News & Stories

It is almost impossible today to contemplate life without refrigeration. However, almost within living memory that was a reality. Before refrigeration, Cape Codders harvested ice from ponds and stored it in icehouses and then ice boxes in their houses. One such pond was Hinckley’s Pond in Barnstable Village. There was an icehouse at the edge of that pond, along 6A, from which the local iceman would make deliveries when requested by local households and businesses. M

On Cape Cod we are surrounded by endless stretches of old stone walls that mark property lines, fields, and thoroughfares. Those stones are a legacy from the glaciers that retreated North many thousands of years ago. As the ice melted, stones from small pebbles to massive boulders were left scattered across the land. They were a useful annoyance for the early settlers, who used them to build the foundations of their new houses, and to mark the limits of their land: Gustavu

The landscape of Cape Cod was created in large part by the glaciers of many thousands of years ago. Some of the small ponds that were left behind evolved into cranberry bogs. Native Americans harvested wild cranberries and used them for food, medicine and as a fabric dye. European settlers then cultivated local cranberries, but commercial cranberry farming did not start in earnest until the early-mid 1800s. Cranberries grow from April to November. Cranberry farming was

By Jeffrey D. Crocker Miss Experience Crocker was an accomplished and independent woman of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. She never married. She was the granddaughter of Deacon William and Alice Crocker, the first Barnstable Crockers, who arrived with Reverend John Lothrop in 1639 when the Town of Barnstable was established. Experience and her brother Nathaniel lived in their grandfather William’s house, a large two-story frame dwelling located at what is now 2

The report of the Centennial Celebration at Barnstable on September 3, 1839 is a treasure trove of insights into our community as it once was: Among its many offerings, the report records that September 3, 1639 was the date that Barnstable was incorporated, and so that is the date for all future centennial celebrations. It also reports the founding fathers of Barnstable village, whose family names many will recognize on Cape Cod today: Rev. Mr. John Lothrop Mr. Joseph Hull

In 1614, Captain John Smith (c. 1580-1631) set out to explore and map the coastline from Maine to Massachusetts. He published his findings in “ A Description of New England ” (1616), and set about touring the towns and cities in the Westcountry of England to promote settlement in the New World. His accounts were enticing (as was his goal). He wrote that: of all the foure parts of the world that I ha[v]e yet seen not inhabited … I would rather li[v]e here than any where …