All Stories

WILDLIFE

WELLFLEET — She pulled up to the gas pump at the Mobil station on Route 6, but I knew she wasn’t there to fill up her tank. She was a […]

ON THE PITCH

As high school sports seasons progress, the Independent will be reporting regularly on how the pandemic is affecting the games, players, coaches, and fans. PROVINCETOWN — “I thought it would […]

HEALTH

TRURO — Summer 2020 came and went with nearly the usual influx of tourists, many of them from metropolitan areas with far higher incidence of Covid-19. But the infection rate […]

TOWN MEETING PREVIEW

PROVINCETOWN — Like much of the summer season this year, town meeting in Provincetown is going to arrive later, leaner, and al fresco. Originally scheduled for early April, at the […]

CIVICS

WELLFLEET — Standing on the pitcher’s mound at the Wellfleet Elementary School ballfield, Moderator Dan Silverman pitched a no-hitter on Sept. 12, with voters approving all the articles that came […]

TOWN MEETING PREVIEW

EASTHAM — The warrant for the Sept. 26 annual town meeting has arrived in mailboxes and is now available on the town’s website at eastham-ma.gov. Voters will be asked to […]

POLICING, PART 3

As U.S. police forces face a reckoning, issues of transparency and racial equity are on the table at the State House in Boston. A conference committee works on a bill […]

FELLOWSHIP

EASTHAM — Over the last five decades, if you turned on your radio on Cape Cod or in the Boston-Providence area, chances are you’d hear the voice of Bob Seay. […]

THE SCUTTLEBUTT

This past week saw more evidence of the effects of global warming on our oceans. We continue to see more warm-water fish moving up into our area. Charter boats out of […]

UNDEVELOPMENT

EASTHAM — Usually, when a basement floods, the home owner starts planning to get rid of the water. When Joanna Buffington’s basement was inundated, she started planning to get rid […]

KITCHEN TABLE

When there are raspberries and then blueberries, you can tell yourself you’ve got all kinds of time. You can go for a swim tomorrow. Or read a book. You have […]

ANIMAL CLINIC

The passing of Labor Day marks the end of our cut-pad-on-an-oyster-shell season and the beginning of the itchy-dog-and-cat season here on the Cape. (This will be followed by pancreatic inflammation […]

GALLERY

All of us on the Outer Cape are in some way or another living in a national park. Even if our homes are not within its boundaries, we are surrounded […]

Here at the tail end of Virgo season, the New Moon in the sign of the Virgin gives birth to new beginnings. The orderly and analytical nature of Virgo would […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, Sept. 15, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

MOVEMENT

Back in March, you set up your laptop on the dining room table and the kids took to the couch with their devices. You figured you could make do — […]

BOMB SQUAD

WELLFLEET — While doing landscaping chores on Sept. 12, Donald Thimas came across nine World War I-era bombs, including six powerful anti-tank devices that later rocked neighborhoods when they were […]

THE CLOSER

WELLFLEET — “It’s nut day,” says Sandy Valli. I look around, confused. The shop, Gelato Joy, is busy for sure, but not particularly crazy. It is 4 p.m. on the […]

HAZE

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BACK TO SCHOOL

EASTHAM — The Nauset Regional High School ventilation system turns out not to be as bad as expected, with the majority of classrooms expected to be ready for an Oct. […]

LEARNING AT A DISTANCE

PROVINCETOWN — The Provincetown Schools superintendent has penciled in the date of Oct. 5 for some students to return to school, but not inside the building. “We’re not going to […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Thursday, Sept. 17 Scholarship & Trust Administration Committee, 3 p.m. Board of Health, 4 […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. To watch live, go to truro-ma.gov and follow the “helpful link” to Truro Channel 18. Thursday, Sept. 17 Climate Action Committee, 10 a.m. Friday, Sept. 18 […]

currents

Meetings Ahead From wellfleet-ma.gov, hover over a date on the calendar on the right of the screen and click on the meeting you’re interested in to open its agenda. That […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on the meeting you’re interested to read its agenda and find information about how to view and take part […]

Elections 2020

Ed Markey, who soundly defeated Joe Kennedy in the U.S. Senate Democratic primary on Sept. 1, was the winner in every town on the Outer Cape. Looking at results across […]

THE CLOSER

WELLFLEET — “It’s nut day,” says Sandy Valli. I look around, confused. The shop, Gelato Joy, is busy for sure, but not particularly crazy. It is 4 p.m. on the […]

GALLERIES

The painter Edith (“Edie”) Vonnegut sits in the sand on Mayo Beach in Wellfleet, gazing at sailboats floating by in the sunshine. Her slender figure and natural beauty defy any […]

PROVINCETOWN 400

“Unity: Exploring Freedom and Democracy in 2020,” an exhibit on view at Berta Walker Gallery at 208 Bradford St. in Provincetown through Election Day, includes about 20 works by Varujan […]

BOOK REVIEW

Faced with impending climate doom, extreme housing shortages, and a global pandemic that spreads through close human proximity, most people hope Americans will get fewer and farther between. In his […]

QUEER ‘I’

A million years ago, back in 2016, I sat on a panel at a literary conference in New Orleans. At the time, I was working on my second novel, and […]

THEATER OF ART

The art of Kahn & Selesnick — otherwise known as Nicholas Kahn and Richard Selesnick, who met at Washington University in St. Louis in the ’80s, moved to the Cape […]

LIVE MUSIC

This Friday, singer-songwriter Thea Hopkins will be performing on the Payomet Performing Arts Center’s Drive-in stage, offering the rare pleasure, these days, of experiencing a live musician in concert on […]

VIGNETTE

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SKETCHBOOK

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OP-ED

In the middle of August, a group of eight writers, prompted perhaps by chants of “12 more years!” at the Republican National Convention, began an online discussion about finding ways […]

HIGH HOLIDAYS

The year 5781 in the Jewish calendar begins this Friday evening, Sept.18. The season is called the Days of Awe, beginning with the two days of Rosh Hashanah, the “head […]

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Wellfleet was the first of the Outer Cape towns to conduct its long-delayed annual town meeting this past Saturday, and as Provincetown, Truro, and Eastham have also chosen, it was […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Native American Stereotypes To the editor: People in Truro who are unhappy with the Massachusetts seal [“State Flag and Seal Question Is on Wellfleet, Truro Warrants,” Sept. 10, page A8] […]

TIDE CHART

Know when to hit the flats

Real Estate Transactions Recorded at the Barnstable Country Registry of Deeds from Sept. 7 to Sept. 11, 2020. PROVINCETOWN Sept. 8. Benjamin I. Dobson and Timothy C. Harrington Jr. to […]

The Rev. Manuel Peter Ferreira, 90, died on Sept. 6, 2020, at Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River, after a period of declining health. Father Ferreira was ordained as a […]

Helen Duberstein Lipton died peacefully on Sept. 2, 2020, in North Truro. She was surrounded by her daughters, Jackie and Irene, and close family at Irene’s home, where she had […]

Kathleen Forrest Connors, 75, died peacefully on Sept. 13, 2020, at her Wellfleet home, surrounded by family and friends. Born in Bridgeport, Conn., in 1945, she was the eldest daughter […]

CLASSIFIEDS

JOBS Truro Central School, health office assistant. Assist the school nurse with administrative work, student care, and implementing school-wide health and safety protocols. Health-care and/or child-care experience preferred. Send letter, […]

OLD BUSINESS

WELLFLEET — Back in 1949, Maurice and Ann Gauthier of New Bedford were in search of a better lifestyle for their growing family. They eventually found it in the woods […]

DEMOGRAPHICS

WELLFLEET — Every Cape Cod real estate agent seems to have a story of this summer’s pandemic home-buying bonanza: homes going under contract the day they are listed, often with […]

CANNABIZ

PROVINCETOWN — When b\well opened here on Friday, Sept. 4, it became the second recreational (or “adult-use”) marijuana dispensary on Cape Cod. Nine more dispensaries are on a path to […]

THE 2020 CENSUS

As the current deadline of Sept. 30 for completing the 2020 census draws near, low self-response rates and misconceptions about filling out the census questionnaire are lowering hopes for a […]

BLIGHT

EASTHAM — The old Nickerson Service Center property on Route 6 in North Eastham took a bashing at the select board’s Aug. 31 meeting, as the board considered the idea […]

TOWN MEETING PREVIEW

WELLFLEET — The annual town meeting is set to kick off at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 12, five months after it was initially postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic. […]

TOWN MEETING PREVIEW

TRURO — Town meeting may feel more like recess this year, as voters gather outdoors at the Truro Central School ballfield at noon on Saturday, Sept. 26. Even the warrant […]

OUTER CAPE PORTRAIT

MIAH NATE JOHNSON / PAINTER, SEWER, CREATOR / WELLFLEET In the 1980s, Miah began traveling the world as a photojournalist, working with major photo agencies and clients like National Geographic. […]

THE SCUTTLEBUTT

I have always said the summer season goes by in three blinks of the eye. The first time you blink, Memorial Day is gone; the second time, the Fourth of July […]

MEET THE MAKER

The Tiny Pricks Project began in 2018 when Diana Weymar, a Canadian-born, Princeton-educated textile artist, heard the current president say, “I am a very stable genius,” and found herself stitching […]

MATCH

PROVINCETOWN — The Provincetown Tennis Club (PTC) finished up its members tournament last week. Maria Cirino defeated Judy Mencher in two sets, 6-2, 6-3, in the women’s singles final, while […]

COCKTAIL HOUR

There have been years, like the ones when we had our restaurant in Provincetown, when I did not think a lot about the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, where […]

UNSOLVED MYSTERY

Fail Gail. The epithet strikes fear in the hearts of high schoolers, yet no one seems to know her real name. I am speaking, of course, of the infamous road […]

WIND

PROVINCETOWN — The Provincetown Yacht Club crammed three races and a party into Labor Day Weekend — and with just a week left in the summer racing season, the PYC […]

GRAVEYARD SHIFT

Even before there was a written Wellfleet history, there were Wellfleet oysters. We know that indigenous peoples savored them raw, smoked, roasted, steamed, and dried, because of the massive shell […]

BODY/MIND

“See you Friday night at Sangha!” Hugh said to me on the way out the door. I looked at the schedule on the back of my manual and sure enough: […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, Sept. 8, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

As the summer begins to wane, so, too, can our sense of motivation, especially now, as Mars goes retrograde. A rarer celestial event than Mercury’s three or four retrogrades a […]

NO CONTACT

EASTHAM — Nauset fall sports will be a completely different game this year. The Cape & Islands League Executive Board voted last week to allow boys golf, cross country, boys […]

ADMINISTRATION

TRURO — After Robert Wood, the top town manager candidate, and the select board could not agree on salary and benefits, the board met on Sept. 4 to weigh its […]

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

For more than 100 years, Massachusetts has used as its state seal a colonial swordsman’s disembodied arm brandished over a Native American. The same coat of arms has also been […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Thursday, Sept. 10 Animal Welfare Committee, 12 noon Public Pier Corp., 2 p.m. Provincetown […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. To watch live, go to truro-ma.gov and follow the “helpful link” to Truro Channel 18. Thursday, Sept. 10 Climate Change Action Committee, 10 a.m. Housing Authority, […]

currents

Meetings Ahead From wellfleet-ma.gov, hover over a date on the calendar on the right of the screen and click on the meeting you’re interested in to open its agenda. That […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on a particular meeting to read its agenda. That document will provide information about how to view and take […]

THEATER

Wasn’t it a great summer? Like the others before? But this year! There was that first show — remember how thrilling it was to get back to the Harbor after […]

EXHIBITIONS

“Alvin Ross was a real bon vivant, whose life, loves, interests, and connections were complex and often intertwined,” says James Bakker. Bakker, a local gallerist, auctioneer, and art historian specializing […]

PHOTOGRAPHY

“I like dramatic, show-stopping images,” says Greg Salvatori. “When I ask you to look at an artwork I created, I want to offer you something that is worthy of your […]

PROVINCETOWN 400

“Contemporary Cape Artists of Native American Heritage,” a new exhibit at Berta Walker Gallery, 208 Bradford St. in Provincetown, features artwork with local indigenous connections. Running concurrently (through Election Day) […]

BOOK REVIEW

A long sentence careens through Hugh Raffles’s The Book of Unconformities: Speculations on Lost Time. At 458 words, the sentence zigzags from a description of a helicopter ride gone wrong […]

OPERA

Jules Massenet’s music has never moved me. It’s too thickly orchestrated, and his choice of dramas too extreme. Werther, easily Massenet’s best opera, filled with romantic melodies and dissonant outbursts, bears the […]

ON THE ROAD

Wild Turkeys by Mary DeAngelis

VIGNETTE

Heading South by Daniel Dejean

Dear Thomas Jefferson by Linda Dujack

THE NEW OLD CAPE COD

Plan are underway to build a machine gun range at a Cape Cod base used for training by the Massachusetts Army National Guard. The proposal for Camp Edwards at Joint […]

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

The Boston Globe published a disturbing piece this week about the experiences of urbanites going on vacation in rural New England this summer. It was titled “Dirty looks, threats, and […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

The Town Manager Shuffle To the editor: Once again, the Outer Cape town manager shuffle occurs, this time in Truro [“Robert Wood and Truro Part Ways,” Sept. 3, page A4]. […]

CLASSIFIEDS

MUSIC Fiddler/singer ready to play and will travel. Live music for Covid-19-safe events including weddings, parties, memorial services. Celtic, Jewish, folk and world music. Performing solo or with accompanist. Contact: [email protected] […]

Real Estate Transactions Recorded at the Barnstable Country Registry of Deeds from Aug. 31 to Sept. 4, 2020. PROVINCETOWN Aug. 31. Jeffrey I. Lovinger Revocable Living Trust (Jeffrey I. Lovinger, […]

letter from the publisher

This week marks a year since we sent our very first edition to press. It was a “preview” edition, full of hope that we’d find the support to develop into […]

SCREENS, NOT CLASSES

PROVINCETOWN — Twenty-five children of working parents will be offered free child care in the Provincetown Schools gym as part of the school administration’s plan for completely remote learning when […]

WORKFORCE HOUSING

PROVINCETOWN — Both supporters and opponents of the dormitory-style housing project scheduled for review by the zoning board of appeals at its Sept. 17 meeting agree on one thing: it’s […]

FALSE STARTS

TRURO — The candidate selected to become the new town manager taking Rae Ann Palmer’s place turned out to be the wrong man for the job when negotiations over salary […]

TAXES

EASTHAM — While the select board once again decided not to adopt a residential tax exemption (RTE) this year, the controversial measure will be back on the table for 2022, […]

CANNABIZ

WELLFLEET — The former South Wellfleet General Store sits vacant with tarped windows and dilapidated shingles, guarded by a chain-link fence and construction tape. A similar sight can be found […]

LEARNING

For years, child-care centers have survived by paying workers minimum wage and offering a service that is, for working parents, still just barely affordable. It is this reality that reveals […]

