A Nantucket Sound beach with calm, warm waters located at the end of Cockle Cove Road in South Chatham. This beach is a family beach, adjacent to and slightly smaller than Ridgevale Beach with a life guard on duty and bathrooms. A parking pass is required and available at the beach. Cockle Cove is a lovely beach community where you and your children are bound to meet new friends.
Two Nantucket Sound Beaches adjacent to one another with calm, warm waters located at the end of Forest Beach Road and Pleasant Street in South Chatham. These beaches are relatively small however they have free parking for a limited amount of cars (approx 35 for Forest and 12 for Pleasant). Forest Beach is approximately 3/4 of a mile long and Pleasant is 300 feet. There are no lifguards, bathrooms or a snack bar but the ice-cream truck does make frequent stops. These beaches make for wonderful family outings, especially if you would like to escape from the crowds.
Goose Pond is a bit of the local's secret swimming spot, with it's location in the middle of Chatham's forested center and the official access to the pond off Queen Anne Road (directions below) being difficult to spot. There are many unofficial access ponds all around the pond on Sam Ryder Road, particularly, where a car can be parked and a short hike will bring you to any number of small swimming areas.
A Nantucket Sound Beach with calm, warm waters located at the end of Hardings Beach Road (off of Barn Hill Road) in West Chatham. This is Chatham's largest beach on Nantucket Sound. There are two parking lots, two life guard stations, bathrooms and food service. A wonderful beach to set up a volley ball net, play a game of Frisbee, or stroll down to the lighthouse for sea shell collecting with friends or family.
An Atlantic Ocean beach with cooler waters and sometimes tricky currents located off Main Street in Chatham Village is the largest beach in Chatham. An amazingly beautiful long stretch of white sandy beach makes this a wonderful beach where you can enjoy a warm summers day watching the seals pass by during their daily migration or stroll down to South Beach. Walking from town or a shuttle bus from town would be the way to get to this beach as there is only 30 minute parking allowed. There are no bathrooms, lifeguards or food service.
Extending all the way south from Orleans to Chatham, this beautiful 5 mile barrier beach is off-shore and parallel to Chatham's east coast on the Atlantic Ocean. Since it is not connected by land to Chatham, you can only access the beach from Chatham by a shuttle boat. You may drive onto the beach in Orleans as long as you purchase the required sticker and equipment and have a four-wheel drive vehicle. If you don't have your own boat, you can take a water taxi which leaves from the fish pier.
This small beach is located on a saltwater inlet on Stage Harbor in Chatham Village. The water is usually warm and calm and there is free parking for approximately 40 cars. There are restrooms and a lifeguard on duty.
A Nantucket Sound Beach with calm, warm waters located at the end of Ridgevale Road in Chatham. The tidal pools, large sandy beach and lifeguard on duty make this a wonderful family venue. Many children gather together to play in the tidal pools and form friendships that last a lifetime. It is one of the most popular beaches in Chatham. A parking pass is required and available at the beach. There are bathrooms and food available at the Ridgevale snack bar.
Schoolhouse Pond is the best freshwater swimming in Chatham. Unfortunately the town of Chatham only allows residents (with a beach sticker) to park their cars here. Non-resident stickers (only available by paying cash at the booth at Cockle Cover, Ridgevale, or Hardings Beach) are not honored here. So, walking or riding bikes is the way to go for non-residents.
White Pond is a kettle hole pond. Kettle holes were created roughly 15,000 years ago by the Laurentide Ice Sheet as it retreated from Martha's Vineyard toward Maine. Blocks of ice dropped off, melted, and left depressions that were then filled in by the glacial fresh water table that permeates the sand of Cape Cod. Unlike most areas off-Cape, where the water comes from isolated sole-source aquifers, Cape Cod's water is one 'lens' filtered by the sand. This pond makes for great swimming, canoeing, and kayaking and can be accessed at many points along her perimeter. The main public access is off Jeanette Dr., which is off Queen Anne Rd near Great Hill. There is a recently created parking lot on the left hand about a 1/4 mile up and parking is adequate for 1/2 a dozen cars or more plus a trailer turn-around.