Heritage Museums & Gardens | Small Buildings
In August 2024, I went on a five-day trip to Cape Cod, MA where I visited many museums and cultural organizations, along with quick history stops and trails. My first stop was Heritage Museums & Gardens (HMG) in Sandwich, MA. The first part of this six-part miniseries focused on the gardens, while the second part focused on J.K. Lilly III Automobile Gallery. This third part will focus on small buildings, and one canoe, located throughout the grounds.
Having always stood on its current foundation, Wing Homestead was built by Daniel Wing, Jr., son of the Daniel Wing to whom a nearby plaque is dedicated, around 1686 and now serves as the Admissions Building, so it is not open to the public. This restored post-medieval colonial style home was occupied by the Wing family until the 1850s, with the last occupying members being siblings Ebenezer and Lydia Wing. By 1921, Charles O. Dexter bought the property to pursue is dream of creating a rhododendron hybridizing enterprise and name his massive garden Shawme Farm.
Not far away, Old East Mill originally stood in Orleans, MA, as it was built with leftover wood from the town’s Congregational Meetinghouse in 1800. The mill changed owners several times throughout the 19th century. Josiah Kirby Lilly III bought the mill in 1967, the same year he bought Wing Homestead and the surrounding property. He moved the mill thirty-two miles along Route 6A over a ten-day trip, and a special crane had to lift the powerlines to fit the mill. Signage around the windmill included fun facts that I had learned or seen while visiting other mills, including Jamestown Windmill in Jamestown, RI; and the windmill at the former Sagamore Christmas Tree Shop. This style was known as a smock mill because its wide base looked like a dress, and its miller would have been paid with a portion of the grain he ground.
On display along the trail was a white pine mush8n or Wampanoag boat. Wampanoag use the character “8” to indicate the sound /uː/, as heard in the second syllable of canoe. The boat complemented the wetu or traditional Wampanoag house and the Wampanoag-style garden found nearby. The entire project came through a collaboration with SmokeSygnals, a local and native-owned production company. I had seen another the mush8n and wetu while in the Stillman Building at Mystic Seaport Museum, while other wetu, sometimes called a wigwam, were at Historical Society of Old Yarmouth in Yarmouth, MA and Strawbery Banke in Portsmouth, NH. Of course, the beautiful garden included not only flowers but also the Three Sisters: corn, beans, and squash, known to Wampanoag as weeâchumuneash, tutupôhqâmash, and mônashk8tashqash. Similar gardens are found at historical sites throughout the Americas, but my favorite so far was the one at Historic New England’s Casey Farm, which featured a sculpture representing those three important plants.
Finally, the Hidden Hollow Treehouse was a space designated for children age two to ten, but I enjoyed climbing into the open-air, post-and-beam to explore. The museum consulted treehouse expert Peter Nelson, former host of the Animal Planet show Treehouse Masters, chose architect Greg Jones to draft the plans, and recruited high schoolers from Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School to build. As an added bonus, the first floor is ADA compliant due to its gently sloping ramp and wide turns, meaning people of all abilities can enjoy the experience.