All Stories

WATERFRONT

EASTHAM — The Rock Harbor Improvements Committee will not recommend moving an antique half Cape from 60 Dyer Prince Road and turning it into the harbormaster’s new office. Instead, the […]

TOWN HALL

The smallest town on Cape Cod, Truro, with 2,000 residents, will be paying its new town manager $172,000 a year, about the same as the Barnstable County district attorney’s $175,000 […]

PANDEMIC

PROVINCETOWN — In the popular children’s book Stone Soup, the soup is started with no great resources — in fact, it’s just a large pot of water with one stone […]

ELDER CARE

Since late May, the state has provided detailed reports on fatalities from Covid-19 in nursing homes, but for assisted living facilities, the same information is hard to come by. The […]

REAL ESTATE

PROVINCETOWN — The former Provincetown Medical Group building on Shank Painter Road has been sold and will be redeveloped into a three-story building with eight condominiums. This story would not […]

BIG BIRDS

“It was so loud I could not hear myself think,” said Elena Ruehr, a composer who splits her time between Brookline and Wellfleet. “I felt like there was a giant […]

MAYFLOWER HISTORY, PART II

On Nov. 11, 1620, the Mayflower arrived in Provincetown Harbor. Four hundred years later, we — most of us, anyway, on the Outer Cape and all across the nation — […]

FISHING

PROVINCETOWN –– Jeff Souza came in hot one quiet November evening at MacMillan Pier. He was at the helm of his brand-new lobster boat, Crash, a custom-made Provincial 45’, which […]

MEET THE MAKER

WELLFLEET — I am an artist who “paints” with fiber. Inspired by my grandmother’s skilled needlework and embroidery and a lifelong desire to paint, I developed my own technique by […]

ROOTS

Just because we can’t hang out in person to taste treats like the famous (or infamous) turnip whoopie pie doesn’t mean we have to miss a day of celebrating Eastham’s […]

SOCCER

EASTHAM — After finishing the regular season first in its conference with an impressive 7-1-2 record, the Nauset Regional High School girls soccer team felt like they still had something […]

THANKSGIVING ON THE SIDE

When I was a kid, and my mother set out her oval cut-glass platter and assembled a relish tray, we knew a celebration was at hand. Arranged artfully on the […]

THANKSGIVING ON THE SIDE

In the early ’80s, the local Hamptons farmers around the restaurant where I was cooking used to pay us for our used cooking grease. This was before biodiesel was a […]

THANKSGIVING ON THE SIDE

Thanksgiving’s indulgent dishes — stuffing, mashed potatoes, candied yams, and cranberry — might feel like well-earned rewards after this crazy year. But all the rich and sweet sides weighing down […]

NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

In the shadow of last week’s new Moon in Scorpio, truth’s clarion call rises from the depths of our hearts — in animus veritas. Scorpio energy doesn’t tolerate shallow anything, especially […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, Nov. 17, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

RINGING TRUE

For many in Wellfleet, the sound of bells from the First Congregational Church, at 200 Main St., from around 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., frames their day. It is part […]

EVOLUTION

WELLFLEET — Myya Beck-Baum and Thor Baum are going through the town’s permitting process to demolish a historic downtown home and rebuild it to house a fitness studio with three […]

Meetings are held remotely. Go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Thursday, Nov. 19 Board of Health, 4 p.m. Licensing Board, 5:15 p.m. Zoning Board of Appeals, […]

Meetings are held remotely. To watch live, go to truro-ma.gov and follow the “helpful link” to Truro Channel 18. Thursday, Nov. 19 Historical Commission, 2 p.m. School Committee, 5:15 p.m. Friday, Nov. […]

From wellfleet-ma.gov, on the calendar, click on the meeting you’re interested in to open its agenda. That document will provide information about how to view and take part remotely. Thursday, […]

Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on a meeting to read its agenda. That document will provide information about how to view and take part remotely. Thursday, Nov. 19 Affordable Housing […]

LIGHTS FANTASTIC

“I’ve liked playing with lights since I was a kid,” says Chris Racine, one of Provincetown’s most sought after DJs and lighting-effect designers. Racine and his collaborator, Shelley Jennings, are […]

BOOKSTORES

At 242 Commercial St. in Provincetown, hidden at the end of a long alley that runs between a furniture store and a psychic’s office, there is a kind of enchanted […]

BOOK REVIEW

Dolly Parton, 74, has been singing and performing as a self-described “backwoods Barbie” for over half a century. With chart-topping hits such as “Jolene,” “I Will Always Love You,” “Here […]

PUBLISHING

When Christopher Busa died suddenly at age 73 on June 20, of a congenital heart defect that had gone undetected, it was two days before the scheduled printing of the […]

VIGNETTE

This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.

THE YEAR-ROUNDER

PROVINCETOWN — Friday morning, Nov. 6, 2020. Under a serene and cloudless wide blue sky, with a temperature in the high 50s, a scene reminiscent of the work of Breughel: […]

STEAMERS

This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.

UP A CREEK

As Jan. 20, 2021, creeps closer, and with experts describing the atmosphere at the White House as “tense,” it is looking like it may be time to get beyond alternative […]

EDITORIAL

What are the most important attributes to look for in a potential town manager or administrator? Judging from the comments (and reluctance to comment) of recent occupants of those positions […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Cloverleaf Apprehensions To the editor: In Kevin Grunwald’s op-ed column in your Nov. 12 edition [“Where Cloverleaf Stands After a Year of Review,” page 3], referring to the potential impacts […]

TIDE CHART

Know when to hit the flats

Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from Nov. 9 to Nov. 13, 2020. PROVINCETOWN Nov. 9. Jay C. Anderson to Steven Kane. 139 Commercial St., Unit A. $2,685,000. […]

Lawrence D. “Larry” Riley of Provincetown died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease on Nov. 4, 2020, at Seashore Point Wellness and Rehabilitation Center in Provincetown. He was 81. Provincetown has […]

Lillian DeCroce, who was known as Lilli, died on Nov. 7, 2020, at her home in Wellfleet, surrounded by family. The cause was small-cell lung cancer, said her daughter, Christina. […]

Ernest E. Tesson died at his Wellfleet home on Oct. 28, 2020, with his wife, Katherine, holding his hand. He was 91. They were listening to Symphony Sid. Ernie, as […]

TRURO — The Outer Cape is one of the few places on the East Coast where the setting sun is visible over a water horizon. For Kosta Tsipis, enjoying the […]

CLASSIFIEDS

SEEKING Looking for artist’s studio to paint in. Will be using during winter months. Prefer Provincetown or Truro. Max $400/per month. Call or text Simone, 845-653-1002. [12-3] Man’s best friend […]

MAYFLOWER HISTORY, PART 1

PROVINCETOWN — On Nov. 11, 1620, 130-odd sea-weary Brits stepped off the Mayflower and onto Provincetown’s sandy shores — into a new world, barely inhabited and ripe with possibility. Then […]

