The application seeking to move the Ebenezer Crocker house from its current location at 49 Putnam Avenue has been withdrawn from consideration by the Cape Cod Commission as a development of regional impact by its owner. In August the Town of Barnstable Historical Commission voted unanimously to impose an 18-month demolition delay and automatically referred the owner’s notice of intent to the Cape Cod Commission as is the case for any building listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Cotusions may have seen one of the many “Stop the Move” signs around the village, and the Historical Commission received a record number of letters from concerned residents who opposed the planned move to a new location either on the site of the former, now-demolished barn at the old Crocker farm, or to 555 Main Street next to the entrance to the former Cotuit Elementary School.
What the owner of the nearly 250 year old home intends to do with the property is unknown.
Cotuit Oyster Company prevails against “No-Oyster” Harbors NIMBYs
Loyal readers of this blog may recall an effort two years ago by a group of Oyster Harbor residents to block the Cotuit Oyster Company from using rafts of floating bags in the Cotuit Narrows.
The “Neighbors of Cotuit Narrows” — a group of plaintiffs who live along the Osterville side of the Narrows — filed suit in Barnstable Superior Court to overturn the renewal of the Cotuit Oyster Company’s aquaculture license, renewed by Barnstable’s town manager in the winter of 2024.
Earlier this month (October 2025), Barnstable Superior Court Justice Elaime M. Buckley denied the plaintiff’s motions and upheld the counter motion filed by the Barnstable Town Council, Town Manager, and town Marine and Environmental Department.
The town’s approval of the Cotuit Oyster Company’s aquaculture license was affirmed.
Please note the judge took into account the many letters submitted by the oyster company’s supporters in making her ruling:
“….in approving COC’s license renewal application, the Town plainly disagreed that the COC’s usage of above-water equipment violated the Barnstable Aquaculture License Regulations…..In connection with the hearing, the town received a number of submissions from residents taking a position contrary to Plaintiffs’ — that COC’s activities in Cotuit Bay do not impede recreational uses or scenic views.”
Once and a while some disgruntled Cotusion, frustrated with the perceived misbehavior or indifference of the Town of Barnstable, mutters that it’s time to break away and secede and turn Cotuit into a town of its own. Such seditious grumblings generally fade after a little while and life goes on in the little village on … Continue reading “Secession Movements of Cotuit”
Once and a while some disgruntled Cotusion, frustrated with the perceived misbehavior or indifference of the Town of Barnstable, mutters that it’s time to break away and secede and turn Cotuit into a town of its own. Such seditious grumblings generally fade after a little while and life goes on in the little village on the far western edge of a big town that has become a little city.
But invariably, after a while some mutinous villager fed up to here with the mooring wait list or dodging double-parked landscaping trucks can be heard grumbling: “Why don’t we go it alone?
Recent posts on social media have revived some of those mutterings – not necessarily emanating from Cotuit per se, but from fed-up residents of some of the town’s other six villages who are wary of the town’s future plans and a town council-real estate lobby that seems determined to pave paradise with four-story Soviet apartment blocks after ripping up that same pavement to lay sewer pipe in a belated attempt to clean up our disgusting bays.
Here is a brief history of Cotuit’s attempts to break away from the old colonial town of Barnstable and go it alone.
The Fed-up Forefathers (and foremothers)
The first mention of secession is a vague reference to an attempt by Cotuit and two other villages (I assume Marstons Mills and Osterville) to break away from the town in the late 19th century. The only record of this failed attempt can be found on page 7 of the March 4, 1993 edition of The Register newspaper:
“In the late 19th century this village and two others joined in an attempt to promulgate such action. The proposal failed to carry by a relatively small number of votes.”
Other than that single, tantalizing mention, I have not been able to find any evidence in the newspaper archives nor the Commonwealth’s archives of a 19th century rebellion. The fact that the proposal lost on a vote seems to me to indicate the movement was well organized enough to get to the point where it appeared on some docket such as an annual town meeting or perhaps even the state legislature. However there’s nothing in the historical record to suggest a single egregious event that would have catalyzed a rebellion by the three villages. The most bumptious disputes in Cotuit in the late 19th century were the Great Post Office Fight of 1885 and the village’s vociferous objections to Osterville digging the Wianno Cut to connect West Bay to Nantucket Sound. None of which would suggest a partnership between the three westernmost villages to break off from the town and incorporate as a new one.
