John F. Kennedy Hyannis Museum
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 seventh stop was John F. Kennedy Hyannis Museum in Hyannis, MA, a village of Barnstable. Located down the street from Cape Cod Maritime Museum, the museum showcased the life and presidency of U.S. President #35 and his family.
This year’s special exhibit was “RFK: Ripple of Hope” about the presidential campaign of JFK’s younger brother Robert F. Kennedy, who was also assassinated. The exhibit included an eight-minute video about his career, which included serving as U.S. Attorney General and a U.S. Senator (D-NY). While the video was well-edited and scripted, along with including narration from family members, I wish it had been shown on a larger screen with seating. A small case in this room held a collection of international dolls owned by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, daughter of RFK.
Across the hall was “Presidential Summers: The Kennedys on Cape Cod” showing the Kennedy family at their compound through national news and home videos. The little sketches of sailboats drawn by JFK on meeting notes were among my favorite artifacts in the museum. Other fun pieces in this section were vintage magazines, a model sailboat, and presidential campaign pins. A small theater showed archival video on repeat, allowing visitors to drop in and leave at any point without disturbance. On display at the opposite side of the space was a Kennedy Rocker on loan from The Towers of the Waldorf Astoria, New York, a favorite rocking chair of JFK, which helped to relieve his chronic back pain.
The final exhibit on the first floor was “JFK at 100: Life & Legacy”, which opened in 2017 for his 100th birthday. A few objects from his life, especially his presidential inauguration, appeared throughout the space. My favorite item was an enormous family tree. Upstairs, the Penn-Colombo Gallery was a hallway, which featured the exhibit “ We Remember John F. Kennedy, Jr.” Sculptor Richard Amadeo Alberti, Jr. created the statue “John F. Kennedy, Jr., 1963” based on a photograph of JFK Jr. saluting his father’s casket. While the statue originally belonged to Everett High School, a public school in the Greater Boston area, the school donated the statue to the museum in 2014.
The physical museum was fairly accessible with an elevator and a decent amount of seating in the galleries. The website was easy to read, but slow loading and with no search feature. One bizarre statement appeared on the page Accessibility at the JFK Museum under the “blind or have low vision” section, which noted that service animals were welcome in the museum, as if it were not illegal to disallow trained service animals in a public building. Additionally, most blind visitors do not use a seeing-eye dog, while service animals work for people with other disabilities, and an audio tour (which the museum did not offer) would be the most helpful option for blind and low vision visitors.
JFK Hyannis Museum is open Mid-April through November on Monday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and December through mid-April on Thursday through Saturday, 10:00 to 4:00 p.m., unless otherwise noted on the official website. Tickets are $14 for adults; $12 for seniors and veterans; $8 for children and students; and $0 for members, active military and their families, children under 5, Massachusetts teachers NARM card holders, and Card to Culture holders. A large, free parking lot is located behind the museum. For the size of the building, not many artifacts were on displays, and the dollars-per-hour rate was higher than any other museum I visited while on the Cape. The experience was improved by the large tour group of Bobby Kennedy fans who entered just before me. Otherwise, visitors may want to pass on this museum.
Abby Epplett’s Rating System
Experience: 5/10
Accessibility: 7/10