CIVICS

PROVINCETOWN — They say politics in Provincetown is a blood sport. In an effort to try to change that, the select board is poised to adopt a code of conduct. […]

PANDEMIC

PROVINCETOWN — In a recent press call, state Sen. Julian Cyr sounded an alarm about coronavirus testing on Cape Cod. “We see the cases coming south and east towards Cape […]

OPIOID LITIGATION

The U.S. Dept. of Justice last month announced a settlement estimated at over $8.3 billion of its case against Purdue Pharma, the makers of OxyContin. The settlement is opposed by […]

EASTHAM 400

EASTHAM — While working to create a display as part of this year’s 400th anniversary of the Mayflower’s arrival on Cape Cod, volunteers at Eastham’s 1869 Schoolhouse Museum unearthed a […]

OUTER CAPE PORTRAIT

DAN SILVERMAN / TOWN MODERATOR & WOODWORKER / WELLFLEET Just out of college, Dan Silverman drove to Wellfleet in 1972 for a job interview with a local builder. He’s never […]

GRAVEYARD SHIFT

EASTHAM — As the nights chill, the leaves fall, and the holidays approach, our thoughts turn to, yes, the turnip — that ancient crucifer that has, for too long, been […]

ENVIRONMENT

WELLFLEET — With a growing number of cyanobacteria blooms occurring in ponds across Cape Cod, researchers are expanding their efforts in hopes of better understanding toxic algal blooms and how […]

PUBLIC SPACE

PROVINCETOWN — One of the Outer Cape’s greatest assets is its proximity to Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, a federally protected swath of ocean whose southernmost boundary is just three […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, Nov. 10, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

ON THE RUN

EASTHAM — When the Mass. Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) announced that competition in fall high school sports season would take place under new guidelines, Nauset High cross country coach Moira […]

NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

Alas, poor Scorpio, we know you well. Temperamental, unpredictable, intelligent, determined … sounds like a character from Shakespeare. Indeed, the zodiac’s most complicated sign is aptly represented by the prince […]

THE KIDS COOK

Here is something I am reminded of by the small cooks in my house: we all need more comfort food. Kids do not make obligatory salads. They follow their pleasure […]

DESIGN

Thanksgiving is a time to tend your table in such a way that it will bring on a smile. Kevin O’Shea, who knows from hosting — he and his partner, […]

BACK PAY

EASTHAM — It took 15 months, a boycott of Willy’s Gym, and civil citations from the attorney general’s office, but Barbara Niggel has paid back wages to the widow of […]

GEOLOGY 101

PROVINCETOWN — On Sunday morning, the Outer Cape lit up with variations of the question “Did you feel that?” At 9:10 a.m. on Nov. 8, a 3.6 magnitude earthquake shook […]

Meetings are held remotely. Go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Thursday, Nov. 12 Water & Sewer Board, 1 p.m. Planning Board, 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 17 […]

Meetings are held remotely. To watch live, go to truro-ma.gov and follow the “helpful link” to Truro Channel 18. Thursday, Nov. 12 Climate Action Committee, 10 a.m. Truro Housing Authority, 4:15 p.m. […]

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 document will provide […]

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

MUSIC MATTERS

A dozen or so students watch, intently, as Paige Wayner, a flutist in the Cape Youth Orchestra, prepares to play Ernest Bloch’s Suite Modale in a master class for Zachary […]

AUTHORS

Sarah Anne Johnson’s new novel, The Last Sailor, explores the profoundly personal ways we deal with — or avoid — mourning, and the struggles we go through as we piece […]

NEIGHBORS

Grace Freundlich is a survivor in our midst. Retired and now 80, she lives in Truro year-round and counts it as a blessing. She has written a memoir of her […]

OPERA

The Metropolitan Opera will be streaming Les Dialogues des Carmélites by Francis Poulenc for free next Friday, Sept. 20, starting at 7:30 p.m. You won’t want to miss it. The opera is […]

THE YEAR-ROUNDER

Three days in a row, in late September, I went out to Race Point Beach in search of a couple of rare gulls. Three days in a row I failed […]

TONGASS AND US

Over his breakfast of toast and eggs smothered in ketchup one morning, my father told me, “I’m having those trees cut down,” motioning to the mature white pines framed by […]

VIGNETTE

This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Approximately 2.4 percent of the year-round housing in Truro is classified as affordable. This translates to 27 homes or apartments that are affordable for residents earning up to 80 percent […]

POEM

A poem by Whitman has to be the one to celebrate the Biden-Harris victory — only Whitman expresses the sheer joy that democracy can give the spirit. When I looked […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

On County Government To the editor: I wish to thank the many Provincetown voters who gave me their votes and the prospect of my fourth term as your delegate to […]

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

One thing last week’s election revealed is how fond we are of the stories we want to believe. How else to explain the fact that so many voters believe that […]

TIDE CHART

Know when to hit the flats

Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from Nov. 2 to Nov. 6, 2020. PROVINCETOWN Nov. 2. Nina S. Harrison 2014 Trust (Nina S. Harrison, trustee), Majorie R. Bullock […]

CLASSIFIEDS

SEEKING Looking for artist’s studio to paint in. Will be using during winter months. Prefer Provincetown or Truro. Max $400/per month. Call or text Simone, 845-653-1002. [12-3] Man’s best friend […]

DEMOCRACY 2020

The Democratic ticket of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris swept the Outer Cape in Tuesday’s presidential election, defeating Donald Trump and Mike Pence by margins ranging from 42 percent in […]

THE THIRD WAVE

PROVINCETOWN — Gov. Charlie Baker announced three new executive orders on Monday, Nov. 2, and a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew, all of which will go into effect on […]

WATERFRONT

EASTHAM — The Rock Harbor Improvements Committee, a subgroup of the Capital Projects Committee, has hit pause on a plan for a new harbormaster’s building while town staff try to […]

LEARNING

PROVINCETOWN — Sixth- through eighth-graders will be invited back to school for four more hours per week starting Thursday, Nov. 5, as the school slowly moves toward in-person learning. The […]

ADMINISTRATION

TRURO — It took about a year to find him, but the smallest town on Cape Cod finally has a town manager, who will begin work in January. Darrin Tangeman, […]

HEALTH

Although the much-trumpeted vaccine for Covid-19 vaccine is still unavailable, flu shots can be had at multiple locations on the Outer Cape. And this year, just like every other year, […]

TECHNOLOGY

WELLFLEET — Thanks to a new contract with five Lower and Outer Cape towns, Comcast may soon provide broadband internet connections to residents of Truro, Wellfleet, and Eastham who live […]

KITCHEN TABLE

Is it possible that this week some of us might feel something like relief? I’m writing this before any of us know. What I do know for certain is that […]

WHAT’S OPEN

There’s hope for those wanting to dine out. The restaurants listed here have confirmed they are open. We’ve listed their current schedules, though many told us they are still undecided […]

CARTOON CAPTION CONTEST

This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.