By the 1920s and 30s, Cotuit’s need for fire protection and hydrants to fight those fires led to the formation of the Cotuit Fire District. Barnstable has the fourth largest land area of any of the town’s 351 cities and towns, exceeded only by Plymouth, Nantucket, and Middleborough, and providing essential services such as fire, police, and water was a logistical challenge. The growth of Barnstable’s seven villages led to the formation of fire districts, a uniquely independent form of “municipal government-lite” that gave each district taxation authority, their own elected boards of commissioners, and certain restricted rights independent of the town of Barnstable: such as building fire stations, laying water mains, and even hiring “constables” to keep the peace.
George Gibson & the Secession Study of 1994
In the early 1990s a former Harvard Business School professor named George Gibson retired and moved to Cotuit. He involved himself in village affairs, attending the Fire District’s meetings, and asking questions about the village’s relationship with the Town of Barnstable, or more accurately: the lack of one. In a letter April 4, 1993 letter to The Register newspaper he expressed his thoughts about Cotuit’s potential secession:
“For some time, an increasing number of Cotuit’s residents have been speculating about the feasibility of Village incorporation. As a member of that group I have been informally investigating the various “pros and cons” of such a possibility. Incidentally, this is the not the first time Cotuit’s residents have harbored such thoughts. In the late 19th century this Village and two others joined in an attempt to promulgate such action. The proposal failed to carry by a relatively small number of votes.
“So far as any displeasure with Barnstable Town government is concerned, such feeling relates primarily to the former’s apparent lack of concern, unwillingness or inability to deal with the increasing needs of Cotuit. For example, “…Let me count the ways!” We would like: to have our Village pier repaired before it falls into the water; to have some control exerted over the 260 dories (the majority of which belonged to outsiders) stacked up around or moored to it during last year’s boating season; to recover our beaches from the Tourists and outsiders who take over during Summer and Fall; to be able to find a parking space in front of said beaches and pier during the same time period.
“Furthermore, we would appreciate: receiving the same quality and amount of police protection and DPW services as are accorded Hyannis; having our harbor entrance and the Cotuit side of Shoe String Bay dredged before they become completely unusable; the installation of appropriate stop lights on Route 28 so that we can have at least a fighting chance of penetrating the ever increasing volume of traffic which results each season from tourists flocking in to patronize Hyannis merchants and business establishments; and the absence of any attempt to pressure us to join the Cotuit Fire and Water Districts, which are already among the very best on the Cape, with those of Hyannis (as noted in the Hyannis Vision Plan), There are other issues but the aforesaid will serve as a starting point.”
Forming a new town in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is not a trivial affair. The last time it was done on Cape Cod was in the 1870s when Sandwich carved off “South Sandwich” and the town of Bourne was created. The last time any new town was created in the state was in the 1920s when Brookfield was incorporated. Still, the possibility to create a “Town of Cotuit” is possible, but hard. There are several towns in the state that have smaller populations. But the process would require a lot of study and lot of machinations between Cotuit, the Town of Barnstable, and the State Legislature.
Evidently there was so much rebellion in the Cotuit Water Department’s water supply in the mid-1990s that the Cotuit Santuit Civic Association’s board of directors decided to appoint a committee to look into the issue of secession. Then-town councilor Jaci Barton told The Register, “It deserves a hard look.” George Gibson was appointed chairman of the nine-person committee and the first meeting was convened at the Cotuit Library on November 7, 1994.
The Register, October 27, 1994, p. 47
Gibson, in an interview with the Barnstable Patriot explained how the “Town” of Cotuit might work. He:
“….suggested that Cotuit has the tax base to support itself in whatever endeavors it wishes to pursue. Roadwork could be contracted. Children could attend the elementary school and then tuition could be paid for them to attend Barnstable or other schools for secondary education. Police duty could be handled with a volunteer or part-time force. There is already a fire department. These were just some of the functions Cotuit could do for itself, according to Gibson.” Barnstable Patriot, July 15, 1993
A week later, the Patriot’s editor Ed Semprini, savaged the notion that little Cotuit could ever stand on its own. After dismissing the idea as mere “idle drug store, post office and street talk,” Semprini suggested the “Town of Cotuit” could invite Wal-Mart to build a store on Putnam Avenue, bulldoze Lowell Park for a village landfill, and erect the “Golden Arches” at Oregon or Ropes Beach.
