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☀️ New Clues in Sandwich Cold Case

☀️ New Clues in Sandwich Cold Case

Plus: P-Town's Getting a Pain d'Avignon

Cape Coddah
June 26, 2026

Together with:

Good morning Cape Cod. Remember flipping to the back of the newspaper to read the personals? "Seeking someone who loves long walks on Nauset and bad diner coffee."

I've been thinking about bringing that back, right here in the Cape Coddah. A little personals section. Not for selling your old junk, but for finding people. Love, friendship, a walking buddy, whatever you're looking for. Would you read it? Would you place one?

Vote here:

Should we start a personals section?

In this week’s Cape Coddah:

Fisherman catch a monster stingray
Nauset schools consider merger
Events and live music

Let’s get to it.

⛴️ A New Gateway to the Islands

If you're heading to the Vineyard this summer, you'll get to see something brand new. The Steamship Authority opened its long-awaited Woods Hole terminal to the public on Thursday, wrapping up nearly two years of construction.

This has been a long time coming. Talks started over a decade ago, but the project hit plenty of snags, from neighbor pushback to underground boulders to winter storms. The new building cost $37M and comes in at 5,418 square feet, a good bit bigger than the old ticket office.

It's also built for the future, with geothermal wells, planned solar panels, and flood barriers to handle storm surge. Woods Hole is the SSA's busiest port by far. Next up? Clearing out the old office to free up parking.
Read more»

🩺 A Record Gift for Cape Health

Cape Cod Healthcare just got the biggest gift in its history. Cynthia and John Fish have pledged $20M, and the Cape Cod Hospital campus in Hyannis will be renamed in their honor.

The money's aimed at three things: elder care, better patient experience, and broader access to healthcare across the Cape. That elder care piece matters a lot here, since Barnstable County has one of the oldest populations in the whole country.

If the name Fish rings a bell, John runs Suffolk, one of the biggest construction companies in the nation. The couple has deep roots in healthcare giving, and they say this one's personal because the hospital has been there for their own family.

It lands at a moment when hospitals everywhere are stretched thin by rising costs and growing demand. Read more»

SPONSORED BY:
CHATHAM HARVESTERS

Support Local Seafood. Eat Fresh. Strengthen Our Fishing Community.

Join the Chatham Harvesters Fish Share and enjoy fresh, sustainably harvested local seafood while supporting Cape Cod's commercial fishermen.

As a Fish Share member, you'll receive the freshest catch, harvested right here by Chatham Harvesters' fishermen. Sign up before July 1st and receive an additional 10% fish credit to your account.

It's a delicious way to eat local, support the working waterfront, and connect with the source of your seafood.

🎣 A Whale of a Stingray Tale

Two local fishermen, Hans Brings Jr. and Camden Bonaiuto, were out shark fishing near Popponesset Beach in Mashpee last Sunday night when they hooked something they didn't expect: an 8-foot roughtail stingray.

Brings figured it weighed around 200 pounds. He thought it was a shark at first, until it started suctioning to the sand. Getting it onto shore took nearly two hours, with the ray thrashing and whipping its venomous tail the whole time. He used a towel to control it and avoid getting stabbed.

Turns out these rays are pretty common off the Cape this time of year. After showing it off to some neighborhood kids, the two guys dragged it back into the water and let it go. Read more»

📸 @capecodgirl4life |📍Rock Harbor

Tag @thecapecoddah to get your photos in the Coddah!

✏️ Nauset Eyes School Mergers

The Nauset School District just wrapped up a study looking at merging or closing elementary schools, and Eastham's name came up in a few of the scenarios. That's got people talking.

Eastham's school is the newest and cheapest to maintain, and enrollment's actually expected to grow. Two of the four scenarios would close it entirely, sending kids to Orleans or Wellfleet. But folks made it clear they don't want that.

Here's the catch. Orleans and Brewster have aging schools that need serious money soon, and that pressure could pull Eastham in whether it wants in or not. No votes happened yet. Just a lot of hard questions about how residents pay for all this without crushing homeowners with property taxes.
Read more»

Quahog Day is back, Cape Cod's clammy answer to Groundhog Day, and this year the "meteorological mollusk" named Doug, who showed up by motorcycle police escort, no less, predicted 72 beach days for us this summer.

Twelve rehabbed sea turtles, all rescued cold-stunned off our shores last fall and nursed back to health at the New England Aquarium, got released back into Nantucket Sound off West Dennis Beach this week.