BODY/MIND

I’ve been sitting on the couch a lot, looking at my phone, and balancing my laptop on my knees. In the past, I probably would have felt bad about this, […]

RECYCLING, PART 1

Garbage. It’s a story ripe with complexity. The Independent is dumpster diving into the subject to better understand where the Outer Cape’s garbage goes. In this first installment, we look […]

NOSTALGIA

PROVINCETOWN — Drag queens are part of the fabric of Provincetown. In a normal year, they can be seen performing at various clubs in town or parading down Commercial Street […]

MILLION-YEAR PICNIC

The Moon is always with us. Even when we can’t see it, it’s there, gently tugging on our oceans and causing our tides. It hasn’t always been with us; the […]

COCKTAIL HOUR

I have no idea if, by the time this column is in your hands, dear reader, the election will be decided and accepted, or whether the streets will be on […]

PLANTCRAFT

The days are shorter. We move inside and want to bring the landscape with us. We start with dried bouquets, then move to wreaths, garlands, and soon, maybe, the tree. […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, Nov. 3, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

This week’s major planetary transit is brought to you by Uranus retrograde in Taurus. Uranus, which rules humanitarian Aquarius, is a “generational” planet — its transits last longer and tend […]

CROSSWORD #15

Sophia Maymudes has history on her mind.   Need some answers? Just ask and we’ll send them. This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get […]

DEMOGRAPHICS

PROVINCETOWN — With the counting stage of the 2020 census having drawn to its abrupt close, the Census Bureau’s next step is to release its final report, which will contain […]

TRUE CRIME

TRURO — Driving north on Route 6 around midnight last Sunday, Shelby Zawaduk passed a car she could’ve sworn she recognized. Stopped by police just shy of Truro’s Stotts Crossing […]

WARRIORS WATCH

Thursday, Nov. 5 Boys soccer: The undefeated Warriors (8-0) will play a home game against the Sandwich Blue Knights at 4 p.m. Girls soccer: The Warriors (6-0-2) travel to play […]

DIGGING DEEP

WELLFLEET — Driving northbound on Bound Brook Island Road in Wellfleet last week, travelers were greeted with a peculiar sight: a number of workers in reflective vests sifting through buckets […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Thursday, Nov. 5 Harbor Committee, 5 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, Nov. 5 Charter Review Committee, 4 p.m. Zoning Board of […]

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 document […]

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 […]

INTO THE WOODS

“Everything I do, I do because I love nature, because I want to be connected to nature. That guides every decision in my life,” says Rich Blundell. He has come […]

THAT WAS THEN

Did you know that Provincetown used to have a symphony? The Provincetown Symphony Orchestra, sometimes called the Provincetown Symphony Society, was founded in 1955 by the conductor Joseph Hawthorne. The […]

GRAPHIC NOVELS

“We believe we make our choices, but no — they make us,” writes the late Daniel Menaker in his poem, “Last Will and Testament.” Though our choices add up to […]

SKETCHBOOK

This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.

THE YEAR-ROUNDER

I meant to write this in time for last week’s paper, but I missed the deadline. That means you will be reading these words on Nov. 5. Between this day […]

NEWSPAPER AS ART

“I took a collage class from Michael Walczak at Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill, and one of the assignments was to use print to create a picture. […]

LOS MUERTOS

This past week, as the days began to shorten and the nights became cooler, my thoughts drifted to All Souls Day, Dia de los Muertos. I have been trying to […]

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

One of our correspondents this week, Michael Spielman, was provoked by my last column to unleash his own set of language beefs, which have him screaming at his TV, he […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

For a Brighter Future To the editor: I highly recommend the new movie David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet (Netflix). It is at once full of beauty, achingly sad, […]

TIDE CHART

Know when to hit the flats

Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from Oct. 26 to Oct. 30. PROVINCETOWN Oct 26. Nicole M. Peterson to Daniel Alan Escola. 54 Bradford St., Unit A. $590,000. […]

Paulo Alexandre Dalomba, 42, died in his home in Plymouth on Oct. 27, 2020. The cause of death is unknown, said his sister, Natalia. Born in Hyannis on Feb. 18, […]

CLASSIFIEDS

HELP WANTED Carpenters needed, skilled or semi-skilled. Own transportation and basic hand tools a must. If interested, call Winard Construction, 508-487-2538 or 508-789-8089. FIREWOOD Seasoned firewood for sale. Free local delivery. […]

TIDE CHART

Know when to hit the flats

TRICK OR TREAT

Before we get into this week’s news, here’s an update from each town about what trick-or-treating will look like this year. From Eastham to Provincetown, you’ll find “reverse” set ups, […]

ELECTION

PROVINCETOWN — The Outer Cape likes to vote. Turnout in the 2016 presidential election ranged from 81 percent in Provincetown to a staggering 87 percent in Eastham. This year, early […]

ENVIRONMENT

TRURO — George Mooney couldn’t recognize his farm on South Pamet Road. His pasture and vegetable gardens were completely submerged under two feet of salt water during three consecutive nor’easters […]

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

TRURO — The so-called Cloverleaf development, an affordable housing complex on South Highland Road at Route 6, received about half the approvals it needs for full permitting last week, while […]

FOOD SECURITY

PROVINCETOWN — It is the season of Outer Cape soup kitchens, community kitchens, food banks, and food pantries. “There’s just always need here,” said Philip Franchini, board chair of the […]

NATIONAL SEASHORE

EASTHAM — A plan to demolish three dwellings and a garage in the Cape Cod National Seashore and build a 3,481-square-foot house and garage in their place received site plan […]

ELDER CARE

PROVINCETOWN — Bernice Burchman is 92 and has Stage 4 lung cancer, and yet her son Howard said his mom has been thriving ever since he took her out of […]

THE KIDS COOK

In September, my two girls, ages six and nine, became responsible for dinner once a week. We’re home schooling, and a little kitchen responsibility seemed like a good way to […]

FIGURE SKATING

In only its second year, the Nauset Figure Skating Club is having a lot of new experiences, including cyber skating. The club participated in the first-ever Fall Cyber Challenge through […]

THE DREDGE REPORT

WELLFLEET — “Look,” said Carin Pierce, standing on the marina in Wellfleet, one hand on her poodle and the other pointing waterward. “It’s scooping!” Since the long-awaited Wellfleet Harbor dredging […]

HOMESTEADING

The weather is getting colder, the days shorter, and your chickens are laying fewer and fewer eggs. Soon there will be none at all for your breakfast table. (That’s because […]

BEHIND THE WHEEL

People complain a lot when they bring their cars in for brake work. “I just had my car inspected and they’re telling me I need new brakes,” they say. “Didn’t […]

GALLERY

Its light was said to mislead travelers at night, flickering over peat bogs, swamps, and marshes, resembling a lantern shining in the dark. Where scientists now see bioluminescence, storytellers saw […]

TRUE CRIME

As the presidential election enters its final week, it has colored even crime on the Outer Cape. On Monday, Oct. 26, Cory Mcculloch, 33, of Eastham, was arraigned in Orleans […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, Oct. 27, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

WARRIORS WATCH

A word to fans: according to league rules, fans may only attend home games. Masks are required and physical distancing rules will apply. Thursday, Oct. 29 Boys soccer: The undefeated […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Thursday, Oct. 29 Economic Development Committee, 1 p.m. Public Pier Corp., 2 p.m. Harbor […]

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, Oct. 29 Climate Action Committee, 1:30 p.m. Housing Authority, 4:15 […]

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 document […]

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 […]

MIXED MEDIA

“I came to Truro to create cremation urns,” says sculptor Jamie Lehrhoff Levine, one of five resident artists who recently arrived at Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill. […]

POTPOURRI

Provincetown’s Jim Broussard had the idea of getting artists to paint cigar boxes as a fund-raising effort, which he’s dubbed “Art From the Heart.” He hopes to make it an […]

POETRY REVIEW

Marge Piercy’s latest poetry collection, On the Way Out, Turn Off the Light, is an ode to a life lived big and full. In these direct, earthy poems, Piercy reflects […]

OUTER CAPE PORTRAIT

STORMY MAYO & LAURA LUDWIG / DAHLIA GARDENERS / PROVINCETOWN Stormy Mayo grew up in Provincetown; his family has been here since the mid 1600s. Stormy is a founder of […]

AN ELECTION ISSUE ARTISTS’ SPECIAL

Editor’s note: Maybe it’s anxiety about the election ahead. It seems as if worry has quieted the usual clamor of civic and community life here. With so many of us […]

NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

Happy Halloween, witches and wanderers! This week’s full Moon in Taurus occurs on All Hallow’s Eve. In the ancient traditions of the Celts, the Hindus, and the indigenous peoples of […]

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

I’m concerned about the word concerning. Not worried, really; just concerned. People keep using that word, and, as Mandy Patinkin said in The Princess Bride, I do not think it […]

Real Estate Transactions Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from Oct. 19 to Oct. 23, 2020. PROVINCETOWN Oct. 19. Christina Pazzanese to Michael and Maura Canny. 23 Bradford […]

CLASSIFIEDS

FIREWOOD Seasoned firewood for sale. Free local delivery. Large pickup truck load of nicely split locust/oak, seasoned firewood, delivered locally for $220. Let us know the length you want. Leave a […]

VOTERS SPEAK

Four years ago, 2,282 citizens of the four Outer Cape towns voted for Donald Trump: 208 in Provincetown, 361 in Truro, 515 in Wellfleet, and 1,198 in Eastham. (Hillary Clinton […]

COVID-19

WELLFLEET — The board of health is considering a set of mandatory safety standards for municipal workplaces after a visit to town hall set off alarms last week. Health Agent […]

THE REST OF THE BALLOT

PROVINCETOWN — It’s not easy sharing a ballot with the president. Presidential elections always hoover up the attention, even in a normal year, even when the contest is boring. This […]

COVID UPDATE

EASTHAM — The fifth-grade class at Eastham Elementary School will be quarantined for 14 days and educated remotely after a student tested positive for Covid-19 last week. Principal William Crosby […]

CO-OWNERSHIP

A new California-based real estate company that packages one-half to one-eighth ownership shares in luxury homes is eyeing Cape Cod as part of its opening strategy, which includes 26 cities […]

WATERFRONT DEVELOPMENT

EASTHAM — Abutters to the harbormaster’s building project at Rock Harbor were expected to weigh in at a Wednesday, Oct. 21, Zoom meeting on two alternate proposals for the project: […]

ENVIRONMENT

WELLFLEET — After a mysterious flopping in the water, a large dorsal fin emerges. You think: “shark!” But it turns out to be an ocean sunfish, Mola mola, leisurely swimming […]

OYSTERFEST RERUN

The shuck off was the main event at the virtual version of the Wellfleet OysterFest on Saturday. In a production filmed on the stage at the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater […]

MEET THE MAKER

If you happened by the Wellfleet Farmers Market this past summer, you might have seen Beth Donovan’s handiwork along your stroll. Her handmade quilts, aprons, masks, and totes consist almost […]

DOVETAIL JOINT

If you are considering renovating your worn wood floor, upgrading from vinyl, or installing flooring in a new home, you might have seen something new since the last time you […]

KITCHEN TABLE

I think of the suddenly cool days this time of year as “gumbo and sweater” weather. Where I come from, which is rural south-central Louisiana — much in the news […]

MOVEMENT

Although we’ve had a lovely fall, winter is surely on its way. If you find that with the first brisk breeze you’ve already started giving in to the idea that […]

WARRIORS WATCH

A word to fans: according to league rules, fans may only attend home games. Masks are required and physical distancing rules will apply. Thursday, Oct. 22 Boys golf: The Warriors […]

HOOPLESS

With a chill in the evening air, now is the time of year when the Outer Cape’s pickup basketballers normally move indoors. On weeknights throughout the winter, the elementary school […]

NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

The Sun enters the sign of Scorpio this week. Deeply passionate and resourceful, Scorpio’s intense energy has no patience for the superficial. It’s an all-or-nothing sign committed to digging deep […]

The last day to register to vote on Nov. 3 is Saturday, Oct 24. You can register online at sec.state.ma.us/OVR/. You can also verify that you’re properly registered at that […]

Irving Puffer at work on his grant in Wellfleet Harbor on a perfectly calm Monday morning after OysterFest weekend. Working with him, but not in this photo was Jake, his […]

TRUE CRIME

Angel Gomez Gonzalez, the Springfield man accused of assaulting George Kraniotakis, 81, of Provincetown, owner of George’s Pizza, was arraigned in Orleans District Court on Oct. 9 on charges of […]

LET'S GET FISCAL

Three of four Outer Cape towns have set their fiscal year 2021 tax rates; Provincetown and Eastham taxpayers face 7-percent and 5-percent increases, respectively, while Truro’s rate is just slightly […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Thursday, Oct. 22 Public Pier Corp., 4 p.m. Planning Board, 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. […]

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, Oct. 22 Human Services Committee, 11 a.m. Commission on Disabilities, […]

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 document […]

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 […]

BOOKS

“I have been an activist and organizer from my teenage years onwards,” says Jane Fleishman, author of The Stonewall Generation: LGBTQ Elders on Sex, Activism, and Aging. “As Mandy Carter, […]

INDIE SCREEN

These days, new films are difficult to track. Miranda July’s Kajillionaire, for example, premiered at Sundance in January, then opened in theaters on Sept. 25, but not locally on the […]

BOOK REVIEW

Jack Boughton, the protagonist of Marilynne Robinson’s much-anticipated novel, Jack, is a thief, a liar, and an alcoholic. He is also exquisitely sensitive, self-deprecatingly funny, and finely attuned to the […]

NATIVE TALENT

“I grew up in both the Bronx and Mashpee,” says Morgan James Peters, also known as Mwalim DaPhunkee Professor, in his recording studio, Polyphonic Studios, in Buzzards Bay. “My mom’s […]

SKETCHBOOK

This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.

THE YEAR-ROUNDER

In every soul there is an alleyway. And every town has one: at least one place like this. Even in beautiful Provincetown, full of narrow winding lanes, lovely gardens, charming […]

VIGNETTE

This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.

OP-ED

The Independent has published articles about the problem of internet connectivity on the Outer Cape, and we are currently waiting to see the results of the latest round of negotiations […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Questions on Cloverleaf To the editor: Before the Truro Zoning Board of Appeals discusses and votes on approval or denial of the 20 or more waivers sought by the Cloverleaf […]

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

On Monday the New York Times published a front-page article about “a fast-growing network of nearly 1,300 websites that aim to fill a void left by vanishing local newspapers across […]

TIDE CHART

Know when to hit the flats

Real Estate Transactions Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from Oct. 12 to Oct. 16, 2020. PROVINCETOWN Oct. 13. Margo Ether Reyes Revocable Trust (Margo Ether Reyes, trustee) […]

Dorothy M. (Mannato) Fitzsimmons, 89, of Fairhaven died on Oct. 13, 2020, at St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford, following a long illness. Born in Boston, Dorothy was raised in […]

Kristin Thomas Verde, a Provincetown native, died suddenly of pneumonia caused by Covid-19 in New Bedford on Sept. 20, 2020. She was 55. Kristin was born and raised here, the […]

CLASSIFIEDS

KUDOS Kevin and Stephanie, you’re the best. From one happy Neighborhood Auto customer who says thank you, for your skills and for your big hearts. [10-22] BACK ROADS Enjoy a […]

IGLOO WARMTH

PROVINCETOWN — Anticipating a higher-than-normal off-season population in residence coupled with the need to restrict indoor occupancy, local restaurants are looking for creative solutions to staying open this winter. Many […]

CLOVERLEAF PROJECT

TRURO — Health and Conservation Agent Emily Beebe had a lot of things to say about water quality and the Cloverleaf affordable housing proposal, both in a letter to the […]

SCHOOLING

In early October each year, all of the state’s public schools finalize their enrollment numbers for the new school year, and school aid from the state follows. At the Nauset […]

ECONOMY

PROVINCETOWN — In February 2019, the Provincetown Municipal Airport Commission stated that the airport’s revolving account would be empty by the fiscal year 2021-2022. The commission wrote, “We are working […]

TECHNOLOGY

PROVINCETOWN — Gov. Charlie Baker signed a bill in August authorizing up to $1.8 billion in infrastructure investment, including $1.7 million to expand broadband coverage in Provincetown via the OpenCape […]

DEMOGRAPHICS

PROVINCETOWN — After a slow start that saw all four Outer Cape towns lagging behind in 2020 census self-response rates, the U.S. Census Bureau now claims that every single household […]

VIRTUAL OYSTERFEST

WELLFLEET — Like almost everything else in 2020, the Wellfleet OysterFest will look very different this year. The town’s signature celebration, which in 2019 hosted about 23,000 visitors and routinely […]

CONTENDERS

There will be a shuck off at the 20th annual OysterFest. But there will be no competitive parking, no pressing through crowds on Main Street, and no lines under the […]

PROTEST

PROVINCETOWN — Though passers-by were chatting, bicycle bells were ringing, and the sounds of cars, strollers, and dogs filled the air, the silence from protesters still felt audible, as if […]

LEARNING

TRURO — In a school across from Truro’s vines, stood 113 children in nearly straight lines. It was a scene that evoked the melodious words of Ludwig Bemelman’s Madeline. The […]

OUTER CAPE PORTRAIT

Richard Blakeley has been growing clams and oysters on the Wellfleet flats since the 1980s. A year ago, he spoke of slowing down, perhaps even getting ready to pass the […]

COCKTAIL HOUR

As OysterFest rolls around, it’s time to talk about what you should drink with those briny, sparkling Wellfleets. The classic wines to go with oysters have lively acidity and pronounced […]

PLAYING APART

PROVINCETOWN — What do you get when a group of Provincetown locals have Tuesdays off in the middle of the summer of the pandemic, when social distance is required? A […]

KITCHEN TABLE

Winter squash was legend in my house growing up. One Halloween, my mother wouldn’t let my sisters trick-or-treat until they ate their acorn squash. No squash, no candy. Ultimately, she […]

GALLERY

Oyster plates were a Victorian-era idea that became part of the evolution of oysters from inexpensive street food to coveted delicacy, a shift that happened in the early 1900s, when […]

GRAVEYARD SHIFT

TRURO — In June 1872, John Fairfield Rich, a journalist living in Ware, in central Mass., realized the fulfillment of a dream he had had a decade earlier, when he […]

ANIMAL CLINIC

Halloween is a terrifying time of year when you treat animals who struggle with portion control. Maybe not as nerve-wracking as Thanksgiving, but still anxiety-inducing. We hold our breath waiting […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, Oct. 13, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

The final week of Libra season is highlighted, so to speak, by the new Moon. While the new Moon isn’t a time to begin anything — you should wait until […]

TRUE CRIME

ORLEANS — At an Oct. 8 dangerousness hearing, Orleans District Court Judge Robert A. Welsh ordered Joseph Amato, 45, of Provincetown, held without bail at the Barnstable County Correctional Facility […]

THE DREDGE REPORT

WELLFLEET — “Well,” said Dan Conroy, a field engineer-slash-hydrographic surveyor at Cashman Dredging and Marine Contracting, a Quincy-based company working under the supervision of the Army Corps of Engineers, “I […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Thursday, Oct. 15 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, Oct. 15 Climate Action Committee, 10 a.m. Housing […]

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 document […]

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

Political protest art is not new, as anyone who has seen Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People, about an 1830 anti-royalist uprising in France, or Picasso’s Guernica, depicting the merciless bombing […]

SIGHT AND SOUND

The viewer is immediately drawn to the eyes. This is true of many paintings by Provincetown art colony founder Charles Webster Hawthorne. They are dark brown and serious. The glint […]

BOOKS

“Do a lot of people call you Cockring?” So begins the relationship between Charlie Besson and movie star Kathi Kannon in Byron Lane’s hilarious debut novel, A Star Is Bored. […]

PERFORMANCES

Sitting at the top of a set of weathered wooden stairs overlooking the ocean, Genie Morrow seems to belong in Wellfleet’s wild, windswept landscape. “I believe we can access creativity […]

VIGNETTE

This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.

