2017 Holiday Season on Cape Cod

by Deb Crowell

The holidays on Cape Cod are truly magical.  It is a wonderful time to escape the commercialization of the season and attend events that are both authentic and steeped in tradition.  To help you sift through all the events the Cape has to offer, here are a few of our favorite picks.

Santa Arrives!

Santa’s arrives by boat in Falmouth Harbor with other seaside celebrations in Orleans, Provincetown, Hyannis, and every village in between.  This is just a few of the reasons that Christmas on Cape Cod is so memorable.

Christmas Strolls

Almost every town on the Cape begins opening up the first weekend of December to ring in the holidays. Now is the time to decide which one(s) you want to attend. Here are just a few.

Nantucket Christmas Stroll—December 1-3. Visit: http://christmasstroll.com/

Falmouth Village Holiday Stroll—December 2.  Visit: http://www.falmouthchamber.com/holidays-by-the-sea.html

Yarmouth Port Christmas Stroll—December 3.  Visit: http://business.yarmouthcapecod.com/events/details/yarmouth-port-christmas-stroll-2017-6372

Osterville Open House & Stroll—December 8. Visit: https://www.capecodchamber.org/events/43rd-annual-osterville-christmas-open-house-stroll

Gardens Aglow—Heritage Museum & Gardens

Gardens Aglow, has become a holiday family tradition. Heritage Museum and Gardens is transformed into a Winter Wonderland with more than ten miles of holiday lights adorning the gardens and woodlands to create a twinkling wonderland. Throughout the grounds and buildings, enjoy festive holiday displays, family-friendly activities, marshmallow-roasting, music and special performances, visits with Santa Claus, displays of model trains and more.

https://heritagemuseumsandgardens.org/event/gardens-aglow-5/

Hanukkah Storytime

Barnes and Noble - December 3rd, 4:30, Cape Cod Mall.  Visit:
https://stores.barnesandnoble.com/event/9780061895601-0

Holiday Historic Home Tours

Holidays at Highfield—December 1-3. Visit: http://highfieldhallandgardens.org/events/category/specialevents/

Barnstable Village Holiday Home Tour—December 3. Visit: http://www.barnstablehistoricalsociety.org/

Chatham Historic Inn Tour—December 9.  Visit: http://www.chathaminfo.com/events/details/chatham-historic-inn-tour-237

Sandwich Holly Days Holiday Home Tour—December 10.  Visit: http://www.sandwichhollydays.com/Home_tours.htm

First Night on Cape Cod

First Light Provincetown—December 28-January 2.  Visit: https://www.ptown.org/firstlight/

First Night Chatham—December 31.  Visit: http://www.firstnightchatham.com/newhomepage.html

First Night Sandwich—December 31. Visit: http://www.firstnightsandwich.com/

For a comprehensive list of events during the month of December visit the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce (https://www.capecodchamber.org/holiday-events-calendar) and The Cape Cod Museum Trail (http://capecodmuseumtrail.com/events/category/events/).

Happy Holidays!

The Count Rumford Fireplace

by Lisa Hassler

When we first viewed the c. 1827 home that we would ultimately purchase, we were thrilled with the four fireplaces.  The home had once been a double dwelling house for the workers at the Boston and Sandwich Glass Company.  Each side of the house has a kitchen fireplace, with a beehive oven, and a parlor fireplace.  And each fireplace has the tell tale angled walls of a Rumford style fireplace.

Sir Benjamin Thompson (Count Rumford)
birthplace in Woburn, MA

Count Rumford, born Sir Benjamin Thompson in 1753, was a soldier, statesman, inventor, scientist and humanitarian.  He was born in Woburn, MA and studied at Harvard.  Being a loyalist, he left for England in 1776 where he was later made a fellow of the Royal Society.  His title was bestowed in 1790 when he was made count of the Holy Roman Empire.  Interestingly, "Rumford" came from the place where he lived in NH at age 19 (now Concord).

A fireplace in the Benjamin Thompson house

His name lives on through his contributions to science, and in particular, his advancements to heating.
In 1798 and 1799, Count Rumford wrote a series of 3 essays describing the ills of the common form of construction of a fireplace and the remedy to save fuel and increase comfort:

Chimney Fireplaces, with proposals for improving them to save fuel; to render dwelling houses more comfortable, and salubrious, and effectually to prevent chimneys from smoking.


p. 547

Shows the common construction of a fireplace prior to alteration

p. 549

Shows the same fireplace after Count Rumford's suggested improvements

Rumford's suggested improvements caught on like wildfire (pun intended)

Fireplace in the Cobb House Museum, Brewster

Kitchen fireplace, home in Yarmouth Port

According to Monticello.org, Thomas Jefferson's Monticello has 8 Rumford style fireplaces.

