Newlyweds walking down the stairs to the beach.
Beauty at the Beach
By Robin Jovanovich
If ever there was a place to be a wedding crasher, it’s the Chatham Bars Inn on Cape Cod. What started off as a hunting lodge is now a fabulous resort with lots of room to spread out — tents on the beach, gazebos on the bluff, ceremonies on the croquet lawn, dancing on a deck overlooking the water. Whether you’re planning a small wedding or a grand affair, this is the destination.
When we took our whole family on vacation there this summer, we were pampered, had ample opportunity to relax, went to the lighthouse, raced on the beach (the largest private beach on Cape Cod), watched seals at play, took a boat across to North Island, played cornhole, listened to music, and walked to town, which looks very much as it did a half-century ago.
When the hydrangeas are in bloom, there is no town more beautiful than Chatham. Clarissa Davis, Director of Catering at the Inn, directed us to their Facebook page for information on how to grow glorious hydrangeas (water at the roots, don’t spray the flowers, was tip No. 1).
Everyone takes pride in their gardens — a sea of perennials in summer — and everyone pitches in to keep the downtown clean and safe.
Davis enjoys overseeing winter weddings as much as any because everyone ends up staying at the Inn and catching up in front of the big fireplace in the lounge. In the warmer months, guests gather at a bonfire welcome party on the beach.
Sunset at Chatham Bars Inn
The bride most often stays in a suite on top of the Beach House, and the groom in the Hunting Lodge.
“Generation after generation of families return here, just as lots of summer employees come back here to get married,” noted Davis. “The Chatham Bars Inn is a memorable destination and a perfect place to start the next chapter of your life.”
