For centuries, the location of present-day Chatham was inhabited by the Nauset, specifically a tribe known as the “Monomoyick.” French explorer Samuel de Champlain was perhaps the first European to make direct contact with the Monomoyick, landing on the shoreline in 1606. Champlain recorded his interactions with the natives, calling the area “Port Fortuné.” (Relations soured between the two parties, however, and Champlain had to head back to his fleet.) The Monomoyicks remained in relative isolation until English settlers began near their land some five decades after Champlain’s arrival. In fact, one Englishmen named William Nickerson attempted to purchased some four square miles of territory from the Monomoyicks. (He specifically presented a sachem of the Monomoyicks, Mataquason, with a scallop, ten coats, six kettles, twelve axes, twelve hoes, twelve knives, forty shillings in wampum, a hat, and twelve shillings in coins.) But lengthy litigation proceedings with Plymouth Colony officials delayed the finalization of Nickerson’s deal for 12 years. Finally in 1664, Nickerson and handful of families from elsewhere in Cape Cod traveled to the site, erecting a few rudimentary cabins in the vicinity of a small cove. Nickerson’s community remained relatively small during the first 100 years of its existence, as only about 150 people lived in the region by the late 1690s. A huge impediment to its settlement was its lack of arable soil. Most of the residents struggled to grow various crops, specifically rye, wheat, tobacco, and corn. Corn proved to be the easiest to cultivate, even functioning as currency for a brief period of time.

Still, enough people lived in the community to hire both a preacher, as well as a schoolteacher. By 1712, the residents were successful in petitioning colonial officials in Boston for the creation of a town charter. (Plymouth Colony had been absorbed into the neighboring Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1691.) Christening the locale as “Chatham,” its inhabitants gradually began to embrace fishing, shipping, and commercial shipbuilding as an alternative to agriculture. The town’s primary exports to markets beyond New England included mackerel, halibut, and of course, cod, which its fisherman acquired directly from the Great Banks. Whaling, in particular, became an immensely popular trade, as did the practice of collecting vats of evaporated sea salt. Yet, continuous colonial wars with France significantly curtailed the maritime activities of those living in Chatham, as French pirates often assaulted the numerous vessels that left the town’s harbor. It was not until after the American Revolution that Chatham firmly established itself as one of Cape Cod’s most preeminent commercial ports. The town was filled with many mariners, some of whom regularly traveled to far off places in Africa and Asia. To aid the locals in their maritime trade, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned the creation of the Chatham Lighthouse in 1808. Originally consisting of two towers, it would go on to guide sailors through Chatham’s harbor for the better part of three centuries. (Other lighthouse would appear over the course of the 19th century, including the now-defunct Stage Harbor Lighthouse on Harding Beach.)

But word eventually spread to mainland Massachusetts of Chatham’s idyllic coastal setting, attracting scores of vacationers from Boston that were eager to escape the tumult of city life. The debut of the region’s first railroad in 1887 enabled even greater numbers of visitors to travel out to the area, giving rise to a profitable tourism industry that greatly supplemented the activities of the local maritime economy. Over the next few decades, entrepreneurial businessmen began erecting their own lodgings to address the influx, such as the Chatham Bars Inn in 1914. By the middle of the 1920s, Chatham had eight separate hotels within its borders. Close to 1,000 dwellings resided in the town at that point, as well, of which nearly half were seasonal cottages. Chatham built upon its prestige as a vacation hotspot, evolving into a premier resort community in the years following World War II. Many new facilities debuted, including various golf courses, yachting groups, and beach clubs. At the dawn of the 21st century, the town was hosting anywhere between 20,000 and 30,000 individuals every year! Today, Chatham remains an incredibly popular holiday retreat, filled with all kinds of exciting attractions to experience. In addition to being listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, its downtown has numerous shops and restaurants to visit. Numerous historical landmarks are also located throughout the community, such as the Chatham Lighthouse, the Chatham Windmill, and the Atwood Museum. Chatham is also home to three amazing wildlife preserves—the Tern Island Wildlife Sanctuary, the Monomoy Island Wildlife Sanctuary, and a portion of the Cape Cod National Seashore.

When Charles Ashley Hardy originally constructed the Chatham Bars Inn as a quaint hunting lodge, he used the wonderful design principles of Shingle-style architecture as the source of his inspiration. Popular throughout New England at the height of the Gilded Age, Shingle architecture was born out of an immense regional interest to preserve colonial American culture. This desire specifically manifested in the aftermath of the Centennial Exposition if 1876, in which several of its exhibits celebrated the history of the nation’s origin story. Those throughout New England felt that the style of Shingle architecture best represented the simplistic aesthetics of British American architecture that was perceived as a humble alternative to the popular Eastlake and Queen Anne architectural forms that predominated across the rest of the country at the time. In stark contrast to those aforementioned styles, Shingle architecture specifically eschewed ostentatious decorations for complex shapes constructed with modest materials. Cedar shingling became the most prominent kind, giving rise to the practice of referring to the form as “Shingle” architecture. The shingling was applied across the entire structure from the roof to the walls. Architects typically stained or painted the material, even allowing it to weather natural in some cases. What few decorative elements that did appear throughout the structure tended to emphasize asymmetrical layout of each Shingle-style building, as a means of making it appear more rustic and authentic. But Shingle style did borrow some architectural elements from its fellow Victorian-era architecture. Great Palladian windows often appeared throughout the façade, while grand stone porches with beautiful columns occasionally served as the primary entrance point. On several occasions, architects would also include gables onto the roofs of some houses, as well as some small towers that blended in seamlessly with the overall design. Given the informality of Single architecture, it usually appeared only on residential structures. Yet, the style was also used to construct a few seaside resorts across New England, specifically along the coastlines of Long Island Sound and Cape Cod.

Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company and creator of the historic Model T.

William Rockefeller Jr., co-founder of Standard Oil alongside his brother, John Davison.

Henry Morgenthau Jr., 52nd United States Secretary of the Treasury.

Queen Juliana of the Netherlands (1948 – 1980)

The Finest Hours (2015)