WILDLIFE

EASTHAM — Three years ago, several Eastham residents began noticing a small flock of blue jays making the rounds about town. These birds weren’t just poking around yards and bird […]

THE SCUTTLEBUTT

PROVINCETOWN — The latest news on the waterfront is the dramatically increased number of beach closures that occurred last week. Alerts were coming into my cell phone via the Atlantic White […]

PRONOUNCEMENTS

PROVINCETOWN — Hear ye, hear ye! Kenneth Lonergan, Provincetown’s beloved town crier, announced his retirement last week, after 13 years of bell-ringing and proclamation-making. The spirited and affable Lonergan, 74, […]

ICING ON THE CAKE

WELLFLEET — The Wellfleet Police Dept. received an unexpected visitor on Monday, Aug. 24. Boston Bruins legend Bobby Orr stopped by the police station on Lawrence Road unannounced to thank […]

HOT & COLD

So many memories get made in a summer on Cape Cod. But if one of them is of that musty cottage smell, maybe it’s time to tackle the humidity problem […]

CHEF AT HOME

I haven’t had much luck fishing this summer. There have been a few bluefish, sure. As for striped bass, I haven’t caught one keeper. They say the fluke are in […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, Sept. 1, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

CROSSWORD #13

The September puzzle from Sophia Maymudes should be done on dry land. Need some answers? We send out the solution in our Friday newsletter. You’ll find the signup for our […]

ON THE WATER

Some sports require specialized equipment and conditions, such as the ability to get to the mountains for skiing. Baseball requires a diamond field and multiple players, which presents a problem […]

GOING GENTLE

PROVINCETOWN — The Fine Arts Work Center’s executive director has announced his resignation by June 2021 following charges of classism and racism by this year’s fellows and one staff member. […]

TOWN ELECTION

WELLFLEET — A special town election taking place on Tuesday, Sept. 8 features 10 ballot questions, all involving budget overrides and exemptions from Proposition 2½ limits. Large purchases that involve […]

EASTHAM — Following a dismal report on the aging high school’s ventilation system, the Nauset Regional School Committee voted unanimously on Aug. 31 to keep the building closed to most […]

turnover

WELLFLEET — Justin Post finished his last day as Wellfleet’s building inspector on Friday, Aug. 28. He will take over as Eastham’s building inspector on Sept. 15 after three years […]

JOURNALISM

An amendment to an economic development bill calling for a statewide commission to look at what’s happening to local newspapers passed the Mass. House of Representatives on July 28 and […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Thursday, Sept. 3 Personnel Board, 4:30 p.m. Zoning Board of Appeals, 6 p.m. Tuesday, […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. To watch live, go to truro-ma.gov and follow the “helpful link” to Truro Channel 18. Thursday, Sept. 3 Climate Change Committee, 10 a.m. Finance Committee and […]

currents

Meetings Ahead From wellfleet-ma.gov, hover your mouse over a date on the calendar on the right of the screen, and click on the meeting you’re interested in to open its […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on a particular meeting to read its agenda.  That document will provide information about how to view and take […]

POETRY

“I knew it was going to make a person uncomfortable the minute they heard I was a poet,” Gail Mazur says. “I was really quite modest in my ambitions. I […]

PAST PERFORMANCES

It begins with the crackling sound of vinyl. The violin strums its highest strings, then tunes to the piano. An audience member coughs. These are the opening sounds of a […]

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

Many children’s book writers find inspiration in their own offspring. Wellfleet resident Corinne Demas, the award-winning author of five novels, two short-story collections, a poetry collection, a memoir, and numerous […]

EXHIBIT SPACES

Though a pandemic may not be the easiest time to open an art gallery, Christopher Kelly and Keith MacLelland are handling it with aplomb. “We started the lease back in […]

A LIFE IN ART

“A year ago, I became an orphan,” says Bailey Bob Bailey on the back deck of his Truro home. “Dad died on Aug. 25, 2019. He was 89. Mom had […]

INDIE SCREEN

We live in an era in which adolescent fantasies of masculinity are being lived out in a grotesque and outsized way. Even more than Bush fils, Donald Trump seems caught […]

VIGNETTE

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THE YEAR-ROUNDER

PROVINCETOWN — Nothing in life is perfect. I woke up this morning unrefreshed. The weather has been too damn hot, even at night. I ran out of full-strength coffee and […]

OP-ED

WELLFLEET — In the middle of the current racism pandemic, many of us who are not black or brown — who do not worry that our sons will be murdered […]

NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon? Or a coyote, maybe? Named by the Algonquin tribe to mark the corn husking season, the Corn Moon, […]

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

I received a nice note this evening from Sadie Hutchings, the Provincetown veterinarian (and our new “Animal Clinic” columnist). “I think you guys must have just had a birthday for […]

CLASSIFIEDS

YARD SALE Yard sale this weekend in Provincetown. Saturday, Sept. 5, and Sunday, Sept. 6, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Good stuff! Outdoors and duly distanced at 584 Commercial St. […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

FinCom Chair’s Conduct To the editor: You were right to question the Outer Cape’s perception of itself as an “enlightened community” [Aug. 27, Letter From the Editor, page A2], and […]

Real Estate Transactions Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from Aug. 24 to Aug. 28, 2020. PROVINCETOWN Aug. 24. Manaia Holdings LLC to Peter W. L. Picard and […]

Know when to hit the flats

ENVIRONMENT

On a hot summer day in 2008, Wayne Davis was flying his Citabria, a single-engine two-seat propeller plane, off the shores of Cape Cod, looking for bluefin tuna. With nearly […]

LEARNING

After months of missed classes, child care, sports, and summer camps, the question of when children can return to school is a pressing concern for many Outer Cape families. High […]

POLITICS

PROVINCETOWN — A Democratic congressional primary race in Western Massachusetts wouldn’t normally make the news on Cape Cod. But the race for the nomination in the rural 1st district, covering […]

ENFORCEMENT

EASTHAM — Barbara Niggel, the owner of Willy’s World Wellness & Conference Center, has been fined $101,466 by the state attorney general’s office for a litany of labor law violations. […]

PRESERVATION

WELLFLEET — A home listed for sale off Chequessett Neck Road has raised the blood pressure of preservationists because it is part of a cottage colony that has for 72 […]

NATURAL SELECTION

Over 100 years ago, in an agrarian Massachusetts, farmers began training ospreys to nest — not in trees, but on man-made platforms. The intent was to use the birds of […]

RACISM REPORT

When Barbara Rushmore’s “Black Lives Matter” sign was stolen from in front of her house on Commercial Street in Provincetown’s East End around July 4th, she assumed that someone from […]

ANIMAL KINGDOM

EASTHAM — Bats took over town hall last week, displacing town employees and moving last weekend’s early voting for the Sept. 1 primary election outdoors. Town Administrator Jacqui Beebe said […]

THE SCUTTLEBUTT

One of the biggest heartbreaks for me through the years living here every summer is watching this classic fishing village become less and less of that. Families who could no longer […]

SHARK WATCH

WELLFLEET — A familiar foe still lurks in the summer waters, but the unfamiliar foe floating in the air may be distracting from it. With Covid-19 keeping beachgoers vigilant about […]

PEOPLE OF THE FIRST LIGHT

EASTHAM — Since 1620, the English side of the story of the Pilgrims’ landing at First Encounter Beach, and then Plymouth, has been the version most people learn in these […]

FAIRWAYS

Early on in the coronavirus “quarantine,” many people began new hobbies and activities, or revived old ones that they hadn’t participated in for years. Some people have exercised more or […]

HOMESTEADING

When we became backyard chicken farmers five years ago, I had oodles of enthusiasm, but very little actual knowledge of chickens. I didn’t know, for example, that our six brand-new […]

GRAVEYARD SHIFT

When the sun is shining, they glow with a bluish hue, standing out from the luminous white marbles, polished granites, and matte-black slates. There are not many of them in […]

GALLERY

When we moved to Wellfleet, my daughters considered it a major upgrade that we’d be getting a mailbox. We had gone from one remote village to another, but this one […]

KITCHEN TABLE

Two years ago, after watching the Kavanaugh hearings, Katherine Alford chose one of the first recipes she would contribute to the Rage Baking collective: Maple Walnut Pull-apart Bread. Like other […]

APPRECIATION

Thank you, Peter Watts. The loss of any artist is a double shock, as it dawns on us what has ended. Not only will we never again catch his eye, […]

NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

When a planet spends time in the sign it rules, it is said to be in its domicile, one of the five “dignities” that determine the level of influence it […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, Aug. 25, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Thursday, Aug. 27 Water & Sewer Board, 1 p.m. Planning Board, 6 p.m. Friday, […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. To watch live, go to truro-ma.gov and follow the “helpful link” to Truro Channel 18. Thursday, Aug. 27 Historical Commission, 4 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 1 Board […]

currents

Meetings Ahead From wellfleet-ma.gov, hover your mouse over a date on the calendar on the right of the screen, and click on the meeting you’re interested in to open its […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on the meeting you’re interested in to read its agenda. That document will provide information about how to view […]

PORTRAITS

In an essay accompanying the exhibit “69 Witch Eyes,” Justin Vivian Bond, who uses the pronouns they/them, asks a pertinent question for life during the pandemic: “How do we care […]

MIXED MEDIA

In the fall of 2018, Wellfleet artist Megan Hinton entered Mills College in Oakland, Calif., to get an M.F.A., a fine art degree unlike the master’s she’d gotten years ago […]

HERITAGE

Though Mischa Richter was widely celebrated as a cartoonist, at The New Yorker and elsewhere, he painted fine art canvases seriously and steadily throughout his life. He said of his […]

INSTALLATIONS

Over the last seven weeks, while painting Edge of the Continent/Center of the World, a 64-foot-long watercolor of the Outer Cape dunes, Mark Brennan has been listening to Beethoven. “I […]

OPERA

Giuseppe Verdi was 77 when he began work on Falstaff, his last and arguably his greatest musical achievement, and his only successful comedy. More than 50 years earlier, he had lost […]

BOOK REVIEW

Leave it to satirist Carl Hiaasen to name the house band at Casa Bellicosa “The Collusionists.” Casa Bellicosa, a thinly disguised stand-in for Mar-a-Lago, is the Palm Beach setting at […]

SKETCHBOOK

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VIGNETTE

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STEAMERS

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OP-ED

The Provincetown Schools plan to open next month with online learning only — at least, for the foreseeable future. At the same time, other Outer Cape schools are opening with […]

ADDRESSING A GRIEVANCE

Laurie Veninger stands up for “de-mail” at the North Truro Post Office with Ira Brodsky and Mark Enright. Veninger said other members of Indivisible Outer Cape gathered at post offices […]

CLASSIFIEDS

ART The Truro Historical Society Art Sale. Presenting an outdoor art sale at the Highland Museum next to the lighthouse. Featuring paintings by seven local Truro and Provincetown artists: Saturday, […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Don’t Compare Bottles to Bags To the editor: A comparison of plastic bags and plastic bottles, as was suggested by a letter to the editor in the Aug. 20 edition […]

Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from Aug. 17 to Aug. 21, 2020. PROVINCETOWN Aug. 17. John H. Basile Living Trust (John H. Basile, trustee) to Thomas W. […]

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

At least three Outer Cape residents who chose to make a statement about racial justice have found their front yard “Black Lives Matter” signs stolen or defaced (see story on […]

Obituary

Stanley J. Martin of Turners Falls died on July 23, 2020, surrounded by loved ones. He was 90. His wife, Virginia, died on Dec. 15, 2019. Stanley was born Dec. […]

Know when to hit the flats

Paco, a scarlet macaw, was at First Encounter Beach on Monday to watch the sunset with his owner, Larry “Fish” Mackin of Eastham. For a report on others keeping watch […]

CLEAR CUT

TRURO — The Truro Conservation Trust filed suit on July 1 against a local resident for allegedly clearing trees and creating an illegal dump on two acres of conservation land […]

BALLOTS

PROVINCETOWN — While the U.S. Postal Service is being hobbled by national political forces that aim to privatize it and perhaps sabotage the upcoming federal elections during a pandemic, there’s […]

LEARNING

PROVINCETOWN — Citing fears about tourists bringing the coronavirus here and the large number of parents who are hospitality workers, the Provincetown Schools administration has opted for the most conservative […]

CIVICS

TRURO — Robert Wood, a Texan, will become the next town manager here, succeeding Rae Ann Palmer, who chose not to seek a renewal of her contract this year. Though […]

DEATH

Peter Watts, longtime Wellfleet resident and renowned landscape painter, died on Aug. 17, 2020, at age 86. He succumbed to esophageal cancer, just two days after attending a reception in […]

ENVIRONMENT

Protecting the Outer Cape shoreline is a continuous project, so much so that “there is no end goal” to the work, said Rex McKinsey, Provincetown’s marine coordinator. “These are living […]

ANIMAL CLINIC

As a veterinarian on Cape Cod in the summer, I sometimes feel as if I am spying on visitors who are probably here for a short time and trying to […]

THE SCUTTLEBUTT

We got our first hint of fall this past weekend as a tropical storm passing to our east ushered in a much cooler and damp air mass from the north. Relentless […]

BEYOND THE TURNIP

EASTHAM — For several years, the outer reaches of Cape Cod have been home to weekly farmers markets, where a wide variety of locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy, […]

BEHIND THE WHEEL

“I’m driving my parents’ 2008 Subaru to college in Ohio.” The daughter of some regular customers was pretty excited when she told me about the drive she’ll be making next […]

WORK PODS

TRURO — Teddy Ment and Eleanor Getz, the two halves of the acrobatic performing duo Teddy and Eleanor, have spent the past six summers at the helm of Payomet Performing […]

ULTIMATE PUTTS

It’s a sport that requires strategy, patience, mental fortitude, and an ever-gentle touch. It’s one of Cape Cod’s most popular and traditional summer activities, one that can either boost budding […]

Population trajectory is very simple, so simple a fourth-grader could calculate the formula, according to Center for Coastal Studies scientist Stormy Mayo. Take the number of animals born and subtract […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, Aug. 18, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

MILLION-YEAR PICNIC

A few nights ago, I stood on a deck in Truro that looked east over the National Seashore. In the distance, I could hear the Atlantic surf; from the opposite […]

NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

Virgo season is upon us, and with it, the season of the harvest. Virgo’s crop is mainly nightshades, like potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers. Their genus, Solanum, may refer to their […]

LOST & FOUND

I found it along the shoreline: a wooden board with blue paint flaking off to reveal layers of underlying paint colors. With a long and triangular shape, it couldn’t be […]

On a walk down Commercial Street, the horizon line of Cape Cod Bay meets the sky in such a way that a demarcation of blue lines is the whole town’s […]

DARK OF NIGHT

Third in a series of reports on the local effects of the crisis in the U.S. Postal Service. The Trump administration’s unprecedented assault on the Postal Service, which has affected […]