Tucked into a little saltbox house on Route 28 in Harwich, the Cove Clubhouse has spent three decades giving people with mental illness a place to build job skills, find community, and start fresh, all while running on a shoestring budget that leans heavily on donors.

🥐 Pastries on the Way in P-Town

Pain d'Avignon, one of the Cape's most beloved bakery names, is opening a brand new spot in Provincetown this July.

This one's a grab-and-go café at 385 Commercial St., right in the heart of town. Think signature baked goods, pastries, pizzas, salads, and coffee, all built for grabbing on your way to the beach or before you hop the ferry.

Pain d'Avignon has been doing its thing since 1992, with cafés and restaurants across the Cape and a pile of awards to show for it, including best brunch from the Cape Cod Times back in 2024.

No exact opening date or hours just yet. But if you know their work, this one's worth the wait. Read more»

There's a rare little purple wildflower called sandplain blue-eyed grass blooming across Nantucket right now, and while it's protected and struggling most everywhere else, the island has become its last great stronghold.

Back Door Donuts in Oak Bluffs just got named the No. 4 Best Donut Shop in the country by USA Today, climbing a spot from last year and giving that famous late-night line out the back door something extra to celebrate.

Nantucket's about to spend $45,000 on a UMass Amherst study to finally pin down how many people are actually on the island year-round, in summer, and in the shoulder seasons.

Camp Jabberwocky kicked off another summer Tuesday with its joyful dockside reunion in Vineyard Haven, where counselors in Mardi Gras beads and sequined hats cheered, hugged, and sang Sweet Caroline with returning campers.

This newsletter is free to read, always will be, and it's just me behind the scenes. Reading every local story, writing every summary, hitting send every Friday.

If this newsletter is part of your week, your support keeps it alive. A few bucks a month from readers who can chip in makes a real difference.

Monthly or annual, whatever works for you.

Thank you for your support!
~Kari

⚖️ New Clues in Sandwich Cold Case

Back in 2014, the remains of an unidentified Black man were found at Town Neck Beach in Sandwich. More than a decade later, he still doesn't have his name, and state police are asking for our help.

New DNA research points to possible family ties in South Carolina, Baltimore, Brooklyn, and Rhode Island. They're also looking at the surnames Gee, Lighty, Scott, Harrison, and Brown. The man was wearing a shirt from a Rhode Island company when he was found.

This is the same kind of genetic work that finally identified Provincetown's "Lady of the Dunes" back in 2022. Police say someone out there knows who he is. If any of this rings a bell, even faintly, call 855-MA-SOLVE. Read more»

👋 Meet: Phoenix
🐾 Plott Hound
🎂 8 years old
♀︎ Female
Available to adopt at MSCPA-Cape Cod

SUNDAY - JUNE 28

AK Cody @ CC Winery | 12 PM
June Jazz Jam @ Cult. Cent. of CC | 12 PM
Jared Moore @ Love Farms | 1 PM
Just the 3 of Us @ Shipwrecked | 2 PM
Graham Hempstead @ Island Pickle | 3 PM
The Jazz Optiks @ CC MOA | 4 PM
Mike Oakland @ Off the Grid | 4 PM
Chris Richardson @ Chapin’s Bayside | 5:30 PM
Roomful of Horns @ Neptune’s CC | 6 PM
Brian Hitchings @ Hooked Bar & Grille | 6 PM
Jack Holland @ Love Farms | 6 PM
Kyle Morrison @ Margaritaville | 7 PM
Three Dog Night @ Cape Melody Tent | 8 PM
Andy Frasco @ The Beachcomber | 9 PM
Full Sail @ The Woodshed | 9:30 PM

_{Nothing in this section is sponsored. We'll let you know when something's sponsored.}

Friday

76 🌡️ 66 | 🌧️ | 💧 84% | 💨 SSW 9 mph

Saturday

74 🌡️ 62 | 🌦️ | 💧 25% | 💨 SW 6 mph

Sunday

73 🌡️ 63 | 🌤️ | 💧 5% | 💨 ENE mph

💧🌡️ Water temperature = 66ºF

370 Main Street, Dennis
Asking $1.569M
5 🛏️
4.5 🛁
2,617 sqft
0.88 acre lot

_{Nothing in this section is sponsored. We'll always let you know when something's sponsored.}

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