“Heat and humidity can exact weird ideas from sufferers, such as endorsing the idea of Cotuit going it alone and exposing the village to nothing more than media attention and ridicule. Certainly, there are good people of the Kettle and Ho! Village who can remember the field days enjoyed by the media when would-be secessionists from Martha’s Vineyard marched on the State House seeking to pull away from the commonwealth. Cotuit, the sparkling gem of all the town’s villages secede? C’mon CSCA, get out of the hot sun.”
The first meeting of the “secession committee” attracted about 40 residents. Most of the discussion was about the committee’s purpose and goals, and a request was drafted for the town to supply a list of all town-owned assets such as the school, roads, dock, park, and other facilities so a price could be set to determine how much capital would be needed to purchase them. Gibson told the first meeting of the committee that incorporating Cotuit as a town was conceivable given that Wellfleet had, at the time, 200 fewer residents. According to coverage by David Still in the Barnstable Patriot, the “main issue is equity of services for the tax premiums paid and attention from town hall, which many in Cotuit believe in lacking.” At the first meeting, officials from the Fire District and various committees of the Civic Association presented a “report on Cotuit.”
The members of the first “Incorporation Committee” were: Ruthann Grover, Herb Anderton, George Balch, Jack Billing, Ron Mycock, H.M. “Bud” Turner, Roy Simpson, and Tom Carver.
The Legal Process
Carving a new town out of an existing one is possible in the commonwealth, but not easy. The village would first need to file a Home Rule petition with the Legislature with the endorsement of the Barnstable Town Council. The Town of Barnstable’s attorney in the mid-1990s, Robert Smith, told The Register, “If they want to petition the Legislature and submit it to the town council, the town council will probably approve it if it is so inclined.”
He warned that before doing so, the village would need to be fully prepared to sustain all the facets of a town government including: planning, police, fire, public works, schools, and other services a town typically provides its residents. Smith said Cotuit would have to demonstrate to the Legislature that it was “capable of captaining its own helm” but because it already had experience in governing the Fire District, it could conceivably do so.
Incorporation versus Secession
Following the first meeting of the Civic Association’s “Secession Committee,” the group decided to rename itself the “Cotuit Study Group on Incorporation” after some residents attending that inaugural meeting expressed their concerns that “secession” was a little bit too controversial a term, conjuring up images of Fort Sumter and the Confederacy. Cotuit resident and former Barnstable Selectman, Town Manager, and State Representative John Klimm told the Barnstable Patriot: “Let me emphasize. My position is that the onus is on the group to prove it is advantageous to secede. They haven’t done that yet. They will have to build a strong case.”
Klimm added, “Right now this is only a concept. I would have to say just about the same thing I am hearing from village residents. My sense is that the majority is awaiting some type of documentation … to be shown that those who are calling for secession can present an analysis outlining all the benefits to be delivered.”
Incorporation fades away
Apparently the work of the Civic Association Incorporation Committee failed to capture enough support within the village to advance beyond some discussion and cursory study of the process. The initiative more likely faded away when George Gibson passed away in June 1996. David Still wrote of Gibson’s impact in the Barnstable Patriot:
“Perhaps his legacy to Cotuit’s already rich history is the idea of secession. On more than one occasion George raised the idea with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Three years ago, when Cotuit’s residents were suffering what they saw as continued neglect in terms of town resources dedicated to the village, the secessionist movement actually gained moderate credibility. Although not widely supported, it allowed villagers to vent and “put the town on notice” that they were unhappy.”
Live Free or Consolidate
It wasn’t after the Second Secession Movement faded away before the village became alarmed by talk of “consolidation” – that omnipresent suggestion that the town should absorb the old Fire Districts and consolidate them under the management of a single town-managed fire and water department in the interest of economy of scale and consistency. In 1998, alarmed by Town Attorney Robert Smith’s assertion that under home rule, the town could — by an act of the town council — abolish and absorb the five village districts; a citizen group calling themselves the “Cotuit 2000 Committee” lobbied the voters of the Cotuit Fire District to appropriate $50,000 for the commission of a professional governance study of the village.
