A Cape Cod seafood shack that shuttered during the pandemic just reopened, and ‘there’s a lot of joy’

A century-old seafood shack just reopened in Orleans, complete with a guest book where patrons are sharing memories of summers past.

Cap’t Cass Rock Harbor Seafood in Rock Harbor, billed as “a true Cape Cod lobster shack,” shuttered in 2020 when the pandemic hit. New owners Michelle Lamy and Tiago Batista have been painstakingly renovating the 105-year-old building since they bought it in 2022. It officially reopened on Saturday.

“There’s a lot of joy here,” said Lamy. “The passion that people have for this property, that’s what it’s about.”

Lamy knows that passion well. The Southborough native spent summers in Orleans as a child and worked in the kitchen at the shack and as a waitress during the 1980s, making and serving lobster rolls.

“I would sit back and say, ‘Oh what I could do, what I could do.’ I’d look at the floors and dream about the finishes,” she said.

Owning the restaurant is a dream come true for Lamy. But she’s mindful of the family who owned it before her, a family that was good to her.

The longtime eatery on Rock Harbor is named after lobsterman George Morton, nicknamed Cap’t Cass. He bought the shack in 1961 and served seafood to Cape Cod visitors for decades. His family continued the business after he passed away in 2013 until the pandemic.

After a five year hiatus, folks are thrilled that the shack has returned, Lamy said. In less than a week, the guest book is filled with 14 pages of memories.

“Everybody has their story and everybody has a connection,” she said. “The book is in the doorway and it travels around.”

One couple celebrating their 49th wedding anniversary said they ate at the shack during their honeymoon, she said.

The menu includes classics such as fried clams, fish & chips, and hamburgers and fries. The most popular item on the menu is the lobster roll, Lamy said.

“We have a hot lobster roll and a cold, delicious lobster roll,” she said. “All meat, no filler. That was classic Cap’t Cass. He was famous for that.”

The menu also features two iconic Cap’t Cass items: she crab stew, a creamy bisque with crab meat, and clear broth chowder.

“I love Cass’s chowder. It’s delicious,” said Lamy, who said folks aren’t used to seeing clam chowder with a clear broth. “And I can’t go to the Orleans Town Hall without them requesting the she crab stew.”

In preparation for this summer’s opening, Lamy’s team gutted the inside of the shack.

“There was nothing salvageable,” she said. “I kept the original floors. The floors are 105 years old. Everything is brand new, new trim, walls, wiring, plumbing.”

However, the interior pays homage to Cap’t Cass’s time steering the business. She installed a horseshoe bar similar to the one he had and restored the shack’s original stools for it. She salvaged the beams that came off the bulkhead. She features old photos of the eatery on napkin holders. Lamy also made sure a special table was placed in a precise spot on the back wall.

“Betty [Cap’t Cass’s wife] always had a family table over on the back wall closest to the kitchen,” Lamy said. “I have the original table.”

The shack seats 35 people inside and there are picnic tables for outside dining. Alcohol is not sold on the premises, but guests are free to bring their own.

On the shack’s exterior, guests are met with a wall of buoys, as was the case in decades past. She restored some of the original buoys and also added more from Cap’t Cass’s stash in his storage shed. She then turned to Facebook, asking the public for buoys.

“It was so incredible,” she said. “I’d come down every day and there was a pile of buoys in front of the building. People are now saying, ‘That’s my buoy’ and they signed their buoys. People are thrilled about it. They’re taking selfies in front of their buoys.”

Lamy and her team have added another fun element to the exterior of the shack: an 11-foot lobster sculpture named “Rocky” after Rock Harbor, as well as other sculptures such as a fiddler crab and blue heron.

“I put a long beam next to the blue heron so you can sit out here with a bottle of wine and enjoy the atmosphere,” she said.

As folks lined up outside the shack before her 11 a.m. opening time on Friday, Lamy said, “I’m grateful. That’s how I feel. I feel so happy for so many people. The giving back is what it’s about. I’m just grateful to be a part of everyone’s memories.”

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