What to do and see in Chatham, Massachusetts (MA): The Best Historic Sites

Exhibit hours and days vary throughout the year. For details please visit our website. **Advance reservations are required during the pandemic.** Most, but not all exhibits may be open at this time. ** New exhibits this year include: - An outdoor Wetu (Wampanoag dwelling), - The Turning Point - Mayflower Exhibit, - WWII Commemoration, and - Honoring the Suffrage Movement. Explore Cape Cod of centuries past with 12 galleries in 14 exhibits, starting with a tour of a historical dwelling built circa 1752. Discover Cape Cod's captivating history, art, and culture at the Chatham Historical Society's Atwood House Museum. In addition to the 18th century Atwood House, Museum highlights include: a Mural Barn with works by Alice Stallknecht, the Nickerson North Beach Camp, a fishing gallery, Double Take Then and Now photo exhibit, Main Street Cape Cod, stories of the Pendleton and other shipwrecks, several rotating exhibits, a research facility, a popular gift shop and more.

Founded in 2002, the Chatham Marconi Maritime Center occupies two restored buildings on the preserved 11 acre, 10-building campus which comprised the former Marconi/RCA Wireless Receiving Station, once the busiest ship-to-shore station on the East Coast and a significant military installation during World War II. From Marconi's Spark To Modern Wireless! The Center's Marconi/RCA Wireless Museum offers interactive exhibits tracing the history of maritime wireless communication in Chatham from its formative days with Marconi through the 20th Century, and the wireless we use today. Visit arrival hours are listed; reservations are advised. Chatham Marconi's Education Center houses the museum's Wireless Today gallery and STEM education classrooms. The Center offers forward-thinking STEM education in area schools through its unique TechSmart program, STEM After Hours outside the classroom, and fun on-site week-long Summer Science classes. Please see website for details.

The 1827 Caleb Nickerson House Museum at 1107 Orleans Road (Route 28) in Chathamport is owned by the Nickerson Family Association, inc., founded in 1897 in Chatham, Massachusetts by William Emery Nickerson. The Caleb House was built in the Stage Harbor area of Chatham and was moved in 2003 to the Nickerson Family Association property in Chathamport that also includes the homestead site of the first English settlers of Chatham, William & Anne (Busby) Nickerson. The Caleb Nickerson House Museum is a "working" museum of life on Cape Cod in the early 19th century. The museum, adjacent to the Nickerson Family Association Genealogy Center, is open on Wednesday mornings during the late spring to early fall and by appointment.

Built in 1797, the Chatham Windmill (Godfrey Windmill) is one of the few historic wind-powered grist mills that remain on Cape Cod. It is open for guided tours during the summer months. Twice each year the mill is set in operation and, weather conditions permitting, the mill grinds corn just as it did in the 18th and 19th centuries.