Born in the aftermath of the secession movement, the calls for consolidation alarmed some in Cotuit. A village vote or survey on whether or not to consider consolidation ended up with a resounding 677 opposed versus a mere 18 in favor. As one wise attorney and former judge told me at the time, preserving the Fire District preserves the best option the village has to secede and that without that legal designation as a quasi-municipality, the village would become little more than another voting precinct within a town becoming more focused on the more represented population centers of Centerville and Hyannis.
At the 1998 annual Fire District meeting, the “Cotuit 21st Century Committee” placed an article on the warrant to spend up to $50,000 of the fire district taxpayer’s dollars on a professional study of village governance. Former Fire Commissioner and 21st Century Committee member Ron Mycock said the concept was well received at a March 1998 meeting of the Civic Association, and told the Barnstable Patriot, “I think we’re doing this professionally, not in a rabble rousing way. We’re going into this with no preconceived notions.”
The Patriot wrote that “What the 21st Century Committee is proposing is not in reaction to inattention, though that remains an issue, but out of the reality that something regarding fire district consolidation is likely to happen in the future.”
The group that comprised the 21st Century Committee raised some funds from private sources and proceeded to hire a consultant to conduct the study, which according to Mycock, “would look at much more than just fire district issues. The district voters approved the $50,000 anyway.
The Governance Study
In the fall of 1999 the consultant’s report was delivered to the Cotuit Fire District. Stewart Goodwin, a member of the 21st Century Committee and an elected Fire Commissioner, said: “The ground between consolidation and secession is the grey middle ground in which we will be playing for some time to come.”
According to the Barnstable Patriot, the study committee met 30 times over 12 months to draft and rework the information and conclusions of the report which was presented to the district’s Prudential Committee in September 1999. The 199-page report was researched and compiled by Financial Advisory Associates of Bourne and its principal Michael Daley of Marstons Mills.
The recommendations of the report emphasized the need to modernize the way the district was run, from converting the district’s bylaws into a digital file to more long-term planning of water and fire services. The report said, “A management modernization initiative would greatly benefit the Cotuit Fire District and should commence. The officers of the district should jointly develop and implement a multi-year management improvement master plan.”
Daley, the author of the report, told the Patriot: “This is close to being a $2 million business, and there’s a need to do things better.”
From the 1999 Fire District Study
The creation of the report underscored a long-standing conundrum: What, exactly, is Cotuit? Although the Fire District’s boundaries are fairly specific, the town’s census data is based on voting precincts which overlap with adjacent villages. The village zip code of 02635 is based on different data from the federal census. Daley, the consultant, was able to merge a number of different data sources to develop an accurate estimate of Cotuit’s population, school aged children, number of bedrooms, etc.. The report also produced an easy way to tell if you’re in Cotuit or not: “The color of hydrants will change from orange to red or blue as you leave the Cotuit Fire District and enter the town of Mashpee. The red hydrants are owned by Willow Bend Development. The blue hydrants belong to the Mashpee Water District.”
The most stunning conclusion of the report confirmed what many secessionists and critics of the Town of Barnstable had maintained for years: Cotuit pays more in taxes than in receives in services. The study stated: “The gross allocation of spending by the town within the Cotuit Fire District correlates unfavorably with the gross level of town revenues allocable within the district…” this “….further supports the theory that residents within the district experience an economic imbalance between the level of allocated town revenues generated and the allocated costs of town services provided.”
“We found validity to the Cotuit Fire District’s initial theory that there is a disproportionate level of taxation allocated by the Town across the various fire districts. While not intentional, taxpayers in the Cotuit Fire District are required to provide more tax dollars to Barnstable than any other district on a per capita and per parcel basis.”
The study also examined the legal issues raised by the former town attorney’s assertion that the town council, via the state’s Home Rule laws, could merge and consolidate the fire districts within the town’s borders. This point was disputed by the Fire Districts, who argued because they were formed by a vote of the legislature, only an act passed by the legislature could disband them. The study concluded both points of view were correct … to a point. The consolidation process could be initiated by a citizens’ petition, the town council, the Fire District Prudential Committee, or by a two-thirds votes of the House or Senate.
“Though such a merger is legally possible upon the petition of only one of the two entities [the Fire District or the town], a final approval of merger by the General Court would not likely be possible without the consent of the voters of both governmental entities.”
