Quick History Stops: Hyannis, MA | Part 2
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. While visiting Cape Cod Maritime Museum and John F. Kennedy Hyannis Museum in Hyannis, MA, I made so many quick history stops around the area that I have divided it into two parts. Yesterday, I covered Main Street, and today, I cover local art and some of the Kennedy Legacy Trail.
A redbrick Art Path leading from Main Street down to the harbor guides visitors past sculptures and shanties housing tiny art shops. I loved the interactive sculpture Turn, Tern, Turn by Cotuit artist Eric M. Kaiser. A pair of metal seabirds connect to a metal base which visitors are encouraged to gently spin. A few steps away is Aselton Park, which includes the Buoyed Coasts advocacy art installation created by Kate Kennen and portraits created by Kate DeCiccio. The colorful buoys attached to long metal rods symbolize the water quality in the Northeast coast area. The use of a boat to hold informational signage was a great design choice.
At the end of the path was Bismore Park containing the HyArts Artist Shanties and a welcome center. The idea for shanties came in 2005 when the Town of Barnstable decided that the Hyannis community needed more art. The plan went so well that Massachusetts Cultural Council designated downtown Hyannis as a cultural district by 2012, and the program continues to grown. Inside the park is a fun family photo opportunity. A metal picture frame installed by Expedition Blue focuses on a small portion of the harbor. The Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce launched this initiative in 2015 “to promote and sustain a maritime-focused economy”.
By the Walkway-to-the-Sea were a pair of matching, red brick, three-story administrative buildings. These beautiful and well-maintained buildings appear to be early 20th century construction, but I could not find any details about their architect. The Hyannis Armory had much more information. The building itself was constructed in 1958 for the Massachusetts National Guard, but its claim to fame came two years later in 1960, when JFK gave his president-elect victory speech inside. Besides a mural on the doors, not much seems to be going on with the building.
A few other art pieces appeared along my route. The most noticeable was Tides a stoneware clay sculpture glazed with copper created by Stephen T. Kemp. The nearby sign included a story on how the artist came up with the idea. My next stop was St. Francis Xavier Parish, now part of the Kennedy Legacy Trail. The family sat in the second row in the east wing while visiting, although mother Rose Kennedy attended mass every day. In 1944, the altar was donated in memory of Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., a Navy pilot who died during World War II. Other Kennedy family events included the funeral of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. in 1969 and the wedding of Arnold Schwarzenegger to Maria Shriver, daughter of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, in 1986.
Of course, the church was active before the arrival of the Kennedys. JFK Church. The building was originally constructed in 1874 in a different part of town and called St. Patrick Church. In 1903, parts of the buildings were moved and the name was change, encouraging Catholics outside of the Irish population to attend. St. Francis Xavier was a Spanish Catholic missionary who lived in the early to mid-16th century, founded a college in India, and died of an illness in China at age forty-six. While a seemingly unusual naming choice for an American church, the change had its intended effect, as modern attendees include the local Brazilian and Latino populations.
A final surprise at the end of my trip through Hyannis was the discover of a pink octagon house and a matching pink octagon carriage barn. Further research revealed that this is Captain Rodney J. Baxter House, originally built in 1850. The building is occupied by Baxter descendants but in poor condition with an old blue car parked in front. Octagon houses and rooms were a trend started by started by ameteur architect and phrenologist Orson Squire Fowler in the 1850s and mimicked in the early 20th century, including the dining rooms at Historic New England’s John Langdon House and Beauport Sleeper McCann House. The property has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1987. I hope this house can be cleaned up so future architectural historians can appreciate its unique shape.
