Community Profile

Summary

The town of Harwich, Massachusetts, incorporated in 1694, is located on the warm side of Cape Cod, offering town residents and tourists almost 11 miles of tidal shoreline along Nantucket Sound and Pleasant Bay. The town is made up of seven villages and four harbors as well as numerous freshwater ponds and two scenic river corridors, the Herring River and Muddy Creek. Along with this beautiful and diverse, yet fragile, landscape comes the responsibility of caring for and protecting it, an ongoing commitment of so many Cape Cod residents. The Garden Club of Harwich, founded in 1932 and with currently more than 175 members, cares for 19 public green spaces throughout the Harwiches and champions environmentally-friendly gardening practices. In addition, the Club has established "Earth First" grants for environmental projects in the Harwich schools. Harwich's NWF Community Wildlife Habitat project, "Harwich Habitats 4 Wildlife", initiated by a team from the Garden Club, looks forward to achieving town certification; a endeavor of collaboration with, among others, the town Conservation Commission, the Harwich Conservation Trust, and citizen education and participation.