At the turn of the century things seemed to calm down in Cotuit. The town began to pay more attention to the village (and filled its harbor with a lot more moorings), flowers were planted in Memorial Park, and the town manager and various town department heads went on an annual tour of the village with the civic association to fill pot holes, put up more street signs, build four-way intersections, speed humps, enforce dinghy regulations, and a host of other so-called “improvements” that took a bit of Cotuit heat off of the town’s neck.
Paul Gavin, writing in a 2003 review of Images of America: Cotuit and Santuit by former town councilor Jessica Rapp Grassetti and the late James Gould, said:
“Cotuit’s sanctum sanctorum has morphed into a relatively tranquil bedroom community unto itself — so much so that it appears stand-offish, a perceived characteristic fortified by sporadic but spirited attempts to secede from the town.”
Sporadic until 2009 when the town, reeling from the financial impacts of the 2008 recession, decided to close the Cotuit Elementary School.
The Cape Cod Times, in a story by Jake Berry published on February 11, 2009, wrote:
“On the sleepy streets of Cotuit, it’s hard to tell a revolution is brewing. There are no signs, no unruly mobs, and no secret meetings in the back rooms of the Kettle-Ho, the village’s famed watering hole. But somewhere around the village, which borders Mashpee at the southwest end of Barnstable, some residents are calling for a fight for independence. In the wake of the Barnstable School Committee’s decision to close Marstons Mills-Cotuit Elementary School, some Cotuit residents have started calling for the village to secede from Barnstable and create its own municipality.”
Here we go again
The Times quoted Stewart Goodwin, then the president of the Cotuit Santuit Civic Association: “I think that got some people’s blood boiling again. I’ve received a few phone calls about (seceding). But it’s a very small group… I don’t think anything substantial will come of it.”
Meanwhile, over in Osterville, Frederick Wrightson penned a letter in 2021 to the Barnstable Patriot, entitled “Barnstable has left us”:
“….a surprising number of people have asked me what I think about going our separate ways. If my village of Osterville ever seceded from Barnstable, it would be a small town, but not ridiculously so. There would be 81 smaller towns in Massachusetts….As I understand it, Osterville village contributes approximately half of Barnstable’s tax base. Yet our voice on the Town Council is one of 13, or about 8%. It does make one think. Of course, secession is arduous and requires process, including at the Massachusetts Legislation. But people are now talking about options and my village isn’t alone …. The fact is, every village here – Barnstable, Centerville, Cotuit, Hyannis, Marstons Mills, Osterville and West Barnstable — could secede, and none would make the list of the smallest towns in America. Who knows, perhaps we’d join forces and support one another in new ways. In short, we’d all be fine. And undoubtedly, much better served.”
The former president of the Cotuit Santuit Civic Association and Fire District Fire Commissioner, Stewart Goodwin, wrote in his 1995 book, A Resurrection of the Republican Ideal,” that the Cotuit Fire District was “an almost perfect example of a small republic.”
“The Cotuit Fire District isn’t perfect. It can only be as good as its involved residents and elected officials. Most importantly, though, it provides the opportunity for full citizen control of government. In sum, its virtues and drawbacks are those of the conceptual republican democracy. The output depends upon the efforts of citizen residents. That’s all a belief in our system can ask.”
George Michelsen Foy is a friend and near neighbor who is one of the best novelists I’ve read when it comes to portraying life on Cape Cod. I’m a fan of his maritime writing, especially his novel Mettle, and his nonfiction writing about the sea such as Run the Storm (about the El Faro disaster) and Finding North. His latest novel is The Winterpoor (2025, Sea Crow Press). It’s a timely, sad, and compelling elegy to those Cape Codders who live on the margins of the mansions and the resorts; the homeless, the poor, and the lost souls pulled down by the peninsula’s rush to the bottom as developers, realtors, planners, and politicians line their pockets and milk the place to death.
The book is a delight for anyone who grew up in Barnstable, affectionately name checking local characters and places with a true inside eye. The story stars a moonshine distilling artist, a Big Lebowski hero named Murdo Cahoon Peters with deep roots in the town, on a quest to restore the houseboat barge of a forgotten artist, to end a dead marriage, save a raccoon, and befriend a lost boy falling through the cracks.
The chapters are interspersed with poetic digressions into the death of a salt pond and the seasonal cycle of migration and spawning of flounders, eels, fiddler crabs, and Arctic Terns. Foy laments the Rape of the Cape without belaboring the obvious and lets the corrupt machinations of the Real Estate Lobby and the bumbling management of the town — especially the village of Hyannis — speak for itself.
