WHERE TO GO
The majority of Cape Cod’s historic architecture is available for the average passerby to enjoy. You will discover houses of the past simply by ambling along the region’s scenic roads and byways. Not knowing what you will come upon—where you will encounter a rickety seventeenth-century Cape Cod, a rambling antique Shingle style summer mansion or a flat-roofed roofed Modernist retreat—can often make for a great adventure. However, if you would like guidance for your historic house hunt, here’s insight to some areas where you will encounter particular styles and information about houses that are open to the public.
A treasured eighteenth-century full Cape Cod–style house open for tours is the Atwood House in Chatham. Operated as a museum by the Chatham Historical Society, the bowed-roofed house has been restored and furnished to reflect several periods. The house has an intact keeping room, a borning room and a large open attic with a fireplace. In addition to period artifacts, the house features a gallery of sea captains’ portraits, an extensive textile collection and a permanent fishing exhibit that highlights the commercial fishing industry. The museum also showcases changing exhibits seasonally. 347 Stage Harbor Road, Chatham; www.chathamhistoricalsociety.org; (508) 945-2493.
You will find more historic Capes, along with the Greek Revivals, Georgians and a few Italianate, Victorian and Gothic Revival houses, along Route 6A, known as the Old King’s Highway, which parallels the shores of Cape Cod Bay for thirty-four miles, crossing through the communities of Bourne, Sandwich, Barnstable, Yarmouth, Dennis, Brewster and Orleans. The Old King’s Highway meanders along cranberry bogs, salt marshes and ancient burial grounds and winds past hundreds of historic structures that characterize its early development. The route is believed to have evolved from Native American trails that stretched from Plymouth to Provincetown. As colonial agricultural settlement increased on the Cape, the cart path became a major east–west thoroughfare for early settlers. The narrow road became an extension of the “King’s Highway” in the late seventeenth century. With the rise of maritime activities, sea captains’ homes began to develop along the route, and stagecoaches took the highway on the way from Boston to Provincetown. As horse-drawn carriages were replaced with automobiles, the road continued to evolve by paving and constructions of bypasses through wetlands that were skirted by the original roadway. Despite the road’s modifications, it follows the original seventeenth-century footprint in most sections.
The Winslow Crocker House is a shining example of an Early Georgian classic. Originally constructed in 1780 in Barnstable, the house was moved to Yarmouthport in 1936 by Mary Thatcher, an avid collector of antiques, to display her collection. Now a museum run by Historic New England, the elegantly symmetrical two-story home has twelve-over-twelve small-pane windows and rich paneling in every room. In addition to being a truly restored specimen of historic architecture, the house features Thatcher’s vast collection of early American furniture, including Jacobean, William and Mary, Queen Anne and Chippendale. The furniture is accented by colorful hooked rugs, ceramics and pewter. 250 Main Street (Route 6A), Yarmouthport; www.historicnewengland.org; (617) 227-3956.
The Daniel Davis House contains the collection of the Barnstable Historical Society. Built in the mid-eighteenth century, the post-and-beam Early Georgian residence was built for Davis’s bride, Mehitable Lothrop. A venerable Barnstable resident, Davis, a judge, was a town selectman, a delegate to the first three Provincial Congresses and a militia captain. The house has ten exhibit rooms, which have been remarkably well preserved to reflect the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. An ell was added to the original house in the 1880s. Among the array of exhibits, you will find eighteenth- and nineteenth-century furniture, china, glassware, portraits, ship models, tools, toys and Native American artifacts. 3074 Main Street (Route 6A), Barnstable Village; (508) 362-2982.
