Anchor Sat., Sept. 6, 9 p.m. $35-$45 plus fees at onlyatthecrown.com   Bea Arthur’s Brat Summer Art House Tues., Sept. 9, 7 p.m. $30-$40 […]

PLANNING BOARD Pursuant to M.G.L. Chapter 40 §15C, the Wellfleet Planning Board will hold a hybrid public hearing on WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2025 AT 7:00 PM at the Wellfleet Adult […]