The Winterpoor brought back memories of John Casey’s 1989 National Book Award winning novel Spartina, and then exceeded it. Reading it from cover to cover on the last day of summer made me shudder at the coming cold, and grateful to live in a place as beautiful and fragile as I do.
The Winterpoor can be purchased direct from the publisher, Sea Crow Press or Amazon. George signed copies last Friday, (9/19/25) at Titcomb’s Bookshop, 432 Route 6A in Sandwich, MA.
On October 11, 1858 two American whaling ships — the Phoenix of Nantucket and the Ocean Wave of New Bedford — came to anchor a mile west of Elbow Island (Ostrov Medvezhiy – Bear Island) a few miles off of the northernmost mainland of Manchurian China. They were sailing together, preparing to leave the Shantar Islands in the Sea of Okhotsk after a summer whaling around the Shantars for bowhead whales.
The Shantars have some of the world’s most extreme tides — with one high and one low tide every day rising as high as 46 feet or 14 meters. These tides produce raging currents between the islands in the archipelago, creating whirlpools and tidal rips that make navigation very dangerous.
This photo taken by NASA in 2021 is a beautiful shot of the archipelago and includes Elbow Island, where the Phoenix went ashore in a surprise blizzard that blew in from the northwest across the Gulf of Uda; and the Pinnacle Rocks, where the Ocean Wave was destroyed while trying to flee the blizzard in a desperate attempt to find shelter at Feklistova Island.
Wreckage from the Ocean Wave was found the following summer, in 1859 when the whaling fleet returned. All were lost. The crew of the Phoenix went ashore on Elbow Island, built a cabin, and half the crew was led to the mainland by the ship’s captain, Bethuel Gifford Handy of Cotuitport, while the other half wintered on the island. The following summer every man was rescued and taken aboard ships in the returning fleet.
The NASA website explains the tidal vortices and the factors that produced them.
As the strong tides and currents flow through straits in the Shantar Islands, they encounter rocky outcrops, headlands, capes, and small islands that disrupt the laminar flow. This can create chains of spiral eddies that rotate in alternate directions as they form. These chains are known as vortex streets or von Kármán vortices.
More about the story of the wrecks of the Phoenix and the Ocean Wave will be forthcoming in my new book: The Marginal Sea: Shipwreck and Survival on Siberia’s Sea of Okhotsk. My agent, John Rudolph at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret will be shopping the book for publication this fall. For a copy of the proposal contact Mattie Townson at mtownson@dystel.com.
My agent John Rudolph and I have been polishing the publishing proposal for The Marginal Sea, my book about the wreck of the Phoenix in 1858. Earlier this month the agency — Dystel, Goderich & Bourret included the book in its quarterly newsletter of new books it will be bringing to market. Here’s hoping it finds a publisher.
Photo by The Register, 12/86 In December 1986 the Cotuit Inn was demolished to make way for ten new condominiums. The building came down despite the best efforts of a group of villagers who banded together as the Cotuit Inn Appeal Group who hired a lawyer to challenge the Zoning Board of Appeals’ approval of … Continue reading “The Struggle for Historic Districts in Cotuit: Lessons Learned”
Photo by The Register, 12/86
In December 1986 the Cotuit Inn was demolished to make way for ten new condominiums. The building came down despite the best efforts of a group of villagers who banded together as the Cotuit Inn Appeal Group who hired a lawyer to challenge the Zoning Board of Appeals’ approval of the project. Ultimately the permit to convert the 150-year old inn into residential apartments was upheld by Barnstable Superior Court and finally, by the state Appeals Court. When the building was found to be in disrepair with no viable foundation, the demolition was approved.
That battle to save the old inn kicked off a movement in the village to preserve Cotuit’s remaining open space and historical character. It was a movement of both conservation and preservation that sparked the founding of the Barnstable Land Trust, and the saving of Crocker Neck and Bell Farm. It also inspired the political activism of several villagers, four of whom went on to represent Cotuit on the newly formed town council. It also sparked an effort in 1987 by local historians to inventory Cotuit’s historic homes and place them on the National Register of Historic Places.
The threatened loss of the inn also revived the moribund Cotuit-Santuit Civic Association.