Jefferson wrote to his friend, Wilson Cary Nicholas regarding the dimensions of his Rumford fireplaces:

Mr. P. Carr informed me two days ago that you wished for the dimensions of the Rumford fireplaces.  I therefore avail myself of the first post to send them.  I state them as I have used them myself, with great satisfaction, the back one half of the opening.  Count Rumford makes the back but one third of the opening, this was to accommodate them to coal; but it renders them impracticable for wood.  My larger fireplaces I make 2 f in the back & 4 f in front; those for bed-rooms 19 1/2 i in back & 3 f - 3 i in front.  The opening of the former 3 f - 3 i or 3 f - 6 i high, the latter 3 f high.

Monticello, South Square Room, facing East

Which brings me back to my fireplaces - none of which are currently working.  We are having them parged inside and re-pointed where needed.  Our mason tells us that the fireplaces have great draw - Yay Rumford!

Sources:

MACRIS Inventory form

Middlesex Canal Society 

Monticello

Exterior Paint Colors - What is Historically Accurate?

by Deb Crowell

Having owned several historic homes, knowing what exterior paint color combinations were historically correct was often a conundrum.  Since none of my homes had original clapboards or trim, it was not possible to determine its original colors.  Given that, I relied on restoration resources to guide me.  One of the best articles I found was prepared by John Fiske for the Ipswich Historical Commission and the Architectural Preservation District.  Here are the cliff notes.

Colonial Period (1640-1780)

First Period (1640-1720s) Clapboards oftentimes were not painted or stained, but left to weather. Trim was then either left unpainted or painted Indian red/Spanish brown. If they were painted, generally it was two colors with their trim and sash the same color and the door distinct.

Second Period or Georgian (1725-1780) In this period body colors included dark stone colors, chocolates, orange, ochers, greys and reds.  Trim was almost always white, however, the white had a more yellow tone when compared to today’s bright whites. Doors were always a dark color and typically selecting from chocolate, red, green or blue.

1740—1780, Second Period: Meetinghouse Blue, 

Standish Blue, Landon Dove, Parsnip

Federal Period (1780-1830)

The federal period saw a shift away from the stronger Georgian colors.  The favored body colors were white, cream and straw, however, orange, pea-green, red and slate were also seen. Trim was white or the same color as the body while shutters and doors were dark green or black.

Greek Revival (1825-1860)

The earth-based pigments and natural stone colors of the federal period continued until the 1850s. The body colors were the same with white or off white, stone (such as greys, pale blue greys, grey browns and tan) and straw (ochres and yellows).  White, off-white and cream continued to be the colors of choice for trim.  However, sash was now often painted black.  The most common color scheme was a white or off-white body, green doors and shutters and black sash.

Early Victorian (1840-1870)

Federal period body color choices continued with traditional stone and earth-colors still popular.  Trim saw a dramatic change as white was not used. Instead it could be a darker shade of the body color or, if the body color was dark, the trim would be a lighter shade.  Sash was often painted the same color as the trim.

1860s—1880’s, Victorian: Picholine, Codman Claret, 

Portobello, Danish Pine

Later Victorian (1870-1900)

Paints were now being mass produced and available in resealable cans resulting in a wide range of possibilities that included pastels and deeper and more saturated colors. Strong contrasts with three color schemes for the exterior became the norm.  The three-color scheme was most popular with body, trim and sash all being distinct colors.  The sash, along with the doors and shutters, were always the darkest of the three colors. The color selection was based on color harmony; either harmony by analogy (adjacent colors on the color wheel) or harmony by contrast (opposite colors on the wheel).

Second Empire/Mansard (1855-1885)

A neutral palette continued at the beginning of this period with greys, tans, ochers and warm beiges prevalent.  Later, stronger colors appeared in combinations that included russets, olives, grey-green, ochers and browns.  Body and trim were typically two shades of the same color with the trim often being the lighter shade.  Sash, doors and shutters were black or very dark green.

Queen Anne (1880-1915)

This period is easily recognizable due to the use of different architectural elements including towers, bays, gables, porches and varied size windows. This architectural style lent itself perfectly  to four and sometimes five-color schemes. The body would be one or two intense colors.  If the house had shingles and clapboards, each would be its own color.  Trim color would be chosen to unify the two body colors with decorative accents painted a distinct color.  The sash would be the darkest color with choices typically being dark green, deep brown, black, dark red, maroon, chocolate, or deep umber.

Shingle (1880-1990)

As the name suggests, a “woody” appearance was dictated. The body would typically be stained or painted deep brown. Dark olives, grey-browns and dark greens were also seen.  Trim would be beige, tan or a dark contrasting color such as dark green, dark olive, or maroon.  Sash and doors were always dark.

Now you have an overall idea of what is appropriate for your period house when choosing body, trim, sash, shutter and door colors.  But where do I find paint formulated in the right shade and which shade do I choose?  To takeout the guesswork, Historic New England outlines precisely which colors are appropriate for each period using California Paints color chart, Historic Colors of America. 

Historic New England/California Paints chart

To get the color selections click here

To read the full article by John Fiske click here

Reading:  “The Anatomy of Color: The Story of Heritage Paints and Pigments” by Patrick Baty.  Find it on Amazon here