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☀️ Raising the Grandkids on Cape Cod

☀️ Raising the Grandkids on Cape Cod

Plus: Tarot, cocktails, and caviar in West Yarmouth

Cape Coddah
May 15, 2026

Presented by:

Good morning Cape Cod. It's National Chocolate Chip Day! The tiny morsel that makes everything better, from cookies to pancakes to eating them straight from the bag at midnight. If you need an excuse to hit up your favorite local bakery today, you've got one. 🍪

In this week’s Cape Coddah:

Three houses hit the road
Getting off the Cape in the off-season
Events and live music

Let’s get to it.

📌 The Battle Over 460 West Main

The fight over relocating Hyannis' St. Joseph's House homeless shelter is heating up. The proposed move would take the 50-bed shelter from Winter Street to 460 West Main Street, about 300 yards from Hyannis West Elementary.

The Barnstable School Committee just voted to send a letter outlining concerns about student safety during arrival and dismissal. Project leaders at Housing Assistance Corp. and Catholic Charities say the new spot would let them expand services like on-site medical and behavioral health care, with no incidents recorded at the current location.

The full estimated cost is between $4.8M and $6M, and every Cape town is being asked to chip in community preservation funds. Bourne already approved theirs. Chatham and Truro vote this week. A neighborhood group is appealing the building permit on June 10. Read more»

🚧 Houses Hit the Road on Nantucket

Three houses literally took a road trip across Nantucket on Tuesday. The Land Bank, which paid a record $26M for a one-acre property at 41 Jefferson Avenue last year, is moving three structures off the site to make way for a new public beach.

The homes are heading to Madaket Road, where they'll be renovated and sold as deed-restricted affordable housing. Two two-bedroom homes and one four-bedroom home, all available through a lottery to middle-income households. The smaller homes will go for around $840,000.

Two more buildings will be moved next week to become employee housing for Land Bank staff. The Land Bank hopes to open the new public beach across from the Cliffside Beach Club by the Fourth of July. The project cost is still being finalized.
Read more»

PRESENTED BY:
LAPSLEY-MARTIN TEAM

☀️ Summer Starts at 7 Bay Shore

Wake up to the salt air. Walk to the beach in your bare feet. That's the morning routine waiting at 7 Bay Shore.

This three-bedroom ranch sits on a quarter-acre corner lot just off Ocean Street, perched perfectly to catch the breeze coming in off Lewis Bay. The neighborhood beach and boat ramp are just a few houses away. Hyannis Harbor, the Hyannis Yacht Club, Veterans Beach, Kalmus, and all of Main Street are right around the corner.

Step inside and you're greeted by a year-round sunroom with sliders to the front deck. The eat-in kitchen has stainless steel appliances, a laundry room, and exterior access to the outdoor shower (a Cape Cod summer essential). Hardwood floors run through the dining and living rooms, both with picture windows soaking up the views.

Three bedrooms, two full baths, and a one-car garage with a full basement underneath. Strong rental history. Selling fully furnished.

Explore this home with the Lapsley-Martin Team.

🪁 Raising the Grandkids on Cape Cod

On Cape Cod, roughly 10% of children are being raised by their grandparents, nearly four times the statewide average. Behind those numbers are real families rewriting their retirement years.

There's Jimmy and Laurie Ann Willis in Wellfleet, who've fostered or adopted five children, including the grandson they've raised since he was a year old. Laura Hunt and Chris Graham in Eastham have been raising two granddaughters for years after their mother's struggle with addiction. The Coxes in Bourne, the Bradys in Hyannis, and others all share similar stories.

The challenges are real. Strained finances, college costs, social isolation, and complicated emotions around the kids' birth parents. But every grandparent interviewed said the same thing. They'd do it all over again. "These girls are worth it," one said. Read more»

📸 @wellfleethikingclub |📍Wood End Light

Tag @thecapecoddah to get your photos in the Coddah!

🛩️ No Easy Way Off Cape in the Off-Season

Provincetown's been without year-round flights to Boston for two winters now, ever since Cape Air dropped its off-season service. Last month, voters had a chance to bring them back with a $332,000 subsidy funded by a property tax increase. They said no.