In April 1985, the Barnstable board of selectmen appointed seven members to a Cotuit-Santuit historic study committee. In all probability that study committee was the basis of the 1987 inventory of the village’s historic homes that led to their inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. The members were:
Paul Noonan, chairman
Paul Grover, representing the Cape Cod Board of Realtors
Harriet Ropes Cabot. a professional architectural historian
Frederic Claussen, Barnstable County Registrar of Deeds
Anne Lloyd,
Beatrice K. Williams, president of the Historical Society of Santuit and Cotuit
Henry Walcott, former president of the HSSC
John Klimm was the board of selectmen’s representative to the committee.
In July of 1986, the Barnstable Patriot reported the board of selectmen had “renamed…members of the Cotuit Historic District study committee.” The outcome of that committee’s work is unclear. It was the first of many historic study committees to take a swing at persuading the village of the benefits of a Local Historic District.
1991
The purpose and fate of the 1986 group is unknown but in July of 1991 the town council approved the formation of a new Cotuit local historic study committee:
The Register, August 1, 1991 p. 9
1992
Less than a year later in March, 1992, at a public meeting convened at Freedom Hall, the study group, chaired by Edson Scudder, went down in flames when “A straw vote held at the end of the evening to give an indication to the amount of support, or lack of, gained all but a few opposed and no more than five registering in favor.”
Carol Lyall, a member of the study committee said, “If it’s going to create divisiveness in the community, it’s not going to go much further … the study committee isn’t interested in fighting it out.”
The Patriot wrote that the formation of the study group was “based on a positive response to a 1988 survey indicating a desire for the formation of a historic district.” Later the paper would report the initiative failed because “no guidelines were prepared and people had no idea what was being considered.
The village’s two town councilors — Jaci Barton and Paul Noonan — were split on the idea (Barton for/Noonan opposed), leading the Patriot to write: “With the two from Cotuit cancelling each other out, the decision would be left to other councilors not associated with the village.”
1993-1996: The study group regroups
After quickly going down in flames in 1992, the historic district study group added new members, “two of whom had been very opposed to the initial presentation.” In 1993 the revived study group convened a similar public meeting, one that “met with a much more favorable response…..paving the way for the study committee to draft up formal guidelines for a district” (BP 1996.08.01).
In 1995, the study committee seemed to be making progress. The Patriot’s David Still II wrote on January 19, 1995: “In stark contrast to the overwhelming opposition voice to the idea three years ago, the give and take at the Santuit/Cotuit Civic Association on a proposed historic district for that village raised concerns that the study committee had not gone far enough.”
“The plan discussed Tuesday night focused on the village center and left untouched the Route 28 corridor, which many in attendance at Freedom Hall considered a major oversight.”
Around this time I was named to the study group, invited to join by Jim Gould.
In 1996 the study committee held two public meetings. Committee member Carol Lyall told the Patriot, “that there were three general attitudes toward the district: those who want it, those who agree with the concept but have concerns about the details, and those against it.”
The committee created some literature about the proposal, trying to head off some of the most hot-headed opponents by saying a district would increase property values, decrease the involvement of the Cape Cod Commission on historic issues, and place control of the village in the hands of the villagers.
Because one opponent had stood up at a public meeting and defiantly proclaimed he’d paint his house pink just to exercise his First Amendment right to free expression, the committee’s literature stated:
Our concern isn’t if a house is painted pink or where the tulips are planted, but what happens to a house when it changes hands. For that’s when houses get torn down.”
Then your’s truly gets quoted by the newspaper talking out of both sides of my mouth:
Committee member David Churbuck, who was opposed to the historic district concept back in 1993, said that the issue of houses being torn down seems to be one of the major issues. On whether or not a historic district comes to pass in Cotuit, Churbuck says he remains ambivalent, but he is reserving judgement on the proposed guidelines until he has more of an opportunity to discuss them with his fellow committee members.
Barnstable Patriot, August 1, 1996, page 8
A week after that story was published — in the August 8, 1996 edition of the Patriot — came the news that the study committee had pulled the plug on the idea and was disbanding.
Barnstable Patriot, August 8, 1996
The Aftermath
With no Local Historic District, the village has depended on the Town of Barnstable Historical Commission and the Cape Cod Commission to preserve the village’s historic homes. The results have been mixed.
