One fire turned Cape Cod into 'Owners Unknown': Take a listen
Burned books fueled a building boom a century later
Barnstable’s Olde Colonial Courthouse, built around 1774, drawn from memory by Gustavas Hinckley in the 19th century. It stood apart from the records building that burned in 1827, a smaller two-story structure.
We think of major occurrences as inevitable, but often they are shaped by happenstance, even accidents.
Here’s an amazing example from almost 200 years ago, one event that came to fan Cape Cod’s suburban grid development in the second half of the 20th century.
Thanks to WCAI, I had great fun voicing this dramatic tale for the Tuesday radio series, “A Cape Cod Notebook.”
And this being A Cape Cod Voice, I thought it right to offer this verbal rendition of some history I shared in written form a few years ago. Take a listen:
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Fascinating. How different indeed.
We were just in Exeter north of Boston at the Historic New England 165-acre property overlooking the Essex river. The 1728 farmhouse was restored and is a museum for colonial era artifacts. I believe the original property was much larger than the remaining 165, but it seems that there are but a few properties that retain their original stolen Indian land.