House rental in Chatham, Massachusetts - Fun family-friendly retreat, steps to Ridgevale Beach - Property 130469

On Chatham - from the Boston Globe, 6/4/08: Like many Colonial-era coastal towns, Chatham has evolved with the tides of commerce. Since William Nickerson bought 4 square miles of land in 1656, the town has relied, in turn, on farming, maritime trade, fishing, and tourism, and its success in retaining links to its past earned it recognition in 2007 from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Visitors come here for the simple, old-fashioned pleasures the town affords: Friday night band concerts on the green, college summer league baseball, offloading of the day's catch at the fish pier. The waters off Chatham were the site of many shipwrecks in the 19th century. Some of those wrecks were caused by Chatham's mooncussers, men who waved lanterns on murky nights in an effort to disorient sailors into grounding their ships so they could loot the cargo. Perhaps a bit of that rogue spirit lives on in a popular bumper sticker spotted around town: 'Chatham, Mass.: A quaint little drinking village with a fishing problem.'

On Buck's Creek - from the Boston Globe, 9/1/08: 'It's Buck's Creek that makes Chatham's south-side waterfront so special. The waterway separates the popular Ridgevale and Harding's beaches and creates a couple of great neighborhoods on its elevated banks, where kids can grab a boogie board, jog down small backyards hills, and be at either beach in a matter of minutes.' NOTE -- our home is a part of the Buck's Creek Association.

Other Activities: Kayaking, seal watches, guided nature hikes