Chatham Orpheum Theater
The original Chatham Orpheum Theater opened on Main Street in 1916 as the town’s first movie house. With approximately 400 seats, it became an important gathering place where generations of residents and summer visitors experienced silent films, newsreels and, eventually, modern motion pictures.
The building was purchased by Interstate Theaters Corporation in 1938 and became known as the Chatham Theater. It continued showing movies until 1987, when competition from larger multiplex cinemas led to its closure. The building was subsequently converted into retail space and housed a CVS pharmacy for many years.
After CVS moved out in 2011, residents recognized an opportunity to return the property to its original purpose. Volunteers formed the nonprofit Chatham Orpheum Theater, Inc., raised the necessary funds and transformed the former retail space into a modern two-screen cinema. The restored theater opened on July 26, 2013—nearly a century after movies were first shown at the site.
Today, the Chatham Orpheum presents new releases, independent films, documentaries and special community programs. Its restoration preserved more than a historic name; it returned a longtime cultural gathering place to the center of downtown Chatham.
Read More From Nancy
Hotel Nautilus
The building known as Hotel Nautilus was constructed in 1914 as part of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America’s receiving station in Chatham. Although its name suggests a traditional hotel, its original purpose was to provide housing for the unmarried employees who worked at the station. The Chatham facility was designed as more than […]
Measuring History Through Hats
It is always interesting to measure the passage of history through an ordinary object. At the Atwood Museum, the history of hats becomes a timeline of changing customs, occupations, technology and fashion. What people placed on their heads was rarely chosen for appearance alone. Hats offered protection, identified social position and occupation, reflected expectations of […]
Atwood Museum
Joseph Sears Atwood was born in Eastham in 1720 and first went to sea at the age of ten. Like many young boys beginning a maritime career, he started as a cook aboard fishing vessels sailing to Nova Scotia and the Grand Banks. He gradually advanced through the ranks, becoming a seaman, mate, chief mate […]
