RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Massachusetts >> Barnstable County >> HarwichIndex...

Welcome to Harwich ...

Harwich is located on Cape Cod.

Harwich is located in Barnstable County<1>.

Harwich was settled in 1670 and was incorporated in 1694.

From the  Census Estimates for 2019, Harwich has a population of 12,140 people<2> (see below for details).

Harwich is 50 feet [15 m] above sea level.<3>.

Time Zone: Harwich lies in the Eastern Time Zone (EST/EDT) and observes daylight saving time

Area Codes for Harwich: 508 & 774<4>

The ZIP code for Harwich: 02645<5>

Population Details ...

Taken from the 2019 Census Estimates, Harwich had an population of 12,140 people. This is a decrease of 0.84% since the 2010 Census (or a decrease of 1.99% since the 2000 Census).

At the time of the 2010 Census, Harwich had a population of 12,243 people (or 5.67% of the total population of Barnstable County). This makes Harwich the county's 9th most populous community.

The population of Harwich represents 0.19% of the population of Massachusetts (which has 6,547,629 people), making it the state's 155th most populous community.

With a 2010 count of 12,243 people, the population of Harwich decreased 1.15% from the 2000 Census (which had a count of 12,386 people).

More information can be found on the Census Page for Harwich.

Communities Also Named Harwich ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 2 communities that are also named Harwich - they are located in Louisiana and Ontario.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Harwich.

Websites for Harwich ...

Official Website: www.town.harwich.ma.us/

Communities near Harwich ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Harwich.

  • Barnstable
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
  • Barnstable Town
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Barnstable Town is located in Barnstable County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barnstable Town
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 44,535 people
  • Yarmouth
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Dennis
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Dennis is located in Barnstable County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dennis
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 13,890 people
  • Orleans
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Orleans is located in Barnstable County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orleans
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,802 people
  • Eastham
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
  • Wellfleet
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
  • South Dennis
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • South Dennis is located in Barnstable County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Dennis
  • West Brewster
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • West Chatham
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • West Chatham is located in Barnstable County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Chatham

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Harwich. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Harwich.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Harwich. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Harwich.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Harwich. See our Newspapers Page for Harwich.

Adding Harwich to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Harwich in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found (so far) for Harwich was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<6>

From that list, the Harwich post office opened in 1793.

For more details, see References and Mentions for Harwich.

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of Massachusetts' counties, including Barnstable, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>Population counts have been provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. For more detail, please visit our Census Page for Harwich.
<3>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Harwich - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<4>When there's a risk of an area code running out of phone numbers, an 'Overlay Area Code' is created that has the same geographic boundaries as the existing area code. In this case, the 508 code has been Overlayed with the 774 area code. New phone numbers in the Harwich area will be assigned with one of these codes: 508 or 774. As a result, placing a call in the Harwich area will require 10-digit dialing (where you enter both the area code and then the phone number).
<5>ZIP Codes have been created by the United States Postal Service (USPS) as a way of grouping addresses to make delivery more efficient. The boundaries of the ZIP Code can be changed, re-assigned, eliminated or overlapped with other ZIP Codes. So keep in mind that any given ZIP Code is only 'loosely' associated with a community (such as Harwich). When looking for a ZIP Code, whether Harwich or elsewhere, it's always best to check the website of the United States Postal Service (USPS).
<6>A copy of the Blevins & Helbock Post Office list with background information can be found at:

      https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/