Museums in Chatham, Cape Cod
Museums
Caleb Nickerson House
Chatham's Caleb Nickerson House, on the Nickerson Family Association property at 1107 Orleans Road (Route 28) is open for tours every Wednesday from 9:00am to 1:00pm June 9 through September 29, 2010. Donation: $3.00. children under 12: $.50.Caleb Nickerson, great, great grandson of William, the founder of the town of Chatham, and his wife Elizabeth Mayo built their home on Stage Neck Road in 1772. The house stood on a bluff over looking the Oyster River for 230 years. In 2003 the house made a journey by land and sea to its present location. This pristine home of an American Revolutionary War veteran features three working fireplaces including a beehive oven and original iron cranes, period woodwork and random width wide pine floors. Experience colonial life in this restored antique cape resting on the original homestead land, within a few yard of the cabin site of the founder of Chatham.
Chatham's Old Grist Mill
Located near Chase Park, off Shattuck Place, this mill was built in 1797 by Col. Benjamin Godfrey to grind corn using only wind power. A wind speed of at least 20 miles an hour was necessary to do the job, and when the wind topped 25 miles per hour the miller had to either reef his sails or cease grinding that day. The mill was a gift to the town from Mr. and Mrs. Stuart Crocker. It was moved from its original location on Mill Hill, off Stage Harbor Road, in 1956, and was opened to the public a year later. The facility is under the supervision of the Park & Recreation Commission. Chatham’s windmill will once again grind corn—at least, on occasion! Visitors to the 18th-century wind-powered gristmill that is currently undergoing a historic renovation will be able to relive a bit of town history in the near future.
Chatham Marconi Maritime Center
In the summer of 2010, the Chatham Marconi Maritime Center plans to welcome visitors to its Museum and Education Center located at 847 Orleans Road (Route28) overlooking Ryder’s Cove in theChathamport area of North Chatham. The Museum is located in the historic Operations Building built in 1914 by the “wizard of wireless”, Guglielmo Marconi. This station was part of his visionary wireless network intended to link America with Europe and Japan. Under the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and known by its call letters WCC, it was the busiest ship-to-shore station on the East Coast between 1920 and 1993. Not only did WCC relay vital messages to ships aroundthe world, it also provided communications to brave aviators and bold adventurers---Charles and Anne Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, Howard Hughes and Admiral Byrd at the South Pole. Exhibits will include videos about Marconi’s life and the role of WCC in world events, an authentic shipboard radio, artifacts from important periods in WCC’s history, and opportunity for children to send Morse code as well as an operational amateur radio station. For further information about the Chatham Marconi Maritime Center, visit www.chathammarconi.org . National Register of Historic Places.
Mayo House
Just east of the Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank building on Main Street is the Mayo House, which is an excellent example of a traditional Cape Cod house built in 1820. This antique home serves as headquarters for the Chatham Conservation Foundation, and is used by the group for its regular meetings. The Mayo House, beautifully preserved and restored, was donated to the foundation by the Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank. It is furnished with period furniture and is open to the public from mid- June thru September. Open Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, 11:00 am-4:00 pm.
Old Atwood House Museum
The Old Atwood House at 347 Stage Harbor Road is owned by the Chatham Historical Society. This house, one of the oldest in Chatham, was erected in the days (1752) when the men who engineered the job were all subjects of His Majesty, King George the III of England. Allow 2 hours to tour this complex, which includes the Durand Wing with its displays of shells, Sandwich Glass, and Parian ware. In the William Nickerson Wing, changing exhibits portray old Cape Cod life through artifacts, photos and maritime paintings. The New Gallery displays local sea captains and other individuals all painted in the 1930's by Frederick Wight, son of Alice Stallknecht Wight. Her nationally known Murals are housed in the annexed old Chatham Railroad freight shed. The Murals are in three large sections painted between 1932 and 1945 and include portraits of more than 130 townspeople pictured with a modern Christ. The Joseph C. Lincoln Room (famous Cape author) contains all his books, memorabilia and many personal objects of interest. An interesting Antique Tool Room has been set up in the basement; and now on the premises, with furnishings intact and saved from storm erosions, is an original North Beach Camp built in 1947. Hundreds of interesting antiques are included in the 14 display rooms...something for all art lovers, history buffs, students and lovers of Chatham. This Museum is a must see.
Railroad Museum
The Chatham Railroad Museum is located in the old Chatham Railroad Company station on Depot Road, and has parking space at the door. The building is now over 100 years old and on the original site. It served the Town for over fifty years from 1887 to 1937. In 1951, Mrs. Jacob Cox of Cleveland, Ohio and Chatham purchased the structure and land as a gift to our town. It was restored as a country depot and a museum in 1960.
During the season, it will open from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm, Tuesday through Saturday from mid-June to mid-September. It is manned by an experienced group of volunteers from all Cape Cod. There have been over 100,000 visitors since the first season. It grows in size each year. The exhibits, starting with a relic of the first commercial railroad in the U.S. in 1826, include hundreds of factors of historical significance in the railroad field, plus models and objects which never fail to interest the visitors.
The 100-year old caboose of olden days, the gift of the New York Central System, has been fully restored and is open for all to enjoy the sounds of the rails. Young and old will enjoy the trip through this Home on Wheels of the railroad train crews. The diorama of the Chatham yards of about 1915 modeled in a scale of 1/8 inch to the foot is a new acquisition - a must see exhibit. Museum can be opened after season closing for groups by special arrangements. Donations are accepted. Handicapped accessible.