Built in 1794, Falmouth’s Julia Wood House was once the most gracious in town. The treasured Middle Georgian–style home features a hip roof, twin chimneys, a widow’s walk and a two-story open porch. Built for Dr. Francis Wicks, a leading American pioneer in the use of smallpox vaccines, the home features an eighteenth-century doctor’s office, along with rooms restored to their original condition. Owned by the Falmouth Historical Society, the Julia Wood House and the Conant House, another eighteenth-century residence next door, are known as the Museums on the Green, as they overlook the Village Green, where members of the colonial militia practiced in the 1700s and sea captains built their homes. Both museums showcase period furnishings, china, toys, vintage clothing, fine art and handmade quilts. Special exhibits depict Falmouth’s nineteenth-century maritime industries and the life of Katharine Lee Bates, Falmouth-born author of “America the Beautiful.” Completing the complex is the recently rebuilt Hallet Barn, a hand-pegged structure above grade with a basement housing a new climate-controlled curatorial work and storage area. The exhibit area of the barn features old tools and equipment for domestic chores, hands-on educational activities and period clothing. 55 and 65 Palmer Avenue, Falmouth; www.falmouthhistoricalsociety.org; (508) 548-4857.
The Captain Bangs Hallet House, an impressive Greek Revival with a Doric-columned front porch, pays homage to the whaling captain who inhabited it for thirty years. A museum operated by the Historical Society of Old Yarmouth, the home is furnished in the nineteenth-century style of a typical sea captain of the era. At the foot of the canopied maple bed in the master bedroom you’ll find a leather-bound chest Hallet’s wife Anna took when she accompanied him on his voyages. The parlors are arranged as if the captain was just returning from an excursion to China or India, and the beautifully proportioned rooms are filled with the finest furnishings of the day, from Hitchcock chairs to a Hepplewhite sofa. 11 Strawberry Lane, Yarmouthport; www.hsoy.org; (508) 362-3021.
Yarmouth Captains Mile
To see more examples of sea captains’ homes, watch for the black and gold plaques on the front of fifty-three homes along Route 6A in Yarmouthport, where more than 330 sea captains made their home through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The most famous of the captains is the colorful Captain Asa Eldridge, who set a record sailing the Red Jacket from New York City to Liverpool, England, in just thirteen days and one hour. Another notable captain was Captain Nathan Hallet, born in 1797 and one of the earliest packet masters. His house is one of the oldest houses in Yarmouth. A self-guiding map is distributed widely throughout Yarmouth and neighboring towns at local shops, restaurants and libraries. They are also available at the Historical Society of Old Yarmouth headquarters just outside of the Captain Bangs Hallet House. 11 Strawberry Lane, Yarmouthport; www.hsoy.org; (508) 362-3021.
One of the most unique homes on Cape Cod is the 1868 Captain Edward Penniman House in Eastham. The former residence of one of New England’s most successful whalers, the house was among the most extravagant of its era. With a colorful exterior paint scheme of yellow, white, black, green, brown and red, at the time it was built the house featured state-of-the-art home technology and was furnished with items Penniman collected on his far-flung voyages. The exterior retains its original appearance, and the interior has been remarkably well preserved to reflect the same aesthetic as when Penniman and his family resided there. All of the woodwork, finishes, hardware and wall and ceiling coverings have survived. Located within the boundaries of the National Seashore, the house is operated as a museum by the National Park Service. Along with original furnishings, contents of the house include Penniman’s written records, letters, diaries, journals and family photographs. Fort Hill Road, Eastham; www.nps.gov/caco; (508) 255-3421.
To see examples of the whimsical cottages that Methodist camp-goers built, the Craigville Campground still exists as a meeting camp preserve and conference facility where the Cape Cod Writers Center hosts summer programs. While it isn’t possible to tour the interior of cottages, one may stroll past them. 39 Prospect Avenue, Craigville; www.capecodwriterscenter.com; (508) 775-1265.