Cotuit Parsonage
In 2005 the Cape Cod Commission approved the demolition of the first Cotuit Parsonage, built in the early 1800s (located across the street from the Historical Society of Santuit and Cotuit at 1151 Main Street), after the Souza family made the case for a hardship exemption to demolish the structure due to the deleterious impact of moisture trapped by vinyl siding. Both the town and the CCC approved the request with the request that the new building conform to mid-19th century architectural styles.
Hezekiah Coleman House
In 2006, the Hezekiah Coleman House at 756 Main Street (across from the east end of Coolidge Lane), was declared a “development of regional impact” by the Cape Cod Commission. The original building was mostly demolished. The CCC’s decision is worth reading to gain a sense of what factors the Commission takes into account when handling a demolition or major renovation of a building listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Located at 35 Little River Road, this classic example of a Cape was slated to be demolished in 2009, but after a six-month demolition delay was imposed by the Barnstable Historic Commission, the house was saved by the new owners.
Bonnie Haven
In 2012, the new owners of “Bonnie Haven” applied for a permit to demolish the former home of whaling Captain Seth Nickerson. Jr., preferring to build a contemporary home overlooking Nantucket Sound.
“BONNIE HAVEN Barnstable Historical Commission has received an application to demolish a Cotuit landmark known as Bonnie Haven, one of the last surviving homes of Cotuit whaling captains. Bonnie Haven is on lower Main Street below Loop Beach, overlooking Nantucket Sound. It was built in 1837, probably by the village housewright Quaker Samuel Dottridge, whose home houses the Historical Society of Santuit and Cotuit. At the core, Bonnie Haven is a classic Cape Cod cottage, which was expanded to accommodate the growing family. The well-preserved house is an excellent survival of vernacular architecture of the early nineteenth century.”
It appears the buyer of the property reconsidered demolition in the face of village opposition and went before the Historical Commission with a plan to move the old building elsewhere on the property.
The caption of a August, 3, 2012 Barnstable Patriot photo of then-chairperson Jessica Rapp-Grassetti holding a photo of the building reads :
The buyer in a purchase and sales agreement sought a certificate from the commission to demolish the house, but returned to the board on July 30 with a plan to save a major portion and relocate it on the same site, where it would be more visible from the road, and use it as a guest house. The buyer plans to build a new house on the original site, and the separation of the longstanding home from its original location saddened some members. Others appeared to consider it an acceptable compromise.
The future
I doubt Cotuit can ever enact a local historic district, even one crafted with the most lenient bylaws and standards. Every time the village gets up in arms over a tragedy like the Cotuit Inn, Bonnie Haven, or some other venerable home overlooking the water, the same question gets asked: “Isn’t there anything we can do?”
A lot of people have tried to do something and weren’t capable of enacting a local historic district. That’s not say the village is powerless. When neighbors fought the Harborview Club pier in the 1960s, they succeeded in having the 150-foot pier demolished. A few years later, when the village fought the Sobin pier, it failed and the pier was built. After that fiasco, the late Rick Barry — Cotuit’s former town councilor — battled the pro-development/real estate lobby and was able to impose a dock-moratorium (zoning overlay) over much of Cotuit’s shoreline. That didn’t stop a waterfront property owner from trying to build a new one, but that effort was blocked.
The demolition of the Cotuit Inn was the match that ignited a wave of pro-preservation/pro-open space conservation in the village. The good that came out of that tragedy in the mid-1980s was that it did a huge amount to preserve Cotuit and led to the formation of the Barnstable Land Trust, the saving of Crocker Neck, and revival of the civic association.
So why did the historic district study committees fail over the past 40 years? I think several factors doomed the efforts. None of which are unique to Cotuit because remember, Centerville also tried to enact a local historic district in the 1990s and the study group also backed off in the face of opposition. In its place Centerville persuaded Cape Cod Commission to declare the village a District of Critical Planning Concern (DCPC) and slapped a total moratorium of new development.
Local historic districts have a bad reputation as a bureaucracy of picky neighbors empowered to judge paint color, lighting fixtures, and landscaping. They can turn into imperious fiefdoms. On the positive side they are very effective in preserving historical culture and put prospective buyers on notice that they will have a fight on their hands if they decide they’d like a skylight on their roof.
The 80/20 rule. I would estimate 70 to 80% of the people in Cotuit who would be affected by a historic district — those of us who actually live in old houses — would be in favor of some bylaw that would deter new arrivals from tearing down antiