We are grateful to the artists and photographers included here who have helped us create a New Year’s greeting card to the Independent’s readers.
Top Stories
ECONOMY
For Wellfleet Shellfishermen, Farmers Market Is ‘Pure Good News’
On the town pier: oysters to go
WELLFLEET — For local shellfishermen, good news this fall was in short supply. Covid’s shuttering of restaurants across the country had wreaked havoc on the wholesale distribution chain, usually a […]
FARMING
No Permit Needed for Six Geese a-Laying
Eastham health board relents on some proposed farm animal rules
EASTHAM — The board of health wanted to tighten the town’s regulations on the keeping of noncommercial farm animals. But blowback from the public has made the board think again. […]
ROUND FOOD FOR EVERY MOOD
At Salty Market, Bagels Are a Family Affair
‘The best I’ve ever had outside New York’
TRURO — “The ranking goes: New York bagels,” said Claire Adams, chef and owner of North Truro’s Salty Market, “and then Montreal bagels. And then….” Here, Ellery Althaus, Salty’s manager […]
CLIMATE CRISIS
West End Salt Marsh Dieback Accelerates
After the purple crabs graze, millennia of peat washes away
PROVINCETOWN — On a Sunday morning in November, the low tide and lure of fresh foraged food drew many recreational shellfishermen to this season’s designated clamming area, the west side […]
WILDLIFE
Outer Cape Gets Season’s First Wave of Strandings
They’re mostly young turtles, but one loggerhead weighed in at 350 pounds
Thanksgiving week is a busy time for the sea turtle team at the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary and some 200 volunteers who work to rescue cold-stunned turtles on the Outer […]
WATERFRONT
Rock Harbor Panel Mulls Change of Plan
Committee rejects idea of repurposing antique house as office
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 […]
MAYFLOWER HISTORY, PART 1
For Indigenous People, a Different Kind of Mayflower Story
‘You can’t create a colony without creating people who are colonized’
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 […]
DEMOCRACY 2020
It’s an Outer Cape Biden Landslide
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 […]
TRICK OR TREAT
A Town-by-town Plan for Finding Halloween Fun
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, […]
VOTERS SPEAK
Among Outer Cape Republicans, Consensus Is Elusive
Some who voted for Trump in 2016 remain undecided
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 […]
IGLOO WARMTH
Restaurant Owners Re-imagine Winter Dining
Warm outdoor spaces, take-out, and the long view on losses
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 […]
ENVIRONMENT
Researchers Worry More About Geese Grazing Than Pooping
‘Nearly ubiquitous’ Canada geese have limited effect on pond water
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 […]
THE WATERFRONT
Dredging of Federal Channel Begins at Last
Army Corps arrives to launch three-year harbor project
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 […]
AN INVESTIGATION
Why Wellfleet Elementary School Has No Sprinklers
Thirty years ago, the fire chief ‘was asked not to do his job’
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 […]