SENATE PRIMARY

Less than two weeks away from the U.S. Senate Democratic primary, progressive incumbent Sen. Ed Markey and current Congressman Joe Kennedy III are still fighting to see who will be […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Thursday, Aug. 20 Public Pier Corp., 1 p.m. Water & Sewer Board, 2 p.m. […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. To watch live, go to truro-ma.gov and follow the “helpful link” to Truro Channel 18. Thursday, Aug. 20 Climate Action Committee, 10 a.m. Zoning Board of […]

currents

Meetings Ahead From wellfleet-ma.gov, hover your mouse over a date on the calendar on the right of the screen, and click on the meeting you’re interested in to open its […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on a particular meeting to read its agenda.  That document will provide information about how to view and take […]

The Trump Administration on July 31 appealed the ruling of a federal district court in its case against the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe. The Dept. of Interior’s March attempt to disestablish […]

PAINTING

The painter Chet Jones normally doesn’t talk to journalists about his art. “I’m very unpromoting,” he says. “I know that’s a sacrilege to say, because so much art is built […]

PHOTOGRAPHY

“I loved the darkroom, but the world changes,” photographer Francis Olschafskie says, a light wind scattering his raspy voice. “These prints were sort of an end for me.” Olschafskie, whose […]

ART EDUCATION

“We are seeing unprecedented challenges in youth and art education,” says Tessa Bry Taylor, the Provincetown Art Association and Museum’s new curator of youth education. She took over the position […]

THE ART OF CRISIS

Before the pandemic, celebrated and influential Provincetown artist Cynthia Packard was blocked for two years — she hardly painted. Every time she tried, she would feel the urge to wipe […]

GALLERIES

“I am generally a rather high-strung, tense person, anal retentive,” Robert Goldstrom says, speaking from his home in Claverack, N.Y., near Hudson, in the Hudson River Valley. “Compared to most […]

PSYCHEDELIA

When Wellfleet artist Andrew Jacob was a teenager, he painted freight trains and abandoned buildings. “At night we would sneak out,” he says. “There was kind of a ‘code of […]

OUTER CAPE PORTRAIT

JULIA SALINGER / ARTIST, WRITER & ACTOR / WELLFLEET When she was in New York City, Julia Salinger worked in art galleries and the music business. She produced records and […]

STEAMERS

Virtual Carnival by A. Crock

THE YEAR-ROUNDER

PROVINCETOWN — The American Dream rides high out on the gray waters of Provincetown Harbor this morning in the form of an immense yacht. Actually, I can see five yachts […]

OP-ED

EASTHAM — The quahog fritters were sensational. In the kitchen of this house I’d known for 68 years and had quietly rattled about in for three and a half months, […]

VIGNETTE

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REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK

On Aug. 6, when the Nauset Regional School Committee met with all four elementary school committees in the district, nearly 100 people were on the Zoom meeting. That’s the size […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Cloverleaf and Climate Change To the editor: In “We Must Act Locally on Climate” (Aug. 6, page A3), Dick Elkin clearly explains the reasons why significant building projects must, from […]

CLASSIFIEDS

MUSIC Fiddler/singer ready to play and will travel. Live music for Covid-19-safe events including weddings, parties, memorial services. Celtic, Jewish, folk and world music. Performing solo or with accompanist. Contact: [email protected] […]

Real Estate Transactions Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from Aug. 10 to Aug. 14, 2020. PROVINCETOWN Aug. 10. Curtis M. McClay Revocable Trust Dated March 2, 2011 […]

Know when to hit the flats

In our weekly marathon of trying to keep up with what’s going on in town halls and virtual committee meetings about schools and budgets, health and housing, we stop now […]

LEARNING

EASTHAM — Nauset Regional High School students will attend school twice a week and stay home for remote learning on the other three days, while the plan for preschool through […]

PANDEMIC WAVES

PROVINCETOWN — Look closely, and Barnstable County’s graphs of new Covid cases and deaths tell a story. There’s an upward swell of discovered cases that begins a couple weeks after […]

CIVICS

In the Sept. 1 primary election, three Democratic candidates for the Barnstable County Commission are vying for two places on the Nov. 3 ballot. They’re hoping to replace Mary Pat […]

ENVIRONMENT

TRURO — From her house on a hill near Higgins Hollow and Longnook Beach, Melinda Krasting has a clear view of a patch of pitch pines that are slowly turning […]

COLLEGE WOES

For local students just about to begin college or preparing to return to university, the pandemic summer of 2020 presents unique and daunting choices. CDC guidelines say the lowest-risk option […]

YOUTH EMPOWERMENT

The day Nauset High senior Garrison Guzzeau went to take his driver’s test, he left the Registry of Motor Vehicles with both his license and his completed voter preregistration, so […]

FAMILY

Every Monday night, Sue Eldredge meets her daughter and granddaughter over Zoom for dinner. In a way, that’s a lot more togetherness than they had before the pandemic, when she […]

RESILIENCE

Updated Aug. 18, 2020. When the lockdowns of mid-March first hit, the Cape’s nonprofits were faced with a series of questions. Organizations like the AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod […]

TRANSITIONS

For Jen Rhodes of Wellfleet, it was obvious where her eighth-grade son, Jack, should attend high school in the fall. She’d sent two daughters to technical schools, and knew that […]

CANDY

WELLFLEET –– On Main Street, there isn’t much to do if you’re under 10 years old. Sure, there are art galleries, coffee shops, and clothing stores, but those are pretty […]

LOCAL LORE

From pirate ships to alien sightings, folklore is part of life on the Outer Cape. The tales have long traveled from person to person, and it’s a tradition to bring […]

YOUNG VOICES

Student stories in this week’s issue: We’ve written about how local businesses and town governments are coping with the coronavirus pandemic, but Garrison Guzzeau reached out to nonprofits from Eastham […]

BACKYARD PANTRY

Earlier this summer, I discovered a wild cherry tree growing off my back porch. I noticed one variety, then a second, and learned from a friend and Cape Cod National […]

MEET THE MAKER

My great-grandmother Bernice Newcomb did chair caning out of her home in Wellfleet in the 1920s and ’30s. I grew up in that house, where my mother did chair caning, […]

VIEW FROM THE HIVE

Most people know that honey bees collect nectar and pollen from flowers. But field work for honey bees is much more diverse than that. Field bees suck nectar from the […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, Aug. 11, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

THE SCUTTLEBUTT

The dog days of summer blaze on, bringing water temperatures up to the mid to high 70s. The lack of rain also contributes to the almost tropical feel of our […]

THE COURT WILL RISE

PROVINCETOWN — The Provincetown Tennis Club members’ tournament is underway this month, and the format looks a little different this year due to coronavirus protocols. Usually, the tournament would be […]

HYPERSHARKTIVITY

The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy reported 25 separate ocean beach closures because of shark sightings on the Outer Cape in the week ending Tuesday: 5 in Provincetown, all at Race […]

THE NEWS TODAY, OH BOY

“Fake news” has become President Trump’s favorite counterpunch when challenged by reporters doing their jobs. He uses that phrase when he is caught with nowhere to hide. Any piece of […]

WHILE I WAS SLEEPING

Some folks are legends, some are magic, some magnificent. Terry and Jo Harvey Allen, longtime residents of Santa Fe, N.M., are all that and more. A brilliant songwriter, Terry has […]

DEBT OF GRATITUDE

EASTHAM — About 50 people gathered outside Willy’s World Wellness & Conference Center on Aug. 7, marking one year since the death of tennis coach Joe Abbott, who collapsed at […]

TRUE CRIME

PROVINCETOWN — The goods cluttering his BMW convertible might have been stolen, David Sprindzunas admitted to Provincetown Police Officer Tyler Dow on Aug. 5. But according to Dow’s report, Sprindzunas […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Thursday, Aug. 13 Board of Health, 4 p.m. Planning Board, 6 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. […]

currents

Meetings Ahead From wellfleet-ma.gov, hover your mouse over a date on the calendar on the right of the screen, and click on the meeting you’re interested in to open its […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on a particular meeting to read its agenda. That document will provide information about how to view and take […]

PAINTING

Paul Resika’s studio in Truro is strewn with clam shells that he uses to mix his paints — orange ones, turquoise ones, mustard yellow ones. They are like little distillations […]

GALLERIES

“The beach used to smell like hell,” sculptor Paul Bowen says. He is seated at a workbench in his studio on the top floor of a rugged barn that was […]

QUEER ‘I’

In the summer season of Covid-19, there’s more drama playing out in the Capitol and White House than on the stages of the Outer Cape. That role reversal is not […]

AUTHORS

“Before I knew I was a human being and not a dog, my earliest sense of myself was male. I am just a funny sort of guy. I don’t hate […]

BOOK REVIEW

In “Monument,” a poem in Native Guard, Natasha Trethewey describes watching ants bring soil up from her mother’s grave. “Believe me when I say/ I’ve tried not to begrudge them/ […]

BACH TO BASICS

PROVINCETOWN — Boston may be a mecca for it, but there is authentic Baroque music happening right here on the Outer Cape. Great Music on Sundays @5 is presenting two […]

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A friend who used to do a lot of substituting in Outer Cape schools once described a scene in a classroom for four-year-olds that was well-designed for all kinds of […]

VIGNETTE

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NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

The momentum of this week culminates in a New Moon in Leo. Who doesn’t revel in extended moments of admiration and praise? Yet what becomes of such gaudy lauding when […]

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

In our weekly marathon of trying to keep up with what’s going on in town halls and virtual committee meetings about schools and budgets, health and housing, we stop now […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

A Net-Zero School To the editor: Re “We Must Act Locally on Climate” [Aug. 6, page A3], the Nauset School Building Committee and the architectural firm for the proposed school […]

CLASSIFIEDS

JOBS Local news reporter needed. To cover government, the environment, access to health care, and other issues that matter in our Outer Cape communities. Year-round, purpose-driven work. Must be good […]

Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from August 3 to August 7, 2020. PROVINCETOWN Aug. 7. William T. Realty LLC to Team Slap LLC. 421 Commercial St., Unit […]

Know when to hit the flats

Danville Rowan Brown, 39, of Provincetown, died on Aug. 5, 2020, at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis. The cause is unknown, though the preliminary finding was respiratory failure; he had […]

Leo Anthony Childs III, 69, of Truro, who was known as “Skip,” died Aug. 7, 2020, in a mowing accident at St. Peter the Apostle Cemetery in Provincetown. Tending the […]

our picks for the week of August 6 through August 12

Outer Cape Calendar Bucket List (Thurs) The public art collective Illegal Art will stage a fully permitted event on Thursday, Aug. 6, from 5 to 7 p.m., at Provincetown Town […]

ECONOMY

PROVINCETOWN — On a calm, sunny day, the word was out among fishermen: big schools of Atlantic bluefin tuna were active and feeding just a few miles off the backside […]

PUBLIC HEALTH

PROVINCETOWN — Massachusetts is ramping up efforts to find positive cases of coronavirus. Asymptomatic screening programs are being expanded around the state, and Provincetown recently announced it will begin a […]

CORONAVIRUS

EASTHAM — Two town residents tested positive for Covid-19 after a house party in Chatham that resulted in at least 13 positive cases, according to Health Agent Jane Crowley. Crowley, […]

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

TRURO — Health and Conservation Agent Emily Beebe told the zoning board of appeals last week that the proposed treatment system at the 39-unit Cloverleaf development would reduce nitrogen in […]

THE COVID EFFECT

Rumors started to circulate last week that a rash of Wellfleet restaurants had closed due to positive Covid-19 tests among staff. According to public notices from restaurateurs, Mac’s Shack closed […]

TECHNOLOGY

While debates about in-person schooling rage and doctor visits go virtual, Outer Cape towns are negotiating the next decade of internet coverage in the area. Contracts between the individual towns […]

ENVIRONMENT

With summer well underway, higher temperatures coupled with nutrient overload in kettle ponds and lakes brings the dangerous return of cyanobacteria blooms, also known as blue-green algae. As of Tuesday, […]

HELMSMEN AT PLAY

PROVINCETOWN — It’s been a while, but the Provincetown Yacht Club’s summer racing season is back on course. The hiccups started July 11, when excess wind postponed the third leg […]

PERSONAL HISTORY

TRURO — As my close friend and neighbor calmly explained to me on the phone that he had a high fever and was showing potential coronavirus symptoms, my eyes drifted […]

IN MEMORIAM

Fewer and fewer people these days have a clear idea of who Harry Kemp was. Some might recognize his name from Harry Kemp Way, the road in Provincetown where Outer […]

BODY/MIND

“Practice makes perfect” or “10,000 hours to become an expert” — we like to believe that if we do something long enough, we conquer it. Then we can set it […]

HELP LINES

Editor’s note: In the Aug. 6 print edition of the Independent the Well Line’s phone number was incorrect. The correct number has been substituted below. WELLFLEET — “We all have to go […]

ASSESSING THE RISK

Fall sports will most likely be much different than ever before this coming season. The Mass. Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) officially voted on July 15 to move the start date […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, Aug. 4, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

THE SCUTTLEBUTT

In last week’s column, I wrote that I thought I had seen it all, only to watch a man with a scuba mask dive off his paddleboard to swim with […]

WORKOUT WOES

PROVINCETOWN — It happened just weeks ago, when he was shopping: Lorenzo Wigfall pulled on a pair of jeans and realized — to his horror — that it was too […]

COCKTAIL HOUR

The fleeting joy of summer is something we wait for all year here on the Outer Cape and, yet, it is almost gone before we know it. Right now, August […]

PLANTCRAFT

Solar dyeing starts with a gathering: deadheaded blooms, freshly unfurled petals, bright green leaves. Dyer’s Coreopsis, Queen Anne’s lace, and Rudbeckia. My garden shears make quick work of the task. […]

GALLERY

Collaboration among innovators, designers, builders, and television executives built the 2020 This Old House Idea House, the first of its kind on Cape Cod. It started with a design by […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Thursday, Aug. 6 Board of Assessors, 9 a.m. Public Pier Corp., 11 a.m. Zoning […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. To watch live, go to truro-ma.gov and follow the “helpful link” to Truro Channel 18. Thursday, Aug. 6 Climate Action Committee, 10 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 11 […]

currents

Meetings Ahead From wellfleet-ma.gov, hover your mouse over a date on the calendar on the right of the screen, and click on the meeting you’re interested in to open its […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on a particular meeting to read its agenda. That document will provide information about how to view and take […]

artists

In 2007, painter Michele Harvey, whose breathtaking oil landscapes of forests in the early morning mist commanded high prices at her galleries in New York City and Provincetown, found her […]

galleries

Painter Christopher Sousa, whose exhibit, “All the Time in the World,” will be at William Scott Gallery from Friday, Aug. 7, through Aug. 19, does not paint what he considers […]

painters

“Since 1990, Punchinello has always been included as the primary actor in the narrative of my paintings,” Patrick Webb says. Though Punchinello is a classic commedia dell’arte character, Webb depicts […]

Editor’s note: 75 years ago this week,the United States became the only country in the world to deploy nuclear weapons against civilians, dropping atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima(Aug.6, […]

OP-ED

Climate change is a clear and present danger to our community and to humanity as a whole. We are digging a hole for ourselves by continuing to produce greenhouse gas […]

SKETCHBOOK

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TEACAKE'S TAKE

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NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

Our Sun signs, along with the rest of our charts, are imprinted at birth in that first moment of independent existence. We are free to begin the process of personality […]

LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER

People get annoyed when they don’t get their paper. I guess it’s good to be up there with coffee in our neighbors’ hierarchy of needs. While there are some things […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

The Virus and FedEx To the editor: In recent weeks, as the temperatures have spiked and the streets have filled to whatever extent they have this year, I have noticed […]

TIDE CHART

Provincetown and Wellfleet Harbors High tide Low tide The Sun A.M. ft. P.M. ft. A.M. ft. P.M. ft. Rise Set Thu P’town 1:41 10.3 2:14 9.3 7:59 -0.1 8:11 0.6 […]

Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from July 27 to July 31, 2020. PROVINCETOWN July 29. Scott A. Allegretti and James B. McNeilly to Ross J. and April […]

John Kaschak, 74, who spent over 50 years on Cape Cod, died on July 14, 2020, in Harwich. The cause was lung cancer, said his brother, Frank. The son of […]

CLASSIFIEDS

JOBS Provincetown Tennis Club front desk staff member needed. Answer phones, make reservations using our computer system, answer member questions. 10-15 hours a week, $20/hour. Call the club to arrange […]

Arts Briefs and Listings

Jessica Brilli’s ‘Idle Time’ A show of new work by artist Jessica Brilli, “Idle Time,” will open on Friday, Aug. 7, at Kobalt Gallery at 366 Commercial St. in Provincetown. […]

where's waldo?