OP-ED

Readers must have noticed that Cape Cod’s only daily newspaper has gotten much slimmer in the last few months. It’s no accident. According to the Brookings Institution, over 2,000 U.S. […]

This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

It was just about a year ago that I suggested that readers of the Independent observe “Writing Thursday,” because we wanted to get more letters to the editor. Sure enough, […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

On Naming Names To the editor: After reading the letter from the editor in last week’s issue [“The Bloody Facts,” page A2], I understand why you included several articles about […]

Real Estate Transactions Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from Oct. 5 to Oct. 9. PROVINCETOWN Oct 5. John Hardin Carroll and John L. Lofton to Peter F. […]

CLASSIFIEDS

BACK ROADS Enjoy a private Hopper House tour, on back roads and hidden spaces. You follow the Guide’s car using a provided walkie-talkie. Art, architecture, history, and the environmental changes […]

Joseph Corea, who died at home in Truro on Sept. 22, 2020, loved family, hunting, and fishing. He was 78. The cause was cancer, which he had fought long and […]

TIDE CHART

Know when to hit the flats

ENVIRONMENT

Though there are no hard numbers for the population of Canada geese on the Outer Cape, it’s not hard to infer that they are growing. And there’s little argument about […]

ELDER AFFAIRS

PROVINCETOWN — The owners of two units at the Residences at Seashore Point are about to file suit against the company that controls the senior living community and its adjoining […]

FACT CHECK

TRURO — Out West, the saying goes that “Whisky’s for drinkin’, and water’s for fightin’.” In Truro’s ongoing debate about affordable housing at the Cloverleaf parcel, the water is for […]

NATIONAL SEASHORE

EASTHAM — The owners of a property in the Cape Cod National Seashore who want to demolish three dwellings and a garage and build a new residence and garage with […]

REVOLVING DOOR

WELLFLEET — One of the first tasks of new Town Administrator Maria Broadbent was to fire the town accountant. Gene Ferrari Jr. said he was dismissed on Sept. 22, the […]

UPDATE

EASTHAM — The owner of Willy’s Gym is appealing a state order to pay fines and restitution for various wage law violations, while friends of the gym’s late tennis pro […]

TRUE CRIME

PROVINCETOWN — The call came last Wednesday night, just over halfway into Police Officer Emmett Catanese’s 3 to 11 p.m. shift. On the line was Christian Peters, 50. He was […]

VIEW FROM THE TOP

The pandemic has shattered routines, shrunken social circles, and shut most of us off from the world outside our immediate radius. But I learned last week that a little training […]

DEVELOPMENT

TRURO — After digging deep for year-round workers and young families, the Truro Select Board has found 16 people to serve on the Walsh Property Community Planning Committee. The group […]

IT TAKES A VILLAGE

PROVINCETOWN — Michelle Axelson came to town in November 2010, for a break. A Boston-based social worker by training, she had loved working at Mass. Correctional Institution — Framingham, a […]

BODY/MIND

It feels like just yesterday that we were all holed up, arguing on Facebook about opening up for the summer season and wondering what would happen. And then it did. […]

KITCHEN TABLE

Something ridiculous always happens when the seasons change. I find myself excited for the foods I associate with the new season, and immediately nostalgic for the foods of the season […]

IF I HAD A HAMMER

With Women’s Week in view, the Independent asked three Outer Cape women to tell us what it’s like to make themselves at home working in what is still seen as […]

NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

Fresh off a full Moon in Aries, many of us may have noticed a weekend full of headaches, heartaches, and a rather edgy disposition. The best way to balance aggression […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, Oct. 6, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

ALL RISE

WELLFLEET — If you search for Abbe Seldin in the archives of the New York Times, you’ll find four articles. The first, by Leslie Oelsner, appeared on Feb. 1, 1972, […]

DEPT. OF COMMERCE

PROVINCETOWN — The staff at the Lobster Pot sent word on Oct. 3 to the restaurant’s customers and friends: Mary Joy McNulty, “our beloved owner, leader, and inspiration,” is retiring. […]

EASTHAM — Nauset Regional School District Supt. Thomas Conrad would not comment this week on the termination process for James Saidnawey, a fourth-grade teacher at Eastham Elementary School who was […]

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Thursday, Oct. 8 Scholarship & Trust Administration Committee, 3 p.m. Public Pier Corp., 2 […]

Meetings Ahead Thursday, Oct. 8 Zoning Board of Appeals, 5:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 9 Community Preservation Committee, 4:15 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13 Council on Aging Board, 10 a.m. Select Board, […]

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 document […]

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 […]

COVID UPDATE

Theater and music lovers were overjoyed last week when Gov. Charlie Baker announced that lower-risk communities may move to “step two” of phase three reopening guidelines, as of Monday, Oct. […]

CERAMICS

“The Cape is where I want to be as an artist,” says ceramicist Isabel Souza. “The direction of my art is very influenced by my roots and my family history […]

BOOK REVIEW

What is the likely career trajectory of an inventive, gifted Teacher of the Year who is passionate about racial and social justice and who works in an urban public school? […]

CONCERT REVIEW

“This is the first indoor [musical] event that anyone on the Cape can experience since February,” said David Kuehn, executive director of Cotuit Center for the Arts, introducing a solo […]

SKETCHBOOK

This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.

THE YEAR-ROUNDER

PROVINCETOWN — I have not had a haircut in at least seven months. My hair is almost as long as it was 50 years ago. It doesn’t really matter; I […]

This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.

OUR MR. NATURAL

This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

“If it bleeds, it leads” is an old saw in the news business. Stories of crime and violence sell, and in newsrooms driven by competition for viewers and readers, the […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

A Nice Guy To the editor: Todd Silva’s letter in last week’s Independent [“Noises of the Waterfront”] was the most restrained, polite, and neighborly reply imaginable to a jerk. Imagine complaining about […]

Real Estate Transactions Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from Sept. 28 to Oct. 2. PROVINCETOWN Sept. 28. BPJC LLC [Christopher D. Wise, manager] to Paulo Martini. 350 […]

CLASSIFIEDS

YARD SALE Huge yard sale in North Truro. Moving and downsizing. This Sat., Oct. 10 and Sun., Oct. 11 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. No early birds! Masks required. 50 […]

TIDE CHART

Know when to hit the flats

Know when to hit the flats

THE WATERFRONT

WELLFLEET — It took a town-wide effort, a federal campaign, and 26 years, but the dredging of Wellfleet Harbor’s federal channel is set to begin on Oct. 1. “It’s just […]

TOWN MEETING

TRURO — It was a short but not sweet town meeting on Saturday, Sept. 26. All 17 warrant articles passed, the weather was balmy, and 243 people (or 12 percent […]

TOWN MEETING

EASTHAM — The voters were in an agreeable mood at last Saturday’s town meeting, approving every warrant article presented and agreeing to postpone two. Three of the adopted articles will […]

LEARNING IN A PANDEMIC

PROVINCETOWN — Provincetown Schools Supt. Suzanne Scallion has received a letter from state Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Jeffrey Riley questioning her decision not to reopen the school for […]

SAFETY NET

PROVINCETOWN — Unemployment insurance dates back to 1935 and the same New Deal law that created Social Security. This year, however, unemployment benefits were radically expanded and repurposed as coronavirus […]

TRUE CRIME

WELLFLEET — An employee at Bay Sails Marine on Route 6 was flushing out his boat Saturday evening at the end of a beautiful late September day when he noticed […]

CONNECTIVITY

TRURO — More residents in areas currently without broadband service will soon be able to get connected, following a breakthrough in negotiations with Comcast — though exactly how many will […]

AN APPRECIATION

PROVINCETOWN — In his poem “Chariot,” Stanley Kunitz, a founder of the Fine Arts Work Center, wrote of Varujan Boghosian, “In my friend’s studio, where curiosity runs the shop, and […]

ENVIRONMENT

WELLFLEET — Cape Cod is known as a global stranding hot spot for whales and dolphins. Probably no one knows that better than the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) […]

POLITICS

PROVINCETOWN — Mary L. Trump’s book Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man sold more copies in one week than her uncle Donald’s […]

GALLERY

Masses of mums have arrived at local garden stores, ready to be shepherded to our dooryards to replace summer’s now-bedraggled geraniums. Natalie Van Staden stands surrounded by what seems like […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, Sept. 29, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

AIR CONDITIONED

EASTHAM — “Unfortunately, the kids are getting used to disappointment right now,” said Head Coach Bruce Strunk of the Nauset Warriors football team. Friday nights in September would normally bring […]

PUBLIC HEALTH

WELLFLEET — The discovery of E. coli bacteria in the town’s public water supply led to a “boil water order” from the state on Saturday evening, Sept. 26. Occupants of […]

ALL-STAR

Elle Simone Scott took delivery last week on 72 Wellfleet oysters at America’s Test Kitchen in Boston, where she is a test chef and stylist. The oysters were courtesy of […]

KITCHEN TABLE

Sometimes recipes come from friends, relatives, or a cookbook. But sometimes, they happen by accident. They all start with some kind of inspiration. Just as those final slicing tomatoes of […]

NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

It should be noted for transparency’s sake that this astro-columnist is himself a Libra, born Oct. 9, 1985. For me, writing about Libra poses a challenge. How to turn the […]

BIRTHDAY

The staff of the Provincetown Independent celebrated the completion of Volume 1 of the newspaper on Friday, Sept. 25 with a series of surprise awards, announced by the editor, Ed […]

CROSSWORD #14

Sophia Maymudes created this month’s puzzle with a special place in mind. Need some answers? Just ask and we’ll send them. This page is available to subscribers. Click here to […]

ROOTS

EASTHAM — The Outer Cape’s annual fall festivals have all taken a hit during 2020, thanks to Covid-19. “What’s next?” you might be asking. “No Eastham Turnip Festival this year?” […]

A TRURO THING

Susan Kurtzman, who owns Jobi Pottery in Truro, with state Sen. Julian Cyr, who nominated Jobi for inclusion in Artists Under the Dome, an annual State House event. “It was […]

CURRENTS

Meetings are held remotely. Go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Thursday, Oct. 1 Recycling & Renewable Energy Committee, 10 a.m. Public Pier Corp., 1 p.m. Select […]

CURRENTS

Meetings are held remotely. To watch live, go to truro-ma.gov and follow the “helpful link” to Truro Channel 18. Thursday, Oct. 1 Climate Action Committee, 10 a.m. Monday, Oct. 5 Conservation Commission, […]

CURRENTS

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 document will provide […]

CURRENTS

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

EXHIBITIONS

“It’s historical; it’s interactive; you walk through it,” Mimi Gross says. She is describing how museum-goers will experience The Arrival, 1620, her site-specific installation that is opening on Friday, Oct. […]

BOOKS

Next Wednesday, East End Books Ptown is holding a virtual book event on the The Piano Student, with author Lea Singer and translator Elisabeth Lauffer. The novel, newly translated from […]

ARTISTS

“That’s the life force we get from being present in the moment, experiencing what is happening around us,” says Bill Evaul in his North Truro home, leaning forward in an […]

BENEFIT AUCTIONS

The Ptown Gallery Stroll, a nonprofit organization of more than 30 art galleries in Provincetown, was formed in the spring in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the threat it […]

CONCERT REVIEW

Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings is a warhorse — a piece of classical music that is played so repeatedly, it ought to get old. But it doesn’t. Partly because of […]

VIGNETTE

This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.

OP-ED

EASTHAM — It started as a quick trip down the steps to the pond, with sandwich in hand, before a run into town to fetch bird seed from the Bird […]

TEACAKE’S TAKE

This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.

PRESERVATION

EASTHAM — One of the reasons my husband and I decided to move back to Eastham from Orleans was its scenic beauty. When I lived in Orleans, I was a […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Noises of the Waterfront To the editor: I am a commercial lobsterman fishing out of Provincetown, as my father and grandfather did before me. After a week of unfishable weather, […]

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Now that all four of the Outer Cape towns have held their annual town meetings, gathering outdoors on athletic fields and in a parking lot, maintaining safe distancing and observing […]

TIDE CHART

Know when to hit the flats

CLASSIFIEDS

JOBS Vacation rental coordinator. Part-time year-round vacation rental coordinator for busy Wellfleet real estate office. Excellent organizational and computer skills essential. Current MA real estate license, or obtain one within […]

Real Estate Transactions Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from Sept. 21 to Sept. 25, 2020. PROVINCETOWN Sept. 21. Debora Lyn Charpentier and Christine Erin Smith to Thomas […]

public health

WELLFLEET — The discovery of E. coli bacteria in the town’s public water supply led to a “boil water order” from the state on Saturday evening. Occupants of the 290 […]

AN INVESTIGATION

WELLFLEET — At the Sept. 12 annual town meeting voters agreed to spend $110,000 to design a sprinkler system for the Wellfleet Elementary School, because, the fire chief said, one […]

HOUSING RELIEF

PROVINCETOWN — First, the good news: checks of up to $5,000 are available to help vulnerable Cape Cod tenants with up to three months of rent payments. The Housing Assistance […]

CIVICS

PROVINCETOWN — The long-delayed annual town meeting moved at a brisk pace on Monday, Sept. 21, with the chilly weather perhaps encouraging voters gathered in the parking lot at St. […]