If you happen to venture over to Martha’s Vineyard, Wesleyan Grove, owned by the Martha’s Vineyard Camp Meeting Association, is a must-see. A National Historic Landmark, the campground continues to host religious and non-secular programs and events. Visitors to the Cottage Museum can view the interior of a typical campground cottage, complete with period furnishings offering a glimpse of life on campgrounds in the 1800s. Also on display are vintage photographs, along with other interesting documents relating to the history of the campground. There, you will also find information cottages—all of which are privately owned—that are available to rent. 80 Trinity Park, Oak Bluffs; www.mvcma.org; (508) 693-0525.
A rare example of Stick style architecture assimilated with Queen Anne, the glorious Highfield Hall was constructed as an English-style country manor house for the sons of wealthy Boston retailer James Madison Beebe. Set on a 668-parcel of land overlooking Buzzards Bay on the town of Falmouth’s highest hill, the twenty-one-room summer mansion contained a ballroom and a billiard room, sixteen fireplaces and the most high-quality finishes and materials of the era. The exterior was equally ornate and fanciful, as each of the home’s four elevations had a different type of projecting bay with different decorative elements. Narrowly rescued from demolition in the 1990s, the house suffered extreme neglect after the Beebes’ tenure, including a drastically altered façade. It took nearly a decade to restore the mansion to its original grandeur, but it was well worth the effort. Today, Highfield Hall shines and is open to the community as a cultural center and function facility and for tours. 56 Highfield Drive, Falmouth; www.highfieldhall.org; (508) 495-1878.
Brewster native Albert Crosby, who made his fortune in Chicago, returned home to build a summer haven for his wife in 1887. Known as Tawasentha, Crosby’s mansion featured elements of Queen Anne style and was a combination of complex gables, dormers, clustered chimneys and broken pediments with Grecian urns on top. The crowning element of the house was sixty-foot-high tower, from which the views of Cape Cod Bay and the inside of the Cape were unrivaled. Built on the plot of land where Crosby had grown up, the modest 1832 Cape Cod–style house of his boyhood was incorporated into the massive structure. The interior living spaces, the center of lavish parties attended by a glittering crowd from artistic and theatrical circles throughout the world, were finished with imported woods and gold leaf. Like Highfield Hall, after its heyday, Tawasentha suffered a prolonged period of neglect, which led to dereliction. Yet a similar revival effort was also undertaken, and the property has been gradually restored. While there is still work to be done, the elaborately carved tables and rich paneling, marble bathrooms and thirteen fireplaces graced with imported English tile give visitors great perspective of the lavish home’s original condition. Crosby Lane, off Route 6A (across from Nickerson State Park), Brewster; (508) 240-2338.
While it isn’t possible to visit Grover Cleveland’s beloved summer mansion, Gray Gables, since it was destroyed in a fire, the railroad station that served his frequent travels to and from Washington, D.C., still exists. Moved to the grounds of the Aptucxet Trading Post Museum in Buzzards Bay, visitors may tour the small station and learn a bit about Cleveland’s time in Bourne. 24 Aptucxet Road, Buzzards Bay; www.bournehistoricalsociety.org; (508) 759-8167.
For glimpses of the dune shacks artists and writers relished during the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, over-sand vehicles operated by Art’s Dune Tours are the way to go. You will travel along the shoreline, where your guide points out the “shacks”—used in the 1800s by the Humane Society in conjunction with lifesaving efforts—where famous artists and writers like Eugene O’Neill and Harry Kemp became inspired to create. 9 Washington Avenue, Provincetown; www.artsdunetours.com; (508) 487-1950.
If you are interested in learning more about the shacks’ artist-in-residency programs, contact the Peaked Hill Trust (PHT). PO Box 1705, Provincetown, MA 02657; (508) 487-9507.
While most of the homes designed by Mid-Century Modernist architects on the Outer Cape are difficult to find, as they tend to be located on hidden dirt roads or nestled in the pines, the Cape Cod Modern House Trust is a great resource that offers information about Modernist retreats that may be open for tours, as well as the Cape’s Modernist architecture in general. PO Box 1191, South Wellfleet, MA 02663; www.ccmht.org; (508) 349-3022.