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!

Home for the Holidays - Open house this Saturday Dec 6, 2014, Noon to 3 PM

Rent a 17th C. Cape in Historic Sandwich village for 2 weeks this Summer!

If you've ever wanted to live in a restored 17th century cape, now is your chance.  This jaw droppingly gorgeous property is available to rent for just 2 weeks this summer.  You can pick which two weeks you prefer, but act quickly, because it is only available for one 2 week period!  Having 4 bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths, the home sleeps 8.

family room - open to kitchen

The house, dating to 1690, is beautifully situated on a high knoll overlooking Shawme Pond in the heart of historic Sandwich Village.  From this location, you can explore the shops, restaurants and cafe's of Sandwich village - all within an easy walk.  Other attractions within walking distance are the Sandwich Glass Museum, Hoxie House Museum, Dexter Grist Mill, Heritage Museums and Gardens and the famed Sandwich boardwalk where you can swim, kayak and soak in the sun.  A short drive will take you to Sandy Neck or Scusset beach, The Thornton Burgess Green Briar Nature Center with its wildflower garden and historic jam kitchen, Nye House Museum and the Wing Fort House.  And don't forget, this year Sandwich is celebrating its 375th birthday.  There are a myriad of events planned and you would have a front row seat.

Dexter Grist Mill

On the northside of Cape Cod, you can drive along lovely route 6A, the longest continuous historic district in the nation from Sandwich to Brewster.  The drive will take you through the charming villages of Barnstable and Yarmouth Port.

Offered for $2,800 per week for a two week period ($5,600) plus a refundable $300 security deposit.  Sorry - no pets and no smoking.  To rent this one of a kind property, contact Lisa at lisa@historichomescapecod.com or call 774-994-1337.

view from family room into kitchen

large eat in kitchen

Living room with fireplace - game room beyond

Living room with dining area

game room and library

View from 1st floor bedroom to sitting room

1st floor bedroom

Sitting room in front of house with views of pond.

2nd floor bath with clawfoot tub/shower

2nd floor full bathroom

Master bedroom with gas fireplace

Master bedroom with attached full bath

Upstairs bedroom with twin beds

View from front sitting area overlooking pond

Charming Cottage with a Spectacular Marsh View in Historic Sandwich Village

Warm wood floors in the living room

9 Georges Rock Rd., Sandwich, MA

This adorable cottage is blessed with sweeping marsh views.  Sited on a quite lane, it is a short walk to beautiful Sandwich village and the renowned Sandwich boardwalk.

Smaller homes have become increasingly desirable due to their small carbon footprint and ease of upkeep.  And of course, the greenest home is the one that is already built.  While this 18th century home has a long history, it was renovated in the 1970's with new wiring, insulation, and plumbing.

Additional updates were made recently with a new heating system.




There is some remaining work to be done on the exterior, but given the location, it would be well worth the effort.

Upstairs bedroom with wide pine floors

2 Bedrooms, 1 Bath
offered at $289,900

Please contact Lisa Hassler for more info or
for a showing at 774-994-1337,
lisa@historichomescapecod.com

Upstairs bedroom

Bring your kayak

Thoughtfully Landscaping your Historic Home

Plymouth Antiquarian Society's 1809 Hedge House Museum
Photo courtesy of Great Hill Horticultural Services

I had the privilege of sitting down with Bob Hoxie, owner of Great Hill Horticultural Services in Sandwich, MA to discuss landscaping historic properties and his recent work on the Plymouth Antiquarian Society's Hedge House garden restoration project.  Bob is a Massachusetts certified horticulturist with a wealth of knowledge and experience about historic landscapes.  In addition to serving for 17 years as the horticulturalist for a large estate, Bob was Associate Director of Historic Landscapes for Plimoth Plantation and former chairman of the Town of Sandwich's Conservation Commission.

Have you ever wished that you could just put on a pair of special glasses that would show you what your home and the surrounding landscape looked like in its hey day?  A historic home often bears traces of its history.  Sometimes the remnants are obvious, as is the case with a meandering stone wall.  But sometimes the historic landscape is hidden beneath layers of soil.  In the past two historic homes that I have had, we have discovered dry wells covered only by a few rotted boards and a thin layer of top soil.  Yikes!

Like interior restoration projects, bringing the exterior landscape back to life is best approached with careful planning.  Bob recommends assessing where you are in your life and what your goals are for the landscape.  Do you want a faithful period restoration or a period appropriate recreation that nods to the past?  How much time do you want to invest in the upkeep and maintenance of the garden?  Do you want to reflect the home's original construction date in the landscape or perhaps another significant time in the property's history?  Are there issues that you want to address, like highlighting a feature in the garden, or screening an undesirable view?  Once you begin to tackle these questions, you can formulate a plan and prioritize your goals.

Careful research and planning will result in a beautiful landscape that matches your lifestyle.
Photo courtesy of Great Hill Horticultural Services

Bob uses a variety of sources to research the home's historic role, including the county's registry of deeds, old newspaper articles and historic photos.  In addition, he explains that clues can be found by careful observation of the existing landscape.  A few stocks of a culinary herb may signal the historic presence of a kitchen garden.  Sometimes an archeologist will be brought in to do a test pit and provide additional information about the history of the site.