Fishing heated up with the weather this past week. Striped bass have not gone into their summer doldrums and are feeding during the day in large concentrations all along Beach Point […]

THE NEW NORMAL

PROVINCETOWN — The goal is clear and workable: at some point, we’ll be able to systematically screen for coronavirus, identify asymptomatic carriers early, and effectively squelch community spread. What we […]

POLICING PART 2

Sorting out the truth about racial profiling and policing on the Outer Cape is no easy assignment. But the explanation given last month by local police for disproportionate arrest statistics […]

NO FREE LUNCH

After a kitchen worker tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday, the region’s entire federally supported free lunch program, which spans Harwich to Provincetown, was shut down on Monday. Thirteen staffers […]

LEARNING

A group of anonymous women have sewn two masks for every Provincetown student for their return to school in September. But whether students will actually come back to wear them […]

WAITING GAME

EASTHAM — The Rock Harbor parking lot and boat ramp are expected to be accessible at last next week, according to Harbormaster Scott Richards. “The project is near completion and […]

CANDIDATES

The public will have its first chance to meet the three Truro town manager candidates, who are profiled below, at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 4, in a virtual meeting. […]

GALLERY

The July 21 dedication ceremony for two new Cape Cod Habitat for Humanity homes in Wellfleet was virtual, but still celebratory, marking the culmination of a construction effort that started […]

BEEKEEPING

Deep into summer, beekeeping on the Outer Cape is mostly a waiting game. The queen has been laying since April; the hive population is perhaps 60,000. Though we’re in a […]

KITCHEN TABLE

Growing up in Oklahoma I could never have imagined eating a fish with the head still on. Like most Americans in landlocked states, when I was a kid, I expected […]

CROSSWORD #12

The July puzzle from Sophia Maymudes. Need some answers? We send out the solution in our Friday newsletter. You’ll find the signup for our newsletter right here on our home […]

OUTER CAPE PORTRAIT

CLEMENTINE VALTZ / STUDENT & WRITER / WELLFLEET Clementine Valtz decided, as a junior, to apply to college. If accepted, she would skip her senior year at Nauset Regional High […]

BASEBALL

Major League Baseball (MLB) returned to play last week with no fans in the ballparks but plenty of people watching on TV from their living room couches. Some of those […]

NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

Every 29½ days, the Moon goes full in the sign directly opposite the Sun, currently in Leo. Full Moons are an exercise in self-examination and this full Moon, in Aquarius, […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, July 28, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

MOVEMENT

While plenty of people here are devoted to daily swims, I meet many who haven’t gone in the water for years. They’re too busy. They think it’s a vacation thing, […]

DEVELOPMENT

EASTHAM — Despite concerns about potential conflicts of interest, Scott Kerry, Eastham’s town moderator, will remain chair of the town’s T-Time Development Committee. The T-Time committee voted unanimously to maintain […]

BUDGET CHECK

Eastham Eastham Is ‘Well Positioned Going Into This’  By Ryan Fitzgerald EASTHAM — The town’s finance director, Rich Bienvenue, presented a revised fiscal year 2021 budget proposal to the select […]

SOCIAL MEDIA

Five years ago, Andrea Sawyer was asked to be a moderator of the Provincetown Community Space (PCS) Facebook page by a friend who was giving up the position. Sawyer thought […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Wednesday, Aug. 5 Historic District Commission, 4 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 6 Board […]

CURRENTS

Truro Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. To watch live, go to truro-ma.gov and follow the “helpful link” to Truro Channel 18. Thursday, July 30 Zoning Board of Appeals, 5:30 […]

currents

Meetings Ahead From wellfleet-ma.gov, hover your mouse over a date on the calendar on the right of the screen, and click on the meeting you’re interested in to open its […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on a particular meeting to read its agenda. That document will provide information about how to view and take […]

GALLERIES

“It sort of annoys me when people say, ‘I don’t want to be seen as a gay artist,’ ” Forrest Williams says. “There’s an incredible tradition of homoerotic art.” Williams […]

PAINTING

Since Lorraine DeProspo moved to Provincetown year-round almost two years ago — for nearly two decades, she split her time between here and Montclair, N.J. — she has noticed a […]

DRAG

“Cacophony is all about enjoying the moments we have,” Courter Simmons says of his drag persona, Cacophony Daniels. “I’ve always wanted her to be the kind of person you get […]

MIXED MEDIA

Even before her mother, Michele Antoinette Pray-Griffiths, died in the summer of 2014, writer-photographer Rachel Eliza Griffiths was shooting black-and-white self-portraits, positioning herself in locations that resonate with history, memory, […]

BOOK REVIEW

Long ago, my children and I celebrated at the library whenever we came across a favorite picture book by Arnold Lobel. No matter how many times we read it, The […]

ARTS DURING COVID

Could this be a new age for chamber music? With small ensembles and limited audiences, chamber music certainly seems more Covid-friendly than, say, Mahler’s “Symphony of a Thousand.” But what […]

COVID PORTRAIT #3

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THE YEAR-ROUNDER

Look at what you are holding in your hands (or reading online). It is the creation of a group of people dedicated to bringing you the stories of the Outer […]

OP-ED

Every day, some ridiculous or explosive or dangerous or miraculous thing happens with our teenagers. I wish I could sit them all down and tell them about John Lewis. A […]

STEAMERS

Gossip Superspreader by A. Crock

VIGNETTE

Mother Duckie by Daniel Dejean

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Several readers sent us an article published this week in CommonWealth magazine titled “As local news withers, we’re losing sense of identity.” The author, Bruce Mohl, reports the stories of […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Cloverleaf Won’t Help Seasonal Workers To the editor: Re last week’s two op-ed columns [July 23, page A3]: Sen. Julian Cyr, perhaps the best elected official in the state, beats […]

CLASSIFIEDS

JOBS Provincetown Tennis Club front desk staff member needed. Answer phones, make reservations using our computer system, answer member questions. 10-15 hours a week, $20/hour. Call the club to arrange […]

Thomas “T” Gandolfo of Provincetown and Gulfport, Fla., died on July 19, 2020, in Gulfport following a short illness. He was 75. Born in Methuen in 1945, Gandolfo combined the […]

Frank Hogan, a Provincetown native who was an accomplished collector of art and antiques and had an art gallery in Orleans until about a decade ago, died early in the […]

HOME

Real Estate Transactions Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from July 20 to July 24, 2020. PROVINCETOWN July 20. Emanuel D. Berger and Nicholas P. Klesaris to Kenneth […]

Know when to hit the flats

our picks for the week of July 30 through August 5

Outer Cape Calendar An Artist’s Lot The Arts Foundation of Cape Cod is hosting an online silent auction starting on Thursday, July 23, at noon through Sunday, Aug. 9, at […]

Arts Briefs and Listings

Now Screening: ‘Clay,’ Short Film on Potter Steve Kemp Michael Cestaro was born and raised in Eastham, graduated from Nauset Regional High School in 2004, and left for college in […]

THE WATERFRONT

PROVINCETOWN — An evening aboard the schooner Hindu, watching the sun slip behind the monument and clouds light up like giant hydrangeas, has been a Provincetown tradition since 1946. Generations […]

ADDICTION

PROVINCETOWN — Though crystal meth has long been a fixture in Provincetown’s drug scene, the rest of the Cape is experiencing its first big brush with the extremely addictive stimulant. […]

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

TRURO — As opposition to the design of the affordable housing project known as the Cloverleaf continued last week, the developer responded to wastewater concerns and objections by the disability […]

CORONAVIRUS

WELLFLEET — There were no positive Covid-19 tests among the 987 people tested in Provincetown and Wellfleet during a two-day period in June, the Independent has learned. The tests, administered […]

CIVICS

As the future of the U.S. Postal Service, which President Trump has called “a joke,” continues to be ominously clouded, a key group of the service’s users on the Outer […]

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

TRURO — Janice Sommers and Janice Walk have called Sally’s Way home from its beginnings — going back to 2012 when Truro’s long-awaited affordable housing development was just a sandy […]

WHILE I WAS SLEEPING

Legendary music agent Elliot Roberts, who died a little more than a year ago, was the best kind of friend, wickedly funny, warm and engaged, and always with the most […]

SQUID INK

WELLFLEET — I parked at Newcomb’s, front row for a surf check, and had not yet left the car when my friend Al walked over, rubbing the head of his […]

BABYCAKES

Olya Lowen Belmer was born on July 11, 2020, at the Montreal Royal Victoria Hospital in Canada. She gestated in Wellfleet, though, where her father, Aaron Richmond, was in residence […]

GALLERY

Besides providing a first impression, the front door of your home can also establish its aesthetic. And if you believe in feng shui, the front door provides the portal for […]

GARDEN VARIETY

TRURO — On a sunny hill overlooking Cold Storage Beach in North Truro, Gunter Hanelt, a jeweler by profession, tends to more organic treasures. His overflowing vegetable garden boasts sugar-snap […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, July 21, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

THE SCUTTLEBUTT

The dog days of summer are certainly upon us, and summertime fishing and whale watching are in full swing. Striped bass have been biting despite the July heat, which typically […]

VOLLEYBALL AND BEYOND

Many arriving on Outer Cape beaches this summer are bringing beach games with them — a reflection of people’s widespread but pent-up need to interact. Several popular beach games are […]

LOST & FOUND

Container gardening doesn’t have to be traditional. Clay pots filled with tomato plants and geraniums are just fine, but a few blossoms or mosses set in castoff containers can be […]

NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

The Sun has entered Leo, the fifth sign of the Zodiac, which spans the midsummer weeks and the heights of the season. As Leo is also ruled by the Sun, […]

GRAVEYARD SHIFT

PROVINCETOWN — On Aug. 5, 1910, after three years of construction, Provincetown’s Pilgrim Monument, commemorating the first landing place of the Mayflower Pilgrims, was dedicated by President William Howard Taft […]

WELLFLEET — The local source of free clothes is available again. Mass Appeal reopened on July 14 after months of being closed because of the coronavirus. Mass Appeal’s hours are […]

PROVINCETOWN — Outer Cape Health Services, which operates urgent and primary care clinics in Provincetown, Wellfleet, and Harwich, is encouraging its primary-care patients to schedule routine health care appointments previously […]

HERRING RIVER

The Friends of Herring River has a new survey for the public about the Herring River Restoration Project in Wellfleet and Truro. The survey is part of the project’s permitting […]

CIVICS

WELLFLEET — Plans for the 2020 annual town meeting are at last set. Almost five months after the meeting was originally to have taken place, it will be convened at […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Thursday, July 23 Visitor Services Board, 10 a.m. Public Pier Corp., 3 […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. To watch live, go to truro-ma.gov and follow the “helpful link” to Truro Channel 18. Thursday, July 23 Climate Change Action, 10 a.m. Friday, July 24 […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to wellfleet-ma.gov and click on the meeting you are interested in for instructions on how to participate. Thursday, July 23 Natural Resources Advisory […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on a particular meeting to read its agenda. That document will provide information about how to view and take […]

GALLERIES

“We’re here to communicate,” says Dave Laro. “We are all trying to make sense of this world we were born into.” As an artist, Laro tells stories by collecting old […]

What would Hans Hofmann think of Zoom? That may sound like a silly question, but it’s one that is conjured up by Laura Shabott’s paintings at the Berta Walker Gallery […]

ARTISTS

If you’re a baseball fan, William Ciccariello’s paintings of players will soar like a home run sailing over the Green Monster, up into the light and then gone, into the […]

BOOK REVIEW

Sylvia A. Harvey, in her book The Shadow System: Mass Incarceration and the American Family, offers a crash course on the gruesome realities of American prisons. Beginning with her own […]

GALLERIES

“I love this place,” Angela Russo says of Provincetown. Russo is a photographer and the gallerist of Angela Russo Fine Art/Karilon Gallery, the cozy art-bedecked space at 447 Commercial St. […]

SKETCHBOOK

John Lewis, Good Trouble, by Mark Adams

OP-ED

TRURO — In early June, many Outer Cape Codders joined in our shared reckoning over the crisis of white supremacy and racial inequity in this country. After the protests, many […]

VIGNETTE

Vignette by Daniel Dejean

OP-ED

PROVINCETOWN — The Independent’s July 9 front-page story on the effects of the coronavirus crisis on dogs, “Pandemic Is No Treat for the Four-Legged,” fell into a common and unfortunate […]

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Last week, Publisher Teresa Parker wrote about the financial challenge of launching and sustaining a high-quality newspaper without sufficient start-up capital, and then finding ourselves smack in the middle of […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Visiting Truro While Black To the editor: We appreciate the Independent’s attention to race-based discrimination and reports of racial profiling on the Outer Cape [July 2 and July 16]. In […]

CLASSIFIEDS

JOBS Provincetown Tennis Club front desk staff member needed. Answer phones, make reservations using our computer system, answer member questions. 10-15 hours a week, $20/hour. Call the club to arrange […]

OBITUARY

Henrietta L. Jakubowski, 91, of Provincetown and Jupiter, Fla., has been called “Hy” for as long as she could remember, and the moniker certainly fit her infectiously happy personality. She […]

HOME

Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from July 13 to July 17, 2020.  PROVINCETOWN July 13. Christopher T. Kenyon and Steven R. Poyner to Brown Street Cottage LLC. […]

Know when to hit the flats

our picks for the week of July 23 through July 29

Outer Cape Calendar The Pearl Can’t Help It Music at the Wellfleet Pearl is back! The Aaron Norcross Trio performs Sunday, July 26, at 3 p.m. at 250 Commercial St. […]

Arts Briefs and Listings

Supremely Nostalgic Group Show at Albert Merola The Albert Merola Gallery will present a new group show, “Reflections of…,” opening Friday, July 24, and on view through Aug.12. Featured are […]

LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER

We went to press with our first weekly issue on Oct. 7, 2019, a little over nine months ago. Our business plan said we needed $375,000 in the bank.We had […]

RESIGNATION

PROVINCETOWN — Robin Craver was hired as Provincetown’s town manager by the select board on Jan. 13, 2020. Her contract included a six-month probationary period, after which, if she were […]

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

TRURO — The zoning board’s review of the proposed 39-unit Cloverleaf affordable housing project will not be completed in time for developer Ted Malone to apply for state funding before […]

BLACK AND WHITE

TRURO — Last July, N.K., a University of Chicago professor here on vacation, took a right at the entrance to Corn Hill Beach in Truro, put her towel down, and […]

HEALTH

PROVINCETOWN — Health care is rarely simple. The question of who can access it, where, when, and for how much often gets a conditional and specific answer that’s different for […]

COUNTY SEAT

PROVINCETOWN — The Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates adopted a resolution on June 17 questioning the legality of Gov. Charlie Baker’s Covid-19 response. The Outer Cape’s delegates opposed the resolution, […]

INVESTIGATION

PROVINCETOWN — When accusations of discrimination and failure to address racially charged incidents at the Fine Arts Work Center became public last month, the organization’s board responded with a letter […]

HOT WHEELS

“Bikes are the new toilet paper,” said Bill Meadows, who owns Ptown Bikes. That’s the big joke in his business. The national surge in interest in biking has definitely found […]

THE SCUTTLEBUTT

The fish seem to be settling into a fairly normal summer pattern lately, unlike most of their human counterparts. Striped bass can be found in good numbers from the Cottages […]

MASKED

On a hot Sunday in July, a walk down Commercial Street in Provincetown brought photographer Edward Boches mask-to-mask with a slow summer-paced wave of humanity. Whether seated in the shade, […]

MEET THE MAKER

I learned the basics of turned wood bowls in junior high school wood shop, and the challenge of it has fascinated me ever since. But college, then family, and my […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, July 14, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

SUMMERTIME BLUES

TRURO — Like many men of his generation, my father was not much of a cook. He was good with burgers and steaks and made a fine tuna salad. But […]

HISTORY UNMUDDLED

WELLFLEET — On the official seal of the town of Wellfleet, a party of pilgrims rows ashore in a dinghy as a crowd of indigenous people wait on the beach. […]

TRURO HISTORICAL SOCIETY

TRURO — A new virtual exhibition opening Friday, July 17, at the Highland House Museum celebrates Truro’s history through paintings on a surprising kind of canvas: ceramic plates. “Looking Back, […]

MUSICIANS

Eleanor Dubinsky is a polyglot in every sense of the word. She sings in four languages: French, Spanish, Portuguese, and English. She plays the cello and the guitar. She’s lived […]

SCHOOLS

While Massachusetts students may return to the classroom in some form in 2020, it is looking like approval for the Nauset Regional High School building project will have to wait […]

PROVINCETOWN — Thirty percent of registered Provincetown voters cast ballots in the June 30 annual town election, in which incumbent select board members Robert P. Anthony and Louise Venden squared […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Thursday, July 16 Board of Health, 4 p.m. Zoning Board of Appeals, 6 p.m. […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. To watch live, go to truro-ma.gov and follow the “helpful link” to Truro Channel 18. Thursday, July 16 Climate Action Committee, 10 a.m. Town […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on a particular meeting to read its agenda. That document will provide information about how to view and take […]

PAINTING

Painting is the sole focus of artist Midge Battelle’s work these days. Known as a photographer and respected curator in the Provincetown art scene, she considers her current artwork the […]

MUSEUM-GOING

Returning to the Provincetown Art Association and Museum, after several months without setting foot in an art museum, feels like coming home: white walls sprinkled with paintings, the sound of […]

SCREENINGS

Mya Taylor, who is receiving this year’s Next Wave Award at the Provincetown International Film Festival, has a burgeoning career as a transgender performer in Hollywood. But before her breakthrough […]

BOOK REVIEW

In 1972, James Baldwin wrote “The Shot That Echoes Still,” a painful and personal essay for Esquire magazine reflecting on the assassinations of Malcolm X in 1965 and Martin Luther […]

VIGNETTE

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SKETCHBOOK

Watercolor lesson on the bank of a Great Pond. Massachusetts common law tradition says that any pond over 20 acres is a Great Pond and is a Commons, held by […]

DUNE TOWN

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

‘Redeem the Dream’ To the editor: Dennis Minsky’s column in the July 9 Independent [“A Higher-Stakes July 4th, ” page A3] spoke to me. This past July Fourth, being like […]

CLASSIFIEDS

TOURS Hopper House Tours reopen. You stay safe in your car, following the guide’s car, using a provided two-way radio. This unique experience takes you on back roads and to […]

HOME

Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from July 6 to July 10, 2020. PROVINCETOWN July 7. Kevin Bazarian and Jose Perez to Matthew and Joseph Chartier Petrells. 446 […]

NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

The new moon on the cusp of Cancer and Leo clears the air for fresh perspective. It’s time to forgive and forget what’s past and focus on what’s to become […]

Know when to hit the flats

our picks for the week of July 16 through July 22

Outer Cape Calendar Streaming Readings The Wellfleet Public Library is hosting a virtual poetry reading on Zoom with Heather Corbally Bryant, Tzynya Pinchback, and Lynne Viti, on Thursday, July 16, […]

Arts Briefs and Listings

In-Person Classes Return to Castle Hill Following its success with virtual classes this summer, Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill is reintroducing in-person instruction, starting in August. Classes […]

SCIENCE AT RISK: PART 3

This is the third and final article in a series on the Cape Cod National Seashore’s science program. It explores why science matters at the Seashore and why it’s at […]

CORONAVIRUS

PROVINCETOWN — As the crowds of visitors grew larger and tensions mounted last week, the select board held an emergency meeting on July 2 at which Police Chief James Golden […]

BAR ASSOCIATION

PROVINCETOWN — Gov. Charlie Baker’s reopening plan puts restaurants on one side of a line and bars on another. Restaurants can be open now for outdoor dining, indoor dining, and […]

LAND USE

EASTHAM — The 11 acres of town-owned property on Route 6 that once was the T-Time driving range might become a regional swimming pool, community center, commercial kitchen, affordable housing, […]

HOUSING

TRURO — Following years of noncompliance with its orders, the board of health took decisive action on June 30 against the owners of the Truro Motor Inn by not renewing […]

BACCALAUREATES

PROVINCETOWN — Fourteen eighth-grade students celebrated their completion of the Provincetown Schools International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program on June 22. They walked down the front steps of the school, past the […]

LIBERTY & JUSTICE

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DOG DAYS

WELLFLEET — Though canines won’t be receiving a stimulus check, that doesn’t mean they haven’t been affected by the coronavirus crisis. Because of your dog’s acute ability to sense stress […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, July 7, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

THE SCUTTLEBUTT

This Fourth of July on the waterfront was certainly different than any other I have experienced in all my years here. The vibe was low-key, and it was very sad […]

THE UN-VIDEO GAME

With team and televised sports fading out over these past four months, determined athletes have sought out new activities. Marla Rice and her husband, Kevin, who live in Wellfleet, decided […]

DOVETAIL JOINT

The question: I’d love to create a patio in my yard. Can I do it myself? While you can do some of the work toward putting in a patio, you’re […]

GALLERY

It seems no Cape Cod home is complete without an outdoor shower. Coming home from the beach with sandy feet and wind-strewn hair and heading straight for it is a […]

ARCHITECTURE

“It is unusual for a high school to have an architecture program,” says Peter McMahon, the founding director of the Cape Cod Modern House Trust (CCMHT) and co-author of Cape […]

NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

With the full moon behind us and Mercury stationing direct this weekend, we heartily welcome some emotional reprieve and levity. But not so fast! The tough lessons of the past […]

KITCHEN TABLE

Potato chips were practically invented for this moment in history. They are an irresistible escape from everything difficult about responsible grown-up life. But salt- and fat-wise, it can’t be entirely […]

COCKTAIL HOUR

It was the year of the Chicken Dance and I was studying abroad in the old university town of Salamanca, Spain. Dictator Francisco Franco had been dead just a few […]

CIVICS

WELLFLEET — There is a new select board member in town, and he comes from a long line of Wellfleet civic leaders. Ryan Curley, 36, says he is a 15th-generation […]

GREENING

The Swapshop Ecology Action (SEA) Prize, awarded by the Wellfleet-based nonprofit Cape Cool, goes to graduating Cape Cod seniors who have demonstrated dedication to environmentalism both inside and outside the […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Thursday, July 9 Planning Board, 6 p.m. Public Pier Corp., 3 p.m. […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. To watch live, go to truro-ma.gov and follow the “helpful link” to Truro Channel 18. Thursday, July 9 Zoning Board of Appeals, Cloverleaf hearing, […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to wellfleet-ma.gov and click on the meeting you are interested in for instructions on how to participate. Thursday, July 9 Dredging Task Force, […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on a particular meeting to read its agenda. That document will provide information about how to view and take […]

GALLERIES

Visiting the Rice Polak Gallery in Provincetown after three months without live art is a surreal experience, from being presented with hand sanitizer and plastic gloves at the door to […]

MOVIES

According to Lisa Viola, artistic director of the Provincetown International Film Festival (PIFF), she and her staff and the Provincetown Film Society’s new CEO, Rachael Brister, were halfway through preparations […]

QUEER LIT

In the introduction to Written in Invisible Ink: Selected Stories, by Hervé Guibert, the late queer literary hero of the AIDS era, translator Jeffrey Zuckerman writes that in French, “invisible […]

HEY DAHLIN’

Wanted: Gender-nonspecific “soft butch” having most qualities of a classic soft butch (you know what they are). In addition, applicant must be mature, firm but kind, must like people, but […]

THE YEAR-ROUNDER

The Fourth of July has come and gone and I am not quite sure what to make of it. There was celebration and merriment — always a good thing, I […]

VIGNETTE

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STEAMERS

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

What’s the most fun part of starting a newspaper? Thinking about what to put in it. We knew from the start that our home territory was the Outer Cape, four […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Parking and Elitism in Wellfleet To the editor: Your letter from the editor in the July 2 issue misrepresents the intention and impact of the policy to restrict parking at […]

CLASSIFIEDS

FOR SALE 2005 Toyota Camry. High mileage but runs well. Body condition fair. One owner, asking $1,900. Please call (508) 487–4225, or email [email protected] [7-30] Complete set of law books. Dated 1874 to 2014 and in […]

Josephine “Joie” Deall was born Oct. 4, 1935, in Brooklyn, N.Y., and spent her childhood in various neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Long Island. After living with dementia for the last […]

A loving father, grandfather, and friend, George Ralph Bertrand died on June 19, 2020, at age 73. He was born in Cherry Hill, N.J., and raised in Springfield. He moved […]

Mary Louise “Mary Lou” (Ferreira) Rose, 88, died at her home in Truro surrounded by family on July 2, 2020 after a brief illness. She was the wife of Austin […]

Damian Joseph Silva, 20, of Wellfleet, died unexpectedly on June 24, 2020. No cause of death was given. He was the son of Cassandra Silva and the older brother of […]

Anthony Philip Samuel Brill, of New York City and North Truro, died on June 30, 2020 at the age of 55 after a four-year battle with colon cancer. Known to […]

HOME

Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from June 29 to July 2, 2020. PROVINCETOWN June 29. CHR RPR LLC to Melanie L. Reveal. 43 Race Point Rd., Unit […]

Know when to hit the flats

our picks for the week of July 9 through July 15

Outer Cape Calendar  Mixed Media Maleness Catch the “Modern Male II” show at Steve Bowersock Gallery at 373 Commercial St. in Provincetown, featuring artworks of all media submitted from across […]

Arts Briefs and Listings

Show of Eight Women Artists at AMP A group show of eight artists — Dianne Ayott, Midge Battelle, Barbara E. Cohen, Anne Corrsin, Phyllis Ewen, Kathi Robinson Frank, Nancy Rubens, […]

HARD (AND SOFT) LICKS

The warm temperatures and the parade of cars could mean only one thing. It was time to stop standing at the kitchen counter eating ice cream straight out of the […]

INVESTIGATION

EASTHAM — Virginia Reynolds was working in the summer of 2018 at Bayside Consignment, a now-defunct shop on Route 6, when, she says, Barbara Niggel, the owner of the building, […]

POLICING, PART 1

As conversations about racism and police brutality have spread to every corner of the country, including the Outer Cape, police data have been at the root of efforts to expose […]

ADDICTION

Gov. Charlie Baker signed an executive order on March 15 expanding access to telehealth services for the duration of the Covid-19 crisis. His action has the potential to make Medication […]

REOPENING

PROVINCETOWN — Many of Provincetown’s most iconic experiences are phase three businesses that could, if statewide indicators stay on the right track, be reopening on Monday, July 6. Phase three […]

ELECTION

TRURO — Voters said no to hiring four new firefighter-paramedics and purchasing a heavy-duty tractor trailer for the DPW at the June 30 town election. Only 469 or 24 percent […]

HOUSING

TRURO — The proposed affordable housing complex known as the “Cloverleaf” will have the cedar shingles and painted trim that have typified other housing developments by the Provincetown-based Community Housing […]

SHORE ROAD

NORTH TRURO — The very first time I drove into Provincetown I took the shore road, of course. Right away, I knew I was entering another reality. At first, I […]

OUTER CAPE PORTRAIT

NANCY CIVETTA / SHELLFISH CONSTABLE / WELLFLEET In early July, things are different on Wellfleet’s shellfish flats. Even as restaurants begin to open more fully across the commonwealth and country, […]

PORTUGUESE FESTIVAL

The harbormaster’s launch returns to the pier on Sunday after a sunny midmorning on the rounds with the Rev. Hugh McCullough, affectionately known as Father Mick. Though the event was […]

ART OF TEACHING

Massachusetts had the ninth-highest turnout of voters ages 18 to 29 in the U.S. in the 2018 midterms — a 17.3-percent increase over their participation in 2014. While that’s good […]

SWIMMING ALONE

The ocean defines the Outer Cape, but by some reckonings, swimming pools are beginning to come in a close second. That would be an exaggeration, but whether it’s for fear […]

INDEPENDENCE DAY

With social distancing regulations yielding no town-organized fireworks shows, local authorities expect to work extra hard this July Fourth to defuse illegal ones. In Wellfleet and Truro, particularly, the police […]

WILDLIFE

The fictional detective Sherlock Holmes investigates a suspicious incident involving a jellyfish in “The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane,” a short story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle published in 1926. […]

GRAVEYARD SHIFT

Residents of and longtime visitors to Truro are surely familiar with a grisly, dark chapter of the town’s recent past involving Pine Grove Cemetery. Even now, decades later, just reading […]

THE BANANA MAGNATE

On a July day precisely 150 years ago, a Wellfleet sea captain unloaded a cargo that would shape the course of history. By bringing the first bananas into the U.S., […]

THE SCUTTLEBUTT

Things are beginning to look a little more normal on the waterfront. More and more boats are starting to open up and operate. The Bay Lady began sailing tours, and […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, June 30, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

SAILING

When the Covid-19 pandemic touched down in full force, it made quick work of the Provincetown Yacht Club’s summer calendar. Spring meeting? Canceled. Season kickoff? Canceled. Sailboat racing clinic? Zoom-ified. […]

MILLION-YEAR PICNIC

The stars of summer have returned! Step outside after dark and look east, about halfway up the sky. You’ll see three bright stars that form a triangle. If you’re not […]

In the first round of this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) draft, 35 percent of the players selected were alumni of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL). June 13 would […]

GALLERY

Remote work and distance learning have chained us to our devices and Zoom rooms. But now that it’s summer, camping offers outdoor low-tech liberation. Campgrounds are, by nature, well designed […]

DEVELOPMENT

EASTHAM — There’s been a meeting of the minds between Tim Klink and the residents of Wiley Lane, the cul-de-sac behind the Route 6 property he wants to develop. Rather […]

CIVICS

In the current round of local town elections, it appears that about 90 percent of the votes were sent in by mail. And if the Covid-19 pandemic continues into the […]

ACCIDENT

WELLFLEET — Kathleen Kusiak, 55, of West Newton was struck by a car when she turned north on Route 6 from Main Street at 1 p.m. Sunday, June 28, according […]

CRIME

PROVINCETOWN — The 80-year-old owner of George’s Pizza, who was punched in the face Saturday night by an allegedly unruly customer, still had ringing in his ears days later, according […]

UPDATE

TRURO — The body that washed up on beach in North Truro on June 9 has been identified through dental records to be that of Marc-Olivier Czarnecki, a 51-year-old math […]

STUCK

PROVINCETOWN — When her red convertible got stuck in the mud on a dirt road on the Truro-Wellfleet line, Marla Perkel, 84, survived the night by walking, napping, and finally […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Thursday, July 2 Scholarship & Trust Administration Committee, 3:30 p.m. Zoning Board […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. To watch live, go to truro-ma.gov. From there, follow the “helpful link” to Truro Channel 18. Thursday, July 2 Truro Energy Committee, 8:30 a.m. […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to wellfleet-ma.gov and click on the meeting you are interested in for instructions on how to participate. Thursday, July 2 Housing Authority, 10 […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on a particular meeting to read its agenda. That document will provide information about how to view and take […]

GALLERIES

Down a long, winding dirt road, deep in the woods of South Truro, lies the studio and home of printmaker Vicky Tomayko. She has lived and worked there surrounded by […]

PHASED AND CONFUSED

Currently in Massachusetts, you can dine indoors at a restaurant, you can attend church and even sing there, but you’re still not officially permitted to attend an outdoor performance of […]

BOOK REVIEW

Lulu Miller calls David Starr Jordan, the protagonist of her book Why Fish Don’t Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life, “David.” Born in the […]

TOWN SPIRIT

“I Am a Town” would sound like a boast from almost anyone but photographer Mischa Richter. Modest and soft-spoken, Richter has long regarded Provincetown as his home. The subjects of […]

VIGNETTE

Naturists by Daniel Dejean

THE YEAR-ROUNDER

The first time I really focused on the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, I was about eight years old. The rabbi explained that the two […]

STEAMERS

Gazed and Confused by A. Crock

NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

The Fourth’s familiar festivities yield to more practical and sober affairs. Instead of fireworks and fanfare, the lunar eclipse in Capricorn casts a pragmatic light upon limitations in terms of […]

Mark Stevens died on June 15, 2020, at the Wichita Falls, Texas, home of his brother Brian Stevens, surrounded by family. He was 51.   Mark had fought a brave battle […]

Evalyn Margaret Wood of Orleans died on June 15, 2020, holding the hand of her devoted daughter, Margaret “Peggy” McClellan of Wellfleet. She was 101. A remarkable, talented, and humble […]

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

“The coronavirus pandemic has provided an opportunity for communities to act on their most exclusionary impulses,” writes Andrew W. Kahrl in an essay titled “Who Will Get to Swim This […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

For a 24-Hour Mask Rule To the editor: The best defenses we have against the coronavirus are mask wearing, social distancing, and hand washing. Yet as businesses open and more […]

CLASSIFIEDS

RETAIL & OFFICE SPACE Wellfleet office/studio spaces with a view. Two year-round side-by-side 10’ x 11′ office/studio spaces; adequate privacy for separate businesses or open the door for collaboration. Great view […]

HOME

Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from June 22 to June 26, 2020. PROVINCETOWN June 23. Michael MacIntyre Living Trust Agreement Dated April 2, 2008 (Michael MacIntyre, trustee) […]

Know when to hit the flats

our picks for the week of July 2 through July 8

Outer Cape Calendar Party to Go-Go The Crown & Anchor in Provincetown, in collaboration with Live From Provincetown, will be celebrating Independence Day online with its Freedom Virtual Beach Party […]

Arts Briefs and Listings

                Impressions of Cape Cod: Local Color Photographer Lee Glickenhaus has a decidedly unpretentious take on his artistic vision. He may be inspired […]

PORTUGUESE FESTIVAL 2020

TRURO — Valentina Cook-Wheeler isn’t one to talk about herself. But she does have some stories to tell. Although she lives in Truro now, she is not only a third-generation […]

REPORT-A-POTTY

While much of the Cape economy is in the crapper due to coronavirus-related shutdowns and restrictions, porta-potty companies are flush. That’s because in a summer when Covid-19 has heightened fears […]

CORONAVIRUS

PROVINCETOWN — For four weeks now, Provincetown has detected zero new cases of coronavirus. Memorial Day weekend came and went. Phase two of the statewide reopening was announced; lodgings, retail […]

SANS BEACHES

WELLFLEET — For those who don’t own property here, the chances of finding a parking spot at an oceanside beach have just gotten smaller. The select board voted unanimously on […]

OBITUARY

PROVINCETOWN — As the 35th-anniversary issue of Provincetown Arts, the glossy and scholarly annual journal of Outer Cape art and literature, was preparing to go to press on June 20, […]

BABYCAKES

Giligilao “Gili” Peregrine Portnoy was born on May 5, 2020 to Galiguy “Akay” Inariki Yan of the Taromak Rukai tribe of Taiwan and Caleb Portnoy of Wellfleet. Gili’s grandparents are […]

GALLERY

A window box filled with flowers can give a plain clapboard exterior a season’s worth of charm. Settie Dixon, owner of Gardens by Settie, has good advice about planting container […]

GROWING SEASON

After a pre-season full of uncertainty and adjustment, welcome seeds of normalcy are sprouting at the Provincetown and Truro farmers markets, though at both, new restrictions and guidelines have reconfigured […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, June 23, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

MOVEMENT

Do you remember your first bike? Mine was blue, big banana seat, flowered basket perched on the handlebars. I remember that feeling of freedom it gave me. I could go […]

PLANTCRAFT

By the time Emily Dickinson was 14 years old, she had compiled a collection of over 400 pressed flowers and leaves. “Have you made an herbarium yet?” she wrote to […]

Crossword

Need some answers? We send out the solution in our Friday newsletter. You’ll find the signup for our newsletter right here on our home page! This page is available to […]

PAGES

What aspect of life pre-Covid do people miss the most? Extroverts might say bars and clubs, but more introverted types might yearn for the hours they leisurely spent among bookstore […]

THE SCUTTLEBUTT

The big news on the waterfront is Gov. Baker’s extending phase two to July 6, which keeps most passenger-carrying vessels, including our whale watch boats, tied to the dock for […]

NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

Sister Moon, herald of intuition and emotion, is supercharged following the solar eclipse in Cancer. Her angles to the other planets this week will be extra challenging for some and […]

TEACAKE'S TAKE

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HISTORY

PROVINCETOWN — This year marks the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrims’ landing in Provincetown and the first encounters between the newly arrived Europeans and the indigenous people who lived here. […]

REAL ESTATE

After a pandemic-induced crash in spring real estate sales, brokers now report that the market has come roaring back. May statistics for Cape Cod and the Islands, released on June […]

ECONOMY

PROVINCETOWN — The $2 trillion CARES Act turns three months old this week, and the relief programs it created have all had rough rollouts. The payroll loans, disaster loans, and […]

CORONAVIRUS

WELLFLEET — The 449 free Covid-19 tests conducted at Outer Cape Health Services here on June 17 and 18 have so far showed zero positive results. Wellfleet’s clinic was one […]

QUEER HISTORY

The history of the gay liberation movement is usually told from the point of view of those at the center of the action, from the Mattachine Society and Daughters of […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Thursday, June 25 Charter Compliance Commission, noon Planning Board, 6 p.m. Public […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. To watch live, go to truro-ma.gov. Thursday, June 25 School Committee, 5:15 p.m. Zoning Board of Appeals Cloverleaf Hearing, 5:30 p.m. Friday, June 26 […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to wellfleet-ma.gov and click on the meeting you are interested in for instructions on how to participate. Thursday, June 25 Natural Resources Advisory […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on a particular meeting to read its agenda. That document will provide information about how to view and take […]

SKETCHBOOK

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BLACK LIVES MATTER

“Lock your door.” That was the first insidiously racist thing my body remembers hearing. There were other words, heard earlier. Subtle, belittling generalizations. Words that didn’t match up with what I knew […]

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OP-ED

In 1872, Congress authorized the reorganization of the U.S. Life-Saving Service and the refurbishing of old and building of new stations along the Atlantic Coast. The waters off Cape Cod […]

ARTISTS

“This isn’t new to me, and I’m tired of it,” says painter Joseph Diggs, a Cape Cod native. He’s referring to the recent killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Diggs […]

ELEMENTS OF STYLE

At four by five feet, His First Voyage, by Charles Webster Hawthorne, is an imposing painting. Its figures are roughly life-size. The subject is, seemingly, just a domestic scene. A […]

QUEER ‘I’

Pride, being one of the seven deadly sins, has good and bad sides to it. It’s like patriotism. To the extent that it means self-love and self-respect, it’s essential and […]

GALLERIES

In his career-long exploration of the coyote in Native American storytelling, painter Duane Slick often takes the image of a coyote head and obscures it. In the process, he explores […]

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK

I am perplexed that the Lower Cape Ambulance Association (LCAA), a regional nonprofit that has existed since 1937, is losing support and no one seems to be fighting to preserve […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Charting the Epidemic To the editor: Sunday, June 21, marked the 100th day of the Covid-19 epidemic on Cape Cod. The first confirmed case was reported on March 14 and […]

CLASSIFIEDS

FOR SALE 2002 Toyota Tacoma pickup. Reliable, comfortable, automatic, 4-cycle truck with only 37,000 miles. Silver, 2-dr. 4-seat, 2 front buckets, upholstered, sliding back window. Short bed w/snap cover. No […]

Richmond Randolph Bell, beloved Wellfleet patriarch, died in his sleep at his second home in Norwich, Vt., on June 14, 2020, of lymphoma. He was 95. Rich was born on […]

Historian and biographer Robert Dale Richardson III died on June 16, 2020 at Cape Cod Hospital from complications suffered after a fall. He was 86. He was born in 1934 […]

HOME

Real Estate Transactions Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from June 15 to June 19, 2020. PROVINCETOWN June 18. Stephen J. Madden Jr. Trust of 2005 (Dean Ross […]

Know when to hit the flats

our picks for the week of June 25 through July 1

Outer Cape Calendar Super Bollen East End Books Ptown is hosting a virtual book event with Christopher Bollen, writer of A Beautiful Crime, a twisty, Ripley-esque grifter novel, on Friday, […]

Arts Briefs and Listings

AMP Gallery Reopens With Group Show AMP Gallery is opening its first show of the season with a reception on Friday, June 26, 6 to 8 p.m. at 432 Commercial […]

EMERGENCY SERVICES

TRURO — Voters here will be asked to permanently increase the town budget on June 30 so it can hire four new firefighter-paramedics, a move that would beef up the […]

AT RISK AT WORK

PROVINCETOWN — Short-term rentals bring in visitors and help pay the town’s bills. Year-round rentals are the endangered species that we keep trying to preserve and expand. Seasonal rentals are […]

BUSINESS

Cumberland Farms, along with other convenience stores, is one step closer to selling alcohol and upending the current system of liquor sales licenses. The Mass. Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) on […]

MOST UNHAPPY FELLOWS

PROVINCETOWN — This should have been a banner year for the Fine Arts Work Center, one of the town’s most important cultural institutions, with its faculty of renowned writers and […]

SUMMER

EASTHAM — If you live here, you’re tired of hearing it: “This town has no center.” Except, of course, it does. Its formal name is the Eastham Center Historic District, […]

RENTAL HEALTH

WELLFLEET — Short- and long-term rentals might look very different next summer, and it has nothing to do with Covid-19. The town’s health and conservation dept. has drafted regulations that […]

ECONOMY

PROVINCETOWN — The Outer Cape is not a highly diverse place. When it comes to sexual orientation, Provincetown has a higher concentration of LGBTQ people than almost anywhere — but […]

FIRST PEOPLES

A federal judge ruled in favor of the Wampanoag Tribe of Mashpee on June 5 in a suit the tribe filed against the Dept. of the Interior, which had attempted […]

HOME IMPROVEMENT

Laurence Young of Provincetown had windows in his condominium dating back to the early 1980s, and electric heat upstairs that was expensive no matter how sparingly used. That changed in […]

THE SCUTTLEBUTT

The Provincetown waterfront remains quiet, as commercial fishing boats go about their business of lobstering and scalloping, but the rest of the fleet is essentially tied to the dock waiting for […]

STILL CELEBRATING

Editor’s note: The profiles of some of this year’s Outer Cape high school graduates were missing from our June 4 special section. Here are a few of them. Anna Rogers […]

DOVETAIL JOINT

The question: We’ve been living with a dirt driveway for a while now. We like the natural look of it, but it requires a lot of maintenance. It’s time to […]

GALLERY

Fathers Day marks a migration from the man cave into the great outdoors. The traditional time to set up a gathering space around the grill, this year it’s more about […]

RECREATION

Summer recreation programs are fun for local kids, but also important because they provide jobs for teenagers and child care that helps working parents get through the summer months. But […]

LOCAL JOURNALISM PROJECT

This week the Independent welcomes five young journalists from across the country to its first summer fellowship program, made possible by donations and grants to its nonprofit Local Journalism Project. […]

FATHERS DAY

TRURO — When Michael Holt was growing up in New York City, his summer weeks in Truro were “like a trip to the Garden of Eden.” It was here that […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, June 16, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

The Sun crosses into Cancer, heralding the start of summer with an abundance of solstice light. It’s a time of rooting, nurturing, and feeling … quite a change from Gemini’s […]

KITCHEN TABLE

If you don’t get out to the garden to thin your row of carrots right now you will end up with runty twisted results, carrots unsuitable for prizes at the […]

VIRTUAL ARTS

It wouldn’t be summer on the Outer Cape without courses. And, fortunately, though indoor courses in art and writing are not in the offing at this stage of the coronavirus […]

MEMORIES

WELLFLEET — “A Norse god,” his wife, Gloria, said of him — sometimes with a wry smile. With a tall, straight physique and a leonine head, handsome at 88 years, […]

YOUTH PRIDE

For many in the LGBTQ community, annual pride events commemorating the Stonewall uprising of June 28, 1969, have constituted their first euphoric moments of connection, of celebration, of feeling recognized […]

NAUSET SCHOOLS

EASTHAM — The four towns of the Nauset Regional School District may not have to vote on the high school building project until next spring. Last week, the regional school […]

RENTAL RULES

With the statewide ban on short-term property rentals lifted on June 8, Outer Cape vacationers and property owners must adjust to new safety guidelines. Massachusetts requires proprietors of lodgings — […]

WORKING OUT THE KINKS

EASTHAM — Willy’s Gym claims it is now eligible to reopen when all gyms and fitness centers are permitted to do so under phase three of Gov. Charlie Baker’s reopening […]

UPS AND DOWNS

WELLFLEET — The UPS Customer Center at 131 Ansel Hallet Road in West Yarmouth, once busy shipping packages all around the Outer Cape, now houses halted conveyor belts, silenced machines, […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Thursday, June 18 Board of Health, 4 p.m. Zoning Board of Appeals, 6:30 p.m. Monday, June 22 Select Board, 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 23 Public Landscaping Committee, 4 […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. To watch live, go to truro-ma.gov. Friday, June 19 Board of Library Trustees, 11:30 a.m. Monday, June 22 Zoning Board of Appeals, 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Go to wellfleet-ma.gov and click on the meeting you are interested in for instructions on how to participate. Friday, June 19 Wellfleet COVID-19 Needs Response Task Force Community […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on a particular meeting to read its agenda. That document will provide information about how to view and take part remotely. Thursday, June […]

THE YEAR-ROUNDER

The immense corpse lay on its back on the upper beach, eyes heavenward, although unseeing.  Its full abdomen, up-thrust chin, bristly whiskers, and jowly throat suggested a human quality; if […]

SKETCHBOOK

Mark Adams Sketchbook

STEAMERS

Table for Phase 2 by A. Crock

VIGNETTE

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LEZ IS MORE

“Remember, son,” he said with an earnestness that boggled my 10-year-old brain, “girls love it when you open the door for them.” It was my friend’s dad, and he was […]

GALLERIES

“I love processes,” Truro artist Deb Mell says. “I keep thinking of more complicated and time-consuming ones. That makes me happy.” Which is not to say that Mell’s work appears […]

BOOK REVIEW

In the months after the murder of black teen Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., in 2014, historian Walter Johnson began work on The Broken Heart of America: St. Louis and […]

RECORDINGS

Wellfleet singer-songwriter Alex Brewer’s new album, Unquoted, is a tribute to his community. Brewer is fascinated by artistic scenes — Paris in the ’20s, Laurel Canyon in the ’60s — […]

AUTHORS

In her latest book, Bunny, Mona Awad has crafted a darkly funny horror story about female friendships, class anxiety, art, and academia that has been likened to Heathers, Mean Girls, […]

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

This week we were confronted with a tough choice at our less- than-nine-month-old newspaper. We were offered a full-page ad that we decided we had to turn down. Full-page ads, […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Start the Conversations To the editor: When I was 12 I began to sit in on civil rights protests every Saturday with our local NAACP Youth Council. On Monday evenings […]

CLASSIFIEDS

RETAIL SPACE Wellfleet retail space available. Two-room, seasonal retail space in an excellent location at 326 Main St. Was the iconic Chocolate Sparrow candy store. Call for details: 508-349-1372. [7-2] SUMMER […]

HOME

Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from June 8 to June 12, 2020.  PROVINCETOWN June 11. David J. Elliott to Katherine, Elizabeth, John, and Sam Mullan. 37D Court […]

Know when to hit the flats

our picks for the week of June 18 through June 24

Outer Cape Calendar Island Treasure The Friends of Herring River invite you to take a free virtual tour of Wellfleet’s Bound Brook Island on their website, herringriver.org/Videos. Originally created for […]

Arts Briefs and Listings

Encaustic Show at Bowersock Gallery The ancient medium of encaustic jumps into the 21st century with the live-stream opening of the “Mesdames of Wax” from the Bowersock Gallery in Provincetown. […]

FOX NEWS

PROVINCETOWN — Carrie Medina Notaro first noticed the female red fox in her East End neighborhood in early January and began having “conversations” with her. This page is available to […]

CIVICS

WELLFLEET — Maria Broadbent, the town manager of Berwyn Heights, Md., will be Wellfleet’s next town administrator. The 54-year-old was picked over current Dartmouth Town Manager Shawn MacInnes in what […]

THE NEW NORMAL

PROVINCETOWN — The Outer Cape’s economy is opening back up. The streets are showing signs of life, as lodging, outdoor dining, and retail resume after a three-month hiatus. Workers and […]

ENVIRONMENT

EASTHAM — Stephen and Mimi Henning own a small house off Steele Road on about a third of an acre. Built in 1935, it has two bedrooms and a bathroom, […]

UPDATE

EASTHAM — A final inspection by the town’s health, fire, and building depts., scheduled for Wednesday, June 10, could lead to the reopening of Willy’s World and Conference Center, which […]

#BLM

A quickly organized protest sparked by the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis drew about 15 people to the Children’s Garden in Truro last Sunday. The group […]

DRIVE-IN DIPLOMAS

Photos by Nancy Bloom Teacher Alexis Mathison takes a picture of a picture. That’s graduate Kara Moore on the outdoor screen at the Wellfleet Drive-In. Friends found each other for […]

ENVIRONMENT

President Trump announced on Friday, June 5 that he would allow commercial fishing in a conservation area 130 miles southeast of Cape Cod. Scientists and fisheries advocates here agree the […]

VIEW FROM THE HIVE

A honey bee colony’s plans and those of its beekeeper often diverge, and those disparate intentions of bee and keeper can confuse and confound the objectives of both. At no […]

RARA AVIS

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

ON THE LANDSCAPE

There is a little bird that lives in the woods. It nests low to the ground, at the edges of clearings. It is about the size of a sparrow. The […]

NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

The Gemini Sun is square to a Mars-Neptune conjunction in Pisces, amplifying your powers of positivity for all to behold. Careful! Good vibes are honey to negative flies and you […]

KITCHEN TABLE

I know June is pretty much the end of the line for oranges. But I am sure that there are still a few to be rummaged up on countertops across […]

LOST & FOUND

As you prepare outdoor living spaces for the summer, it’s a good time to be on the lookout for materials that might be repurposed into tabletops. Marble and granite slabs, […]

LIBRARIES

All four Outer Cape libraries began curbside services last week, although Provincetown library staff are calling it “street-side,” because they don’t have a curb. Directors Amy Raff of the Provincetown […]

THE SCUTTLEBUTT

PROVINCETOWN — The hot news on the waterfront this week is that the seals are back, and so are the white sharks. A gray seal with a rather large shark […]

RACKET REPORT

Pickleball is helping Sheila Garry get back to a sense of normalcy. She says that’s what almost everyone who’s coming back to the sport is talking about. On June 1, […]

COVID-19 FALLOUT

WELLFLEET — AmeriCorps member Corrine Losch received an email on May 15 telling her she had two weeks to move out of the Wellfleet house where she had been lodging […]

CLIMATE CHANGE

EASTHAM — There are 350 property owners who live along Bridge Road, Smith Lane, Samoset Road, and Dyer Prince Road in Eastham. Nearly 40 residents participated in a virtual public […]

CIVICS

PROVINCETOWN — David Panagore, the former town manager, has been appointed as an alternate on the finance committee, raising the ire of part-time resident taxpayers once again. Panagore, the town […]

ON THE WATERFRONT

PROVINCETOWN — An attorney for two fishermen whose dockage fees were raised this year is charging the Public Pier Corp. with Open Meeting Law violations and with changing the rules […]

THE SEARCH

TRURO — A body found on the bayside beach here early Monday, June 8, is thought to be that of Marc-Olivier Czarnecki, 51, who was missing for 17 days following […]

SELECT CANDIDATES

PROVINCETOWN — After three years on the finance committee and three years on the select board, Louise Venden is running for a second term. Venden owned a nine-room guest house […]

SELECT CANDIDATES

PROVINCETOWN — Bobby Anthony, 74, a retired police chief and native of Provincetown, hopes to win a third term on the select board in the June 30 election. A Vietnam […]

SELECT CANDIDATES

PROVINCETOWN — As the one new candidate running against two incumbents in this year’s town election, Austin Knight has some criticisms of the current select board. Knight and incumbents Louise […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead All meetings are held remotely. To watch a meeting, go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Thursday, June 11 Planning Board, 6 p.m. Wednesday, […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. To watch live, go to truro-ma.gov. Thursday, June 11 School Committee, 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, June 16 Cemetery Commission, 10 a.m. Board of Health, 4:30 p.m. […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Go to wellfleet-ma.gov and click on the meeting you are interested in for instructions on how to participate. Thursday, June 11 Cape Cod Commission, 3 p.m. Nauset Regional […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on a particular meeting to read its agenda. That document will provide information about how to view and take part remotely. Thursday, June […]

BLACK LIVES MATTER

I am outraged and I am terrified. I am outraged by the deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Breonna Taylor in Louisville, and so many other black American citizens. We […]

VIGNETTE

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COVID PORTRAIT: EMERGENCE!

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OP-ED

The Provincetown Public Pier Corp. board, all volunteers, is trying to bring consistent application of rules and regulations to the pier, as well as rate increases that will meet the […]

ARTISTS

“I am constantly drawn back to the figure,” says Ray Wiggs. “There are many subjects that I enjoy painting. However, the figure has always been alluring to me, because no […]

BOOK REVIEW

With so much reading time between gardening days and walks to the bay in my privileged Eastham world, I was fortunate to have picked up Isabel Allende’s newest work of […]

AUTHORS

Wellfleet comes vividly to life in Christina Clancy’s The Second Home, a gripping novel about a family and second chances. The story centers on an inheritance dispute, which, for a […]

STREAMING

The Last Dance The 10-episode documentary miniseries is available to stream on espn.com or ESPN apps. There’s much to learn in The Last Dance, the ESPN miniseries on Michael Jordan’s […]

MUSICAL THEATER

All through the month leading up to their final realization that The Sound of Music, this year’s musical at Nauset Regional Middle School, would not be performed, the members of […]

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK

In 2014, after the shooting death of Michael Brown, 18, by a Ferguson, Mo., police officer who was not indicted for the killing, Elenita Muñiz, a blue-eyed Puerto Rican and […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

‘El País Esta Vivo’ Al editor: Desde España estámos mirando y no sólo es espantoso, es también contagioso. Aquí la extrema derecho, PP y Vox, sigue subiendo y siguen descaradamente […]

CLASSIFIEDS

RETAIL SPACE Wellfleet retail space available. Two-room, seasonal retail space in an excellent location at 326 Main St. Was the iconic Chocolate Sparrow candy store. Call for details: 508-349-1372. [7-2] SUMMER […]

OBITUARIES

Robert Bruce Corea died on June 3, 2020, at Harbor Point in Centerville, where he had been in hospice care for four months. He was 76. Bruce was a native […]

Provincetown native Elena Curtis Hall, 74, died on June 2, 2020, at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis after a prolonged illness. Elena was the daughter of the late Preston and […]

HOME

Real Estate Transactions Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from June 1 to June 5, 2020. PROVINCETOWN June 1. David K. Mattila to Lawrence M. Barat. 343 Bradford […]

OBITUARIES

Betty Godwin Balch, 96, died peacefully in her sleep at her assisted living home in Bradenton, Fla., on May 25, 2020. She and her late husband, John Louis Balch, had […]

Know when to hit the flats

our picks for the week of June 11 through June 17

Outer Cape Calendar Art of Social Distancing Artists Megan Hinton and Paula Erickson found a rusty metal office desk at the Wellfleet Dept. of Public Works yard off Pole Dike […]

Arts Briefs and Listings

Diane Messinger’s Art Is Contagious A painting by Truro artist Diane Messinger has been accepted in a juried virtual show, “We Are All Contagious,” presented by the UMass Dartmouth University […]

HUMAN RIGHTS

WELLFLEET — Protests against police brutality following the May 25 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis were not confined to America’s major cities. About 150 people marched through Wellfleet last […]

THE WATERFRONT

PROVINCETOWN — The Public Pier Corp. has raised the slip fees on seven MacMillan Pier tenants and rescinded permission for the Mayflower II to land here in September. The Pier Corp. board also […]

SCIENCE AT RISK: PART 2

This is the second in a series of articles on the Cape Cod National Seashore’s science program. It explores why science matters at the Seashore and why it’s at risk. […]

SUMMER

EASTHAM — The town has mapped its beaches, ponds, and landings and their parking areas with an eye to allowing socially distanced fun this summer. The exercise revealed that “we […]

PHASING IN

PROVINCETOWN — Outdoor dining for restaurants, new picnic areas on town property, an experimental car ban on Commercial Street, and extra oversight of the excursion fleet were all approved at […]

THE HAIL MARY

WELLFLEET — The Beachcomber, the Pearl, and Mac’s Shack will ask the select board on June 9 to be allowed to serve alcohol outdoors. Each restaurant hopes to set up […]

SHELLFISHING

WELLFLEET — Vacationers and visitors received another blow from the select board last week — a ban on seasonal recreational shellfishing permits. On top of the short-term rentals ban through […]

GRADUATION

  2020 class advisers Jennifer Stevens, Kate Blascio, and Jessica Reeves hand out caps and gowns, supervised by Savannah Stevens, age five. (Photos Nancy Bloom)   Libby Chase arrived by […]

CLASS OF 2020

Editor’s Note: For the beautiful cover illustration to this section of the paper, by NRHS art teacher Amy Kandall, and an introduction to this collection of pictures and words collected […]

VALEDICTORY

I am the ceramics and painting teacher at Nauset Regional High School. Normally, each day, 125 students come to my classroom studio, where I try to create a vibrant and […]

ART SEEN

PROVINCETOWN — As of this week, art lovers can stroll past many of Provincetown’s galleries without getting up from their living room couches. A new website, ptowngallerystroll.com, was launched by […]

COCKTAIL HOUR

Memorial Day, marking the unofficial start of summer, has come and gone this year in a way unlike any before: no crowds, no traffic, no large gatherings. Only the middling […]

MAKER SPACE

My studio was a gift from my parents. It was built in 2017 with an inheritance I received after my mom and dad both died within four months of each […]

GALLERY

Leaving Wellfleet for her freshman year at UMass Amherst, Kenna Valli packed hundreds of pictures of family and friends, painstakingly arranging them in her dorm room with the approved adhesive. […]

BODY/MIND

I’ve learned some things navigating this new normal as a single person living in a one-bedroom apartment. One is that there are things we can do to adapt and get […]

COURT OF LAST RESORT

There is one good thing about life without professional basketball to watch. Memories of driveway and schoolyard games come along to fill the void. Playing five-on-five basketball is not advisable […]

DUNE TOWN

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Navigating by the Stars

Friday, June 5, brings a lunar eclipse in the sign of Sagittarius. Eclipses speak to the relationships between different areas of our lives and any lack therein. The sign of […]

RARA AVIS

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

TOWN ELECTIONS

All citizens are encouraged to vote by mail this year. To do that, however, a registered voter must fill out and mail in an absentee or early voting application, and […]

CIVICS

PROVINCETOWN — The Outer Cape’s health agents’ duties range from enforcing food and water safety to supporting emotional connection. Their jobs touch on sex, rats, and sewers. And that was […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead All meetings are held remotely. To watch a meeting, go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Thursday, June 4 Public Pier Corp., 3 […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. To watch live, go to truro-ma.gov. Thursday, June 4 Select Board, 9 a.m. Tuesday, June 9 Select Board, 5 p.m. Wednesday, Jun 10 Planning […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Go to wellfleet-ma.gov and click on the meeting you are interested in for instructions on how to participate. Thursday, June 4 Coastal Resiliency Grant Listening Session, 10 a.m. […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on the meeting agenda for information about how to view and take part remotely. Thursday, June 4 Zoning Board of Appeals, 5 p.m. […]

WATERCOLOR

The late George Floyd, against a background of all the states’ flowers. This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.

THE YEAR-ROUNDER

They were feathered jewels moving through the trees, gifts from the Southern Hemisphere and our Southern states, most on their way north, here on the Cape for a few days […]

ARCHIVES

If ever there were a match made in heaven, it was six years ago, when Chuck White walked into Angel Foods in the East End of Provincetown and asked for […]

POETRY

Ed Meek’s fourth book of poetry is all about cycles. High Tide, which Aubade Publishing will put out in July (its May launch was postponed due to the coronavirus), takes […]

MUSIC

Every September since 2014, a group of friends — Malcolm Pollack, Kemp Harris, Carl Sturken, Ray Castoldi, Gary Lue, and others — journey to Star Island, one of the Isles […]

QUEER ‘I’

To understand why Larry Kramer was a great artist and a singularly influential activist, you have to examine how much the world has changed from plague to plague, HIV to […]

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

The first weekend in June is traditionally when our local public high schools — Nauset Regional High in Eastham and Cape Cod Regional Technical High in Harwich — hold graduation […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

A Hard Look at Ourselves To the editor: What do we do when confronted with the terrible news of the actions and inactions of the Minneapolis police officers that led […]

CLASSIFIEDS

THANK YOU The children of Bernard N. Santos thank our family and friends for the prayers and cards of sympathy on the passing of our Dad. We appreciated the little […]

OBITUARY

Sheila E. (Lussier Costa) Silva, 77, of North Truro died peacefully on May 27, 2020, at Harbor Point in Centerville, where she resided for the last year. She was the […]

HOME

Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from May 26 to May 29, 2020. PROVINCETOWN May 26. Equity Trust Company Custodian (Robert A. Newell IRA, trustee) to 3 Harbor […]

Know when to hit the flats

our picks for the week of June 4 through June 10

Outer Cape Calendar Pier Pressure The Addison Art Gallery in Orleans will make a donation to the Eastham, Wellfleet, and Truro public libraries for every Paul Schulenburg painting sold through […]

Arts Briefs and Listings

Film and Wine Paired in Virtual Series Marc Strauss, Michael Rose, and Wellfleet Preservation Hall are presenting the virtual series “Film & Wine” on Zoom every other Tuesday through July […]

TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS

PROVINCETOWN — On March 27, Gov. Charlie Baker issued an advisory that travelers into Massachusetts from other states should self-quarantine for 14 days. At that time, New York State was […]

VIRTUAL MEETINGS

For the past eight years, John has made coffee, opened doors, and greeted people as they entered the Wellfleet First Congregational Church for the weekly Saturday night Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. […]

HEALTH

Outer Cape Health Services, the major provider of health care for the four Outer Cape towns, continues to operate its three clinics with reduced hours, staffing, and salaries, a result […]

CIVICS

WELLFLEET — The number of people viewing and participating in virtual select board meetings here in recent weeks is breaking the board’s attendance records. Since the Wellfleet Select Board began […]

WILDLIFE

PROVINCETOWN — Memorial Day weekend may have been quiet for some, but Herring Cove Beach was the scene of almost daily drama caused by at least one aggressive coyote, which […]

SEARCH

PROVINCETOWN — Carole Madru of Hyannis, whose body was found on the beach in North Truro on Saturday, May 23, had parked her car at Elena Hall’s waterfront parking lot […]

BUSINESS

EASTHAM — After an informal poll of the planning board revealed that four of six voting members — one short of the needed supermajority — would approve Barbara Niggel’s application […]

STEAMERS

Swipe Nope by A. Crock

WATER SAFETY

Scientists have reassuring news for Outer Cape residents and visitors who are worried about contracting coronavirus from swimming in ponds and in the ocean and Cape Cod Bay. There is […]

THE REOPENING

PROVINCETOWN — This week and next, town governments on the Outer Cape will be rolling out changes to traffic flow, restaurant rules, bathroom arrangements, and dozens of other adjustments to […]

RARA AVIS

on Tuesday, May 26, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. A late Bufflehead was reported in North Truro. A King Rail was […]

GALLERY

“Buy your second home first” is a popular piece of advice. For Jenny Shaw and Matt Bowman, who live in Quincy, purchasing their first home in Eastham made a lot […]

MILLION-YEAR PICNIC

This month we reach the summer solstice. June 20 will be the longest day of the year and start of summer in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, it’s […]

THE SCUTTLEBUTT

Memorial Day weekend has come and gone, and all the questions about how busy the waterfront would be have now been answered. It’s not looking good. On top of the Covid-19-related […]

GRAVEYARD SHIFT

WELLFLEET — In a pretty little corner of town, there is a small, ancient burial ground, its scattering of headstones nestled amid the scrub oak leaves and pine needles. In […]

OFF THE PATH

In March, Susan Goodspeed set out to hike the Appalachian Trail for the first time in her life. “I researched the heck out of it,” Goodspeed says. “I don’t have […]

FIRST PEOPLES FOLLOW-UP

A U.S. district court judge has chastised attorneys for the Dept. of the Interior for filing an “incomprehensible” memorandum in a case that threatens the tribal sovereignty of the Mashpee […]

MATTERS OF FAITH

“New occasions teach new duties,” James Russell Lowell declared in a poem from which was drawn a familiar hymn, “Once to Every Man and Nation.” That sentiment is providing a […]

CLASS OF 2020

WELLFLEET — Gov. Charlie Baker’s Covid-19 recovery guidelines, issued on May 18, stated that “drive-in theaters are allowed to operate only for the purpose of showing movies.” That left some […]

FUTURE SHOCK

EASTHAM — In a few decades, some of Eastham’s most used roads could be underwater. The town, in coordination with environmental consultants from the Woods Hole Group (WHG), has studied […]

PUBLIC TRANSIT

Even during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority (RTA) is providing rides to 600 to 800 people a day. As one of the only public transit options […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead All meetings are held remotely. To watch a meeting, go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Follow the link to the agenda for […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. To watch live, go to truro-ma.gov and find meetings on the lower right of the home page. Click on the agenda of the meeting […]

currents

Meetings Ahead All meetings are held online. Go to wellfleet-ma.gov and click on the meeting you are interested in for instructions on how to participate. Tuesday, June 2 Select Board […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Meetings are being conducted remotely. Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on a particular meeting to read its agenda. That document will provide information about how to view and […]

VIGNETTE

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OP-ED

Both the federal government and the state of Massachusetts are waging a heartless war on immigrants. While the Trump administration actively blocks asylum seekers, imprisons families, deports unaccompanied children, and […]

TEACAKE’S TAKE

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Navigating by the Stars

In terms of astrology, the planets can be seen as dynamic reference points. The angles, or aspects (square, conjunction, etc.), they make to one another create shapes of energy across […]

PERSONAL ESSAYS

In his moving and beautiful collection of essays, I’ve Been Wrong Before, Evan James reflects on the time he spent in a myriad of places around the world — San […]

MYSTERIES

The Matinée Murders, the newest in Jeannette de Beauvoir’s Sydney Riley series of mystery novels, may be a work of fiction, but it is full of real people and takes […]

INDIE SCREEN

Goodbye, Wendy Darling, Tiger Lily, and Tinkerbell. In Benh Zeitlin’s Wendy, a fantasy riff on J.M. Barrie’s iconic literary creation, Peter Pan, the restlessness of young Wendy (Devin France), a […]

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK

People often ask us why the Independent doesn’t always cover certain stories that fill the daily papers and TV news — stories that punctuate everyday life and can be exciting. […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

‘This Planetary Moment’ To the editor: In only a little over six months, the Provincetown Independent has managed to establish itself as an indispensable lifeline and anchor to this extended […]

CLASSIFIEDS

THANK YOU The children of Bernard N. Santos thank our family and friends for the prayers and cards of sympathy on the passing of our Dad. We appreciated the little […]

J. Austin Pinkham Jr. of Harwich died on May 2, 2020, at Cape Cod Hospital following years of multiple health issues. He was 89. J. was born on Dec. 12, […]

HOME

Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from May 18 to May 22, 2020. PROVINCETOWN May 18. Kathleen McGinley to Steven Sean Timothy Vojtasko. 616 Commercial St., Unit 2, […]

Know when to hit the flats

our picks for the week of May 28 through June 3

Outer Cape Calendar Animal Magnetism As part of Payomet Performing Arts Center’s “Early Stages” series, on Friday, May 29, at 10 a.m., Wellfleet musician and poet Alex Brewer, the host […]

Arts Briefs and Listings

Swim for Life Does More Than Tread Water Instead of having a crowd of people running into the bay at Provincetown’s beach, this year’s Swim for Life & Paddler Flotilla, […]

LAUNCH HOUR

Some Memorial Day rituals have not been canceled. Here’s Jen Nichols, at the launch at Pamet Harbor in Truro last Sunday. For families, the rules are easy to follow; click […]

SEASONAL PROSPECTS

PROVINCETOWN — Phase one of the governor’s reopening plan began on Monday, but for the Outer Cape’s hospitality-driven economy, the big changes will come with phase two. That’s when renting […]

ECONOMY

Gov. Charlie Baker’s extension of the ban on short-term rentals until at least June 8 takes a bite out of one of the biggest pieces of the Outer Cape’s economic […]

DISTANCE

WELLFLEET — Gov. Charlie Baker said Monday, without providing evidence, that social distancing at beaches means blankets must be 12 feet apart — at least during phase one of the […]

SCHOOLS

Keep those corsages and graduation cards handy. Nauset Regional High School is planning a prom and a graduation ceremony for the Class of 2020. “The last week in July, we’re […]

NEVERMORE

In March, a pair of ravens built a large nest under the eves at Provincetown Town Hall, but then abandoned it — and their eggs –– after a major storm […]

OUTER CAPE PORTRAIT

LENNY FEDERICO / RECYCLER & TEACHER / WELLFLEET Lenny Federico has just returned to Wellfleet to begin his eighth summer on the job at the town’s recycling bins. Here’s Lenny […]

PEOPLE

You may not know her by name, but Lilli Osowski is one of Provincetown’s busiest residents. A senior studying health technology at Cape Cod Regional Technical High School, she works […]

Crossword

The May puzzle from Sophia Maymudes should be done on dry land.   Need some answers? We send out the solution in our Friday newsletter. You’ll find the signup for […]

KITCHEN TABLE

These are the bars I’ve been making. They’re from what was supposed to be the May “travel” issue of Bon Appétit — an issue they seem to have hastily renamed “Recipes […]

GALLERY

Lilacs are in bloom and hummingbirds have returned. A catalog arrives showing vast outdoor rooms, outfitted with weatherproof versions of every indoor luxury. But keep on the sunny side: it […]

DOVETAIL JOINT

The question: I’m thinking of buying an old house. It will need a lot of work, and I want to do much of it myself. I’m especially interested in whether […]

MOVEMENT

Gardening is good for the soul. But if you don’t pay attention to good body mechanics, it can be hard on your back — or your knees, wrists, and elbows. […]

FARMERS MARKET

Photos and text by Edward Boches It was a windy but gloriously sunny opening day at the Wellfleet Farmers Market last Wednesday, May 13. Shoppers and vendors alike wore masks, […]

Navigating by the Stars

As the Sun enters the sign of Gemini, things begin to look light and bright — um, seasonally speaking. For us mere mortals who must endure the whims of unseen […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, May 19, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

LIVE PERFORMANCES

Tupelo Music Hall in Derry, N.H., hosted a public concert last Saturday that was safe enough for a sizable audience to be there live during the pandemic. How was that […]

HEALTH

After multiple extensions, open enrollment for health insurance is set to end on Monday, May 25. It’s not too late to get help with signups for health insurance, and people who […]

CIVICS

Provincetown: The April 6 annual town meeting is now scheduled for Sept. 21 at 6 p.m. The town election will be held June 30. Truro: The April 28 annual town […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead All meetings are held remotely. To watch a meeting, go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Follow the link to the agenda for […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. To watch live, go to truro-ma.gov and find meetings on the lower right of the home page. Click on the agenda of the meeting […]

currents

Meetings Ahead All meetings are held online. Go to wellfleet-ma.gov and click on the individual meetings for instructions. Thursday, May 21 Dredging Task Force, 11 a.m. Local Housing Partnership, 4 […]

currents

Meetings Ahead While town hall is closed to the public, meetings are being conducted remotely. Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on a particular meeting to read its agenda. That document […]

MEMORIAL DAY

Even in our current predicament, there’s no stopping nature. The daffodils have come and gone, and now the beach plum is fully abloom. The lilacs have begun to release their […]

THE YEAR-ROUNDER

I will miss the throngs on Commercial Street in the center of town: the hubbub, the chatter, the flow of people, the animated wave of humanity — young and old, […]

COVID PORTRAIT

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TELEVISION

You can take Jerry Bruckheimer to Carnival, but you can’t take the Hollywood out of Jerry Bruckheimer. The blockbuster producer (Beverly Hills Cop, Top Gun, Flashdance, Bad Boys, Pirates of […]

ARTISTS