Sandwich Glass 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. On the third day of my trip, I visited Sandwich Glass Museum in Sandwich, MA run by the Sandwich Historical Society. This society has existed since 1907 and focuses on preserving the history of glassmaking on Cape Cod along with highlighting the work of modern artists and teaching members of the public how to create glass art.

The engaging introductory video was shown in a mid-sized theater and gave an overview of the history of the area. Sandwich was first settled by English colonists in 1637, making this town the oldest European style settlement on Cape Cod. The area was known for farming and fishing until 1825, when former New England Glass Company employee Deming Jarves moved from East Cambridge, MA to Sandwich in order to start his own business. He called his business Boston & Sandwich Glass Company and shipped in fancy sand made of quartz silica to make glass, since the local sand had too many impurities.

Besides recruiting from his former employer, James hired immigrants from the British Isles to create mold-blown glass, a quicker and cheaper alternative to the cut glass made in England and Ireland. Pressed glass, including colorful cup plates for teacups, began as a practical homewares but soon turned into collectors items. Deming Jarves’ son, John Jarves, started his own company called Cape Cod Glass Works but died young at age twenty-eight in 1863. Deming Jarves felt obligated to run the company instead of retiring until his own death six years later in 1869. By the 1870s, the industry was in decline, and the company closed in 1888. Over the next thirty years, a few local glass companies tried to restart the industry, but all traces of the buildings were gone by 1944.

The architecture of the building was interesting in itself. A small sign revealed that the center portion of the building was historically called the Spite Barn. It was constructed after a schism in the First Parish Church where a portion of the congregation broke away to call themselves the Calvinistic Congregational Church and hold meetings on land donated by John Dillingham. In 1813, his neighbor and religious rival Melatiah Bourne legendarily built a barn next to the new church to annoy parishioners. While the congregational church is now called First Church of Christ in Sandwich and remains on the same spot, the barn was moved several times until was set in its current location in 1923.

An excellent feature of the museum was the live glass blowing demonstration. I had last visited the glassblowing shop Clancy Designs Glass Studio during a visit to Jamestown, RI in 2022 and seen live demonstrations several years earlier at Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, NY, so this was a great refresher. I saw the first twenty-minute demo of the day at 10:00 a.m. just after the museum opened. These demos happened on the hour throughout the day, so I had no concern about missing the presentation.

The other feature worth visiting was the automated exhibit, “The Hannah ‘Rebecca’ Dining Room 1880”, which used voiceover and a lighting technique to tell how the glass industry affected people living in West Sandwich. I was intrigued by the story of Hannah Rebecca Crowell Burgess, who at twenty-two years old took command of the clipper ship Challenger after her young husband, Captain William Burgess, died while at sea. However, the effect of a disembodied voice and lights turning on to display glassware had an eerie effect that may bother some visitors.

The museum had an extensive collection of glass from local manufacturers with each case adhering to a theme such as early mold blown and pressed glass, decanters, sugar bowls, lamps, salt and pepper shakers, and paper weights. Interspersed with these displays were pieces of local history, including a baby carriage shaped like a horse-drawn carriage and a fire bucket. I especially like the diorama of the Boston & Sandwich Glass Company depicting a moment in the life of glassblowers around 1850.

My favorite story was about the Albert C. Marble Collection on permanent loan from the Worcester Historical Museum. Albert Curtis Marble was an industrialist from Worcester, MA who collected cup plates for a hobby, lovingly photographing each one and recording differences in design. His original boxed set of cup plate photos contained 700 designs, while the book American Glass Cup Plates by James H. Rose and Ruth Webb Lee published in 1948 contained over 850 plates from his collection. Every time someone complains about my many intense interests, I will point them to this man.

The museum mixed old with new, displaying modern art pieces like a chandelier by Dale Chihuly, whose work I last saw at New Bedford Art Museum in New Bedford, MA and Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids, MA; “Kitchen Dreams” by Ricky Bernstein, whose work also appeared in SculptureNow at The Mount 2023; and the two-artist exhibit Heartbeats & Harmony featuring Afro-Caribbean inspired works by Robert Dane and Carl Lopes. In the latter exhibit was an unexpected harrowing story about Lopes’ great-grandfather, John do Carmo, who was kidnapped from his home in Cape Verde as a child to work on a whaling ship and managed to escape in New Bedford a year and a half later. A selection of local artists had their pieces for sale in the Hoogs and Crawford Gallery.

Sandwich Glass Museum is open for Winter Hours in February and March on Wednesday through Sunday, 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and open for Summer Hours in April through December, seven days a week, 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Tickets cost $14 for adults, $13 for seniors, $3 for children six to fourteen, and $0 for children five and under plus library pass holders. The museum is fully wheelchair accessible and provides some seating. The display cases were beautifully designed, but lighting was inconsistent throughout the space. Many galleries were dark on the day of my visit, as the museum relied on natural sunlight, and the morning was overcast. The signage was highly informative but written for someone with an extreme interest in glass rather than the general public. A map of highlights and an audio tour would have greatly improved the experience. If you are a history or glass fan, this is a great stop for you; otherwise you may become overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of glass.

Abby Epplett’s Rating System

Experience: 7/10

Accessibility: 7/10