In tackling the landscape, Bob cautions owners to "do no harm" - a saying that is common in interior restoration as well.  Don't destroy original features that make the property unique and help to tell the story.  100 year old lilacs or remnants of a stone foundation can help root the landscape to the past.  There is a benefit in moving slowly.  He advises to think how you want the landscape to appear today as well as to plan for when the plants are mature.  Good planning and communication will lead to a successful design.

Work in progress at the Hedge House
Photo courtesy of Great Hill Horticultural Services

Another recommendation that Bob makes is to incorporate native plants into the design as part of the planting palette.  In this area, plants like mountain laurel or holly will require less maintenance.  However, these native species should be used in context.  We've all seen native shrubs used as foundation plants and sheared like giant meatballs!  When incorporating heirloom plants, don't forget to consider their historic purpose, whether that be aesthetic, culinary or medicinal.

One last suggestion - Bob advises to install plants that have room to grow.  If plants are too large, they give an "instant look", that will look crowded in a few short years.  And likewise, don't overpower a landscape with too many plantings.  Sometimes one or two feature plants are just what is needed.

Save this (small) Historic House!

1 Harbor Street, Sandwich, MA on beautiful Cape Cod is listed by David Holt at Today Real Estate and is on the market for $130,000.  At just 948 square feet, it can certainly qualify as "small". Unfortunately,  too often, in historic real estate, size matters.  When a large saltbox home that graces the village green falls into disrepair and is threatened with demolition there are cries from preservation groups to save it.  But what happens to the humble cottage - the dwelling house of the fisherman or the factory worker?  The land is often deemed of greater value than the home itself.

When Old Sturbridge Village was seeking a small house to add to its collection - they had such a hard time finding one that they ended up building one.  This, despite that fact that houses under 800 square feet once made up a quarter of our housing stock in the early 19th century.

Small House at Old Sturbridge Village, MA

Small houses are an important part of the fabric of our history.  Some communities have recognized their value and have protected them with charming results.  A visit to 'Sconset on Nantucket greets you with a collection of small fisherman cottages dripping with roses.

Rose covered Sconset cottage

This home on Harbor Street in Sandwich has a long history and was once used as a dwelling house for workers in the Boston and Sandwich glass factory.  Neighborhood folklore hints at an even longer history for this house - it is rumored to have been moved here in the early 18th century.  The exposed beams with bark on them in the kitchen suggests an early date for this home.  It has much to offer in a great neighborhood, walking distance to ice cream, restaurants, shops and the beach.  No doubt - it needs work, but it CAN be saved.  And at $130,000, there is room for restoration costs.

1 Harbor Street, Sandwich MA

Gardening with Native Plants to Enhance your Historic Cape Cod Home

This charming cottage garden complements the simple lines of a traditional Cape
Designed by Chris Kolb, Ark Gardens, photo courtesy of Ark Gardens

Historic homes are inherently "green", preserving the embodied energy of the building materials used to construct them, while keeping those materials out of the landfill.  What better way to complement your historic home than with an equally environmentally sensitive garden?  On the Cape, while we are blessed with an abundance of natural beauty, we are also mindful of how fragile our environment is.  With a shallow aquifer, it just makes sense to incorporate native species that are drought as well as disease tolerant.


The cottage garden above is planted in what Chris Kolb, of Ark Gardens, refers to as a patchwork garden.  Like a patchwork quilt, it incorporates contrasting colors and textures in rectangular blocks of plantings.  The result is a charming cottage style garden which beautifully complements the simple cape style home.

Cape Cod Rambling Rose roof trellis
Photo courtesy of Ark Gardens

Close up of Cape Cod Rambling Rose Covered Roof Trellis
Photo courtesy of Ark Gardens

Inkberry, Photo courtesy of Ark Gardens

Ark Gardens in Sandwich specializes in creating gardens that respect the earth with a playful mix of traditional plants and native species.  Some plants arrived here with the colonists and have proven their suitability to Cape Cod's sandy soils and sea breezes.  Plants like lilac and Virginia roses are happy companions to native plants like Inkberry, Golden Aster and Lupine.   The Cape Cod Commission posts a wonderful list of native species suitable for the cultivated cape cod landscape.

Even the ubiquitous hydrangea has a native variety, Hydrangea arborescens,  that is better suited to the local growing conditions.

Healthy Hydrangea arborescens next to a struggling non-native Hydrangea macrocarpa under dry oak shade
Photo courtesy of Ark Gardens

Hydrangea arborescens 'Annabelle'.
Pink variety called 'Bella Anna'
Photo courtesy of Ark Gardens

Virginia Rose is native, pretty and low maintenance
Photo courtesy of Ark Gardens

Chris explains that part of a garden's success stems from the attention that he gives to establishing site lines that complement the existing architecture.  Ark Gardens philosophy is to approach an existing garden with a conservative eye, retaining, pruning or replanting established plantings when possible.

Plants can also serve multiple purposes.  Oregano, quince, savory and blueberries, while being attractive have the added benefit of adding edible leaves, bulbs or fruits to the garden.  Visit Ark Gardens website for more information and for a coupon good for a free design sketch and consultation.