Historic Homes and Sites in Cape Cod & the Islands

Massachusetts > Cape Cod & The Islands > Indoor Activities > Historic Homes and Sites

Highfield Hall & Gardens

56 Highfield Drive Falmouth, MA Phone: 508-495-1878

HIghfield Hall in Falmouth is a summer mansion built in 1878 and one of the few remaining examples in this region of Stick-style Queen Anne architecture. Today, the mansion and its surrounding gardens and woods and walking paths are a warm and welcoming place of permanent and changing art exhibits, music and other cultural events, cooking and tasting activities, and fun outdoor explorations for kids. One marvelous permanent feature is sculptor Patrick Dougherty’s magnificent stickwork sculpture on the mansion’s front lawn. Visitors to Highfield Hall can explore the walking trails, historic gardens, and Music Garden daily from dawn to dusk. Docent-led walking tours are free with admission.
Handicapped parking is available in front of the house and the mansion is wheelchair accessible. Only certified service animals are permitted in the mansion. Other leashed pets are permitted on the grounds. There are many dog-friendly trails in Beebe Woods. Highfield Hall adjoins the 380-acre Beebe Woods, which has extensive walking trails. The Beebe Woods Trailhead can be reached via Highfield Hall. Park at Highfield Hall and enter the property at the Ice House. Trail map.
Hours: Wednesday- Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Estate walks are held May-October on the first and third Saturdays of the month, 12:30-1:30 p.m., weather permitting.
Admission Adults, $10; seniors age 65 and older, $8; children under age 12, free

Flying Horses Carousel

15 Lake Avenue Oak Bluffs, on Martha's Vineyard, MA Phone:

Martha's Vineyard is home to the oldest working carousel in the U.S. The wooden horses have real stirrups.
Hours: Open during the summer months, into October.
Admission: $2 a ride
Information: http://bit.ly/nM8ChU

Brooks Academy Museum

80 Parallel Street Harwich Center, MA, 02645 Phone: 508-432-8089

This 1844 building was the site of a school that offered early courses in navigation. Maritime and Native American artifacts are featured, as are displays of antique glass, photographs, toys, and clothing. Collection includes Charles D. Cahoon paintings, Crowell carved birds, a large cranberry culture exhibit, historic photographs.
Hours: Open late June through mid-October; tours Wednesday through Friday, and at other times by appointment.
Admission: Adults, $3.

Unitarian Meeting House & Church

11 Orange Street Nantucket, MA, 02554 Phone: 508-228-5466

Built in 1809, this church features a trompe l'oeil interior.
Hours: Open seasonally.
Admission: Free.

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Old Gaol

Vestal Street Nantucket, MA Phone:

This site is maintained by the Nantucket Historical Association. Exhibits feature stocks and other equipment. It was the first prison in the U.S. to allow prisoners to go home at night.
Hours: May 25–October 14, daily, 11 a.m.–4 p.m.
Admission: Adults, $6; youth age 6-17, $3.
Information: www.nha.org/sites/oldgaol.html.

Chatham Railroad Museum

Depot Road Chatham, MA, 02633 Phone:

Paradise for railroad enthusiasts features thousands of train models, restored train depots, railroad artifacts and a 1910 caboose.
Hours: Second and fourth Sundays of the month, 2-4 p.m., except holidays. ; Admission: Free.

African Meeting House in Nantucket

29 York Street Nantucket, MA, 02554 Phone: 508-228-4058

The Museum of African American History on Nantucket features two historic sites, the African Meeting House and the Florence Higginbotham House. These buildings were at the center of a thriving 19th-century African American community on the island.
The African Meeting House on Nantucket is the island’s most vivid reminder of a thriving 19th-century African American community. Erected in the 1820s by the African Baptist Society, it was a church, a school for African children, and a meeting house.
The Seneca Boston-Florence Higginbotham House was built in 1774 by Seneca Boston, a weaver and formerly enslaved man whose family maintained the house until 1918. The property was owned by African-Americans for the next two centuries.
Hours: January to May: Open Tuesday to Saturday 10am - 2pm, or by appointment. Tickets available on the website.

Gingerbread Cottages in Oak Bluffs - Martha's Vineyard, MA - Photo Credit MOTT

Gingerbread Cottages of Oak Bluffs

The Campground includes 35 acres of brightly painted cottages dating back to mid-1800s. Tour a gingerbread cottage; enjoy performances at the Tabernacle. The campground is an open, pedestrian friendly National Historic Landmark. Parking is limited, but the campground is a short walk from the Oak Bluffs harbor. During July and August historic walking tours of the Tabernacle and association grounds are offered.
Martha's Vineyard Camp Meeting Association oversees The Campground, which includes many of the colorful gingerbread cottages and the iconic iron Tabernacle. The cottages are a later outgrowth of a half-acre of property acquired in 1835 to house religious camp meetings typical of the Second Great awakening movement of the early 19th century. The early tents of the first participants began to be replaced in the early 1860s by the cottages, of which 318 still exist.

Osterville Historical Society Museum / Capt. Jonathan Parker House

Parker and West Bay Roads Osterville, MA, 02655 Phone: 508-428-5861

The Captain Jonathan Parker House, built in 1824, was home to a local schooner captains who made his trade in fishing and transportation up and down the seacoast. The property contains historical maps, 18th- and 19th-century furniture, art, ceramics, and a 19th-century ornamental garden.
Hours: Late May to mid-September, Thursdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Private tours by appointment.
Admission: Free.
Information: www.ostervillemuseum.org.

Kitchen Area at Winslow Crocker House - Yarmouth Port, MA

Winslow Crocker House (1780)

250 Main Street Yarmouth Port, MA, 02675 Phone: 617-994-6661

Explore a colonial Cape Cod house with a 20th-century flavor. In 1936, the house was moved down Old King’s Highway to its present location. The house was taken apart beam by beam and reassembled. Today it contains significant collection of antique furniture, hooked rugs, ceramics, and pewter. Admission is charged - free for members of Historic New England.