#BLM

WELLFLEET — About 100 people marched from the pier to the First Congregational Church in support of the Black Lives Matter movement on Sept. 20. The crowd on Sunday was […]

UNRESTORATION

WELLFLEET — Three days after town meeting voters agreed to spend another $10,000 to continue a years-long cemetery restoration and repair project, an independent historic gravestone conservator delivered her report […]

CIVICS

TRURO — After heaping praise on Darrin Tangeman, 46, a former Green Beret with municipal and medical experience, the select board on Sept. 22 unanimously picked him to be the […]

HEALTH

WELLFLEET — Liberty Schilpp’s middle-school-age children have already had four different dentists and are about to meet number five, this one in South Dennis. The problem is not a dearth […]

KITCHEN TABLE

What are you going to do with that last sun-warmed tomato from the garden, the one that’s waiting on the counter right now? Here’s how a few of the Outer […]

HOMESTEADING

WELLFLEET — Most chickens on the Outer Cape are, like the rest of us, among the fortunate on this Earth. Instead of inhabiting large-production poultry farms, our backyard babies live […]

DAWN PATROL

EASTHAM — When Joe Rossetti was a kid, back in the 1960s, his family spent summers at a cottage in North Truro, just steps away from Highland Light and Coast […]

THE SCUTTLEBUTT

There is no mistaking it: the fall season is upon us. Unrelenting winds from northerly quadrants have been buffeting us for days on end, and, as of this writing, the remnants […]

PLANTCRAFT

September, the golden month on Cape Cod. Sunrises and sunsets that linger in the mind’s eye with color and light. Solidago sempervirens, seaside goldenrod, is just beginning to open at […]

CROSS COUNTRY

EASTHAM — “I’m glad that we’ll be able to have some sort of season,” said Izzy Nobili, senior captain of the Nauset Regional High School cross country team. Normally, cross […]

MILLION-YEAR PICNIC

In the very first issue of the Independent, I wrote about Jupiter and Saturn, which were prominently in view at the time. After making their way across the sky and […]

OUTER CAPE PORTRAIT

AIDAN HANDVILLE / HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR, ATHLETE / EASTHAM Aidan Handville is captain of the Nauset Regional High School football team. This fall, because of Covid, there’s no regular football […]

PERSONAL HISTORY

The first time I was bullied, I was in second grade. It was a classic case. A kid my age with a scary, tough way about him stole money from […]

BEHIND THE WHEEL

People ask me what I think of Question One, which will be on the ballot in the Commonwealth on Nov. 3. My answer is that, while it may not be […]

NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

All rise for Libra season. Perched between high-minded Virgo and sub-conscious Scorpio, Libra seeks to balance the cosmic forces of good and evil by delivering an equalizing light to their […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, Sept. 22, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

CURRENTS

Meetings are held remotely. Go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Thursday, Sept. 24 Public Pier Corp., 2 p.m. Planning Board, 6 p.m. Monday, Sept. 28 […]

CURRENTS

Meetings are held remotely. To watch live, go to truro-ma.gov and follow the “helpful link” to Truro Channel 18. Thursday, Sept. 24 School Committee, 9 a.m. Shellfish Advisory Committee, 2 p.m. Zoning […]

CURRENTS

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 document will […]

CURRENTS

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

THEATER

The view from the Grace Hall parking lot #3 of the dune and water tower above it would not be part of a Provincetown promotional flyer. But the sky was […]

PUBLIC ART

Many visitors to Provincetown have admired the funky, colorful Bob Gasoi Memorial Alley beside Shop Therapy at 290 Commercial St. Few, however, are familiar with Arnold Charnick, the artist who […]

PROVINCETOWN 400

The Provincetown Art Association and Museum has joined forces with the Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum for “Members’ Juried: Provincetown 400,” an exhibit of artwork by PAAM members that is […]

BOOK REVIEW

Watch a video clip of mathematician Eugenia Cheng making puff pastry with Stephen Colbert, and you’ll quickly appreciate why her students at the Art Institute of Chicago surely consider themselves […]

INDIE SCREEN

As residencies go, Marco Calvani’s time in Provincetown has been productive and reflective. It culminated with a fund-raiser at the Mary Heaton Vorse House on Thursday, Sept. 17, presented by […]

GOING LIVE

The summer came and went. And against all odds, we had live music, cabaret, and drag. Performers and venues acclimated to an entirely new way of performing — outdoors and […]

JUSTICE

“Tzedek, Tzedek Tirdof: Justice, Justice you shall pursue. This quote hung in her office. I’ve given her a gold pin inscribed with it.”—Traci Harmon-Hay This page is available to subscribers. […]

SUNSET

I stare at this photograph The setting of the sun Over the ocean the dunes My world Luminous So alive Without her body She pours her love Upon us Dare […]

THE YEAR-ROUNDER

I aspire to be a writer. My two young granddaughters, though, ages four and seven, would not care if I never wrote another word. They are staying with us now, […]

STEAMERS

This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Playing With Space and Time To the editor: Marnie Crawford Samuelson’s interview with and portrait of my brother, Miah Nate Johnson, were sensitive and wonderful [“Laugh! Laugh Out Loud,” Sept. […]

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Things go wrong sometimes. That’s always of interest to reporters and editors. We’re tuned to ask what happened and tell the story of how things came apart. It’s good to […]

TIDE CHART

Know when to hit the flats

Real Estate Transactions Recorded at the Barnstable Country Registry of Deeds from Sept. 14 to Sept. 18, 2020. PROVINCETOWN Sept. 14. Cheryl A. Bready to Robert Parisi. 531 Commercial St. […]

CLASSIFIEDS

JOBS Vacation rental coordinator. Part-time year-round vacation rental coordinator for busy Wellfleet real estate office. Excellent organizational and computer skills essential. Current MA real estate license, or obtain one within […]

Anne Elizabeth Mahoney, 59, of Truro and Cambridge, died of complications from heart surgery on Sept. 15, 2020, at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. She was the wife of […]

Artemis Diana Warburton of Eastham died peacefully on Sept. 3, 2020 at Pleasant Bay Nursing and Rehab Center in Brewster at the age of 97. Artemis, who was known as […]

Joseph Jay Buteau of North Truro died at home on Sept. 12, 2020, surrounded by his wife and daughters. Born on Aug. 2, 1950, in Heidelberg, Germany, he was the […]

Varujan Boghosian, a towering figure among Provincetown artists, died of complications of a hip fracture at his home in Hanover, N.H., on Monday, Sept. 21, 2020. He was 94. His […]

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

This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.

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

This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.

SKETCHBOOK

This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.

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

Updated on Sept. 30, 2020 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 […]

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

This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.

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

This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.

VIGNETTE

This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.

STEAMERS

This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.

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

This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.

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 […]

This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.

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

This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.

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

This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.

TEACAKE'S TAKE

This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.

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

This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.

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