History of Chatham, Massachusetts, USA

Chatham, Massachusetts
Barnstable county, lies on the elbow of Cape Cod, south side. Pleasant bay, inside of Chatham beach, forms a good harbor. Chatham is 20 miles E. from Barnstable, and 32 S.S.E. from Provincetown. Incorporated, 1712. Population, 1837, 2,271. The value of the cod and mackerel fisheries, for the year ending April 1, 1837, was $56,100;—value of boots and shoes made, $1,500. There are, belonging to this place, about 20 sail of fishermen and 30 coasters.

Chatham was called, by the Indians, Monamoy.

Between the sand-hills are numerous ponds, and one hill, called Great Hill, is a prominent object from the ocean.

A spit of land, proceeding from Orleans, forms a considerable bay north of Chatham, and defends both Orleans and Chatham from the ocean.

This spit is evidently extending southwardly, and the sand has gradually been filling up the harbor of Chatham.

Though the soil is mere sand, the town is thrifty, the people being largely engaged in commerce, the fisheries, and the manufacture of salt, from sea-water, as usual, by evaporation in the open air.

Distance from Barnstable, 22 miles ; from Boston, by land, 77.

Chatham, a post-township of Barnstable county, Massachusetts, 80 miles S. £. from Boston. Population, 2439.

CHATHAM, a township in Barnstable co., in the state of Massachusetts, on the SE point of Cape Cod. Its inhabitants are chiefly employed in the fisheries and coasting-trade. Pop. 2,334.

Chatham occupies the extreme southeastern angle alike of Cape Cod and of Barnstable County; and, being indented by numerous coves, harbors, creeks and inlets, is, topographically, one of the most irregular towns in the Commonwealth. It has Pleasant Bay, separating it from Orleans, on the north; the ocean on the east and south; and Harwich on the west. The assessed area is 4,476 acres, in which there are but 275 acres of wood-land. It has 512 dwelling-houses, with 2,028 inhabitants, who are hardy and industrious people; more than half the number of voters (601) being engaged in maritime pursuits.

The surface of the town is varied by a succession of sand-hills (often changing), villages, creeks and fresh-water ponds. Of the last there are more than thirty; and several of them during the summer are covered with the beautiful white lily. Goose Pond, containing 66 acres, is the largest. Nauset Beach is a long, sandy strip of land, that extends for many miles between the mainland and the ...

Chatham, a post-village of Barnstable co, Mass., is in Chatham township, and on the ocean, at the southeastern point of the peninsula called Cape Cod,7 miles E. of Harwich Railroad Station, and about 20 miles E. of Barnstable. It has a high school, a newspaper office, 4 churches, a tolerable harbor, and is supported mainly by navigation and fisheries. Pop. of the township, 2274. The township contains a hamlet named South Chatham.