Critics argued it was unfair to put the burden on local taxpayers when residents from neighboring towns would benefit too, and questioned whether the town should be propping up a private business. Supporters said losing flights cuts off more than tourists. It affects residents who need to get to medical appointments, family, and remote work.

The 120-mile drive to Boston can stretch to four or five hours in summer traffic. Town officials are now exploring federal and state funding options to bring back winter flights. Read more»

A Falmouth grandmother became the first $1M winner in the Massachusetts Lottery's "Extreme Green" instant ticket game, taking the $650,000 cash option and planning to share some with her five grandchildren.

Shareen Davis, a 13th-generation Cape Codder, commercial weir fisher, and three-term Select Board member, has been named the 2026 Mercy Otis Warren Cape Cod Woman of the Year.

The ultimate ballpark tour: A fan’s guide to the Cape Cod Baseball League.

Chatham is working to close a regulatory gap on North Beach, where there are currently no rules governing weddings or large gatherings, after a recent request to host an August wedding there exposed the oversight.

♠️ Tarot, Cocktails, & Caviar in W. Yarmouth

A new mystic-inspired restaurant called Gypsy Sol opens this Friday at The Uncommoner Hotel in West Yarmouth, and it's bringing something different to the Cape food scene.

The vibe is "relaxed luxury" with indoor and outdoor seating, fire pits, and lounge spaces overlooking Lewis Bay. Boston-based Chef Mark Cina, with a resume that includes Michelin-starred kitchens, leads the menu, which blends New England ingredients with Mediterranean and globally-inspired flavors.

Think Gypsy Sol Oysters with caviar, lamb and beef kofta, and Mediterranean grazing boards. The cocktail program is themed around tarot, astrology, and travel, including communal drinks served in smoking cauldrons.

Programming will include tarot readings, sound baths, yoga, and live music, all open to the public. An on-site coffee shop called Arcana Cafe also opens Friday morning. Read more»

30 Nantucket students traveled to the Galapagos Islands to study evolution and conservation, returning with ideas Nantucket could borrow from the Galapagos' strict tourism limits, species preservation programs, and invasive species controls.

Red House, Martha's Vineyard's peer-run recovery center, has officially moved to the MVCS campus in Oak Bluffs after losing its hospital lease, giving the program more space, accessibility, and direct proximity to the Island Counseling Center.

The first confirmed great white shark of the season was identified off Martha's Vineyard after a dead gray seal with a bite wound washed up on Lucy Vincent Beach in Chilmark.

The Cape Coddah is 100% free to read and independently owned (written by me).

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~Kari

🚨 A Lawn Care Beef Goes Way Too Far

A 70-year-old Harwich man is facing serious charges after allegedly losing it over the sound of leaf blowers. John Mooradian first told a landscaping crew on Burton Ave in West Harwich to stop.

When they didn't, police say he came back holding a firearm, pointed it at one of the workers, and started screaming. Officers tracked him down at a nearby home on Division Street and recovered the firearm.

He's charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, plus possession of a firearm and ammunition without a license. He's expected to be arraigned Tuesday in Orleans District Court. Read more»

👋 Meet: Gaston
🐾 Bichon Frise
🎂 1 year old
♀︎ Male
Available to adopt at MSCPA-Cape Cod

SUNDAY - MAY 17

Brenda & Dan @ CC Winery | 12 PM
Josh Avala @ Love Farms | 1 PM
Fitzy Strings @ The Lanyard | 3 PM
Dan Labich Band @ Chatham Squire | 3 PM
Joe Marchio @ FCC Chatham | 3 PM
Judy Carmichael @ Highfield Hall | 4 PM
Life After Dark @ The Loft | 5 PM
Tim Clark @ Hooked Bar & Grille | 6 PM
Bobby Paluzz @ Margaritaville | 7 PM
Anthony Gomes @ Neptune’s CC | 7 PM

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

Friday

57 🌡️ 46 | 🌧️ | 💧 84% | 💨 N 7 mph

Saturday

69 🌡️ 56 | ☀️ | 💧 0% | 💨 SW 13 mph

Sunday

81 🌡️ 52 | 🌦️ | 💧 58% | 💨 WSW 9 mph

💧🌡️ Water temperature = 51ºF

Thanks for reading The Cape Coddah today. If you found something useful or entertaining, please share it with from West Yarmouth.