Old Mill

150 Prospect Street Nantucket, MA Phone:

This wind-powered mill was built in 1746 and has been working ever since.
Hours: May 25–October 14, daily, 11 a.m.–4 p.m.; tours every half hour.
Admission: Adults, $6; youth age 6-17, $3.
Information: www.nha.org/sites/oldmill.html

The Old Whaling Church

89 Main Street Edgartown, on Martha's Vineyard, MA, 02539 Phone: 508-627-4442

The church was built in 1843. With its dramatic front columns and majestic steeple, it's an excellent example of Greek Revival architecture. The church is now a community performing arts center and has many special events scheduled throughout the year. Call the church or consult the local papers for a schedule of events.

First Congregational Church of Wellfleet - Wellfleet, MA

First Congregational Church in Wellfleet

200 Main Street Wellfleet, MA, 02667 Phone: 508-349-6877

Famous for its steeple clock, which, according to legend, is the only clock in the world that strikes ship's time. The interior of this 1850 Greek Revival building is stunning, with pale blue walls, a brass chandelier hanging from a gilt ceiling rosette, and curved pews forming an amphitheater. Sunday evening concerts are held here throughout the summer.

Highland House Museum

6 Highland Light Road Truro, MA, 02666 Phone: 508-487-3397

The Highland House Museum is located in the former Highland House, a hotel built on the Highlands in 1907. Also near the Highland Lighthouse in North Truro, it is a classic example of a turn-of-the-century summer resort hotel. The museum displays artifacts and information about early European settlers and the Native Americans that preceded them.
Dates & Hours: June 1 to September 30, Monday-Saturday 10am - 4:30pm.

Mitchell House

1 Vestal Street Nantucket, MA, 02554 Phone: 508-228-2896

The Mitchell House (1790) is the birthplace of Maria Mitchell, America’s first woman astronomer. Tour the house with Mitchell House staff and learn about the life of Maria Mitchell, her remarkable family, and Quaker Nantucket in the 19th century. The house contains many artifacts from the Mitchell's life, such as her Dolland telescope. The Mitchell House was named as one of the Top 10 Women’s History sites in the country by USA Today.
Admission: Adults, $5; children, $4 children; passes to all Maria Mitchell Association museums: Adults, $15; Children, $10.
Hours: Mid-June-Labor Day, Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Quaker Meeting House

7 Fair Street Nantucket, MA, 02554 Phone: 508-228-1894

Constructed in 1838 as a Friends school, the Quaker Meeting House provides an appropriate setting for presenting the story of Quakerism as a dominant social and economic force on Nantucket. Interpretive presentations are regularly scheduled.
Hours: Open April through October; call ahead for hours.
Information: www.nha.org/sites/quakermeetinghouse.html

Harbor View - Pilgrim Monument & Provincetown Museum - Provincetown, MA

Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum

1 High Pole Hill Road Provincetown, MA Phone: 508-487-1310

Completed in 1910 to commemorate Provincetown as the first landing place of the Pilgrims. Visitors can walk to the top of the 252-foot granite monument and visit the Provincetown Museum to learn about Provincetown history.

Eastham Windmill

2515 State Highway Eastham, MA Phone: 508-255-1798

The Eastham Windmill is the oldest and last working gristmill on Cape Cod. A visit to the windmill gilves guests a snapshot of the Cape life in the 1700s. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. An annual celebration called Windmill Weekend takes place here the weekend after Labor Day. The fest includes music, food, crafts booths, a cookout, a pancake breakfast, a road race and a parade, and much more.
Hours: Summer, Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday, 1-5 p.m.

Nantucket Shipwreck & Lifesaving Museum

158 Polpis Road Nantucket, MA, 02554 Phone: 508-228-2505

This museum is the re-creation of the 1874 life guard station originally at this site.
Hours: Late May to Columbus Day, daily, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Admission: Adults, $5; youth age 5-18, $3.

Old Atwood House

347 Stage Harbor Road Chatham, MA Phone: 508-945-2493

Built in 1752, the house has a gambrel roof, wide floor planks. and a beehive oven. Of particular note is the Durang Wing collection of seashells from around the world. An herb garden and the equipment from the old Chatham Light are on the grounds.
Hours: June 8-October 8; hours vary within seasons; call ahead
Admission: Adults, $6; students age 8-18, $3; children age 7 and younger, free.

Mayhew Chapel & Indian Burial Ground - Vineyard Haven, MA

Mayhew Chapel and Indian Burial Ground

Christiantown Road Vineyard Haven, MA, 02568 Phone: 508-627-8687

This Christiantown memorial is the site of an Indian burial ground and the Mayhew Chapel, named after Thomas Mayhew Jr., a missionary. This site is owned by the Wampanoag Tribe. Includes a wildflower sanctuary.

Captain Bangs Hallet House

11 Strawberry Lane (off Route 6A) Yarmouth Port, MA, 02675 Phone: 508-362-3021

The original part of this Greek Revival sea captain's house was built in 1740. The kitchen has its original brick beehive oven and butter churn, along with acollection of china, pewter, maritime artifacts, and clothing from the sea captain era. The 50 acre property has nature trails.
Hours: June 1 through October 15, Thursday-Sunday, with tours at 1, 2 and 3 p.m.
Admission: Adults, $3.

John F. Kennedy Memorial at Veterans Memorial Park

Ocean Street and Gosnold streets Hyannis, MA Phone:

This outdoor, oceanside monument, erected in the popular Kennedy retreat on Cape Cod, memorializes the fallen President. There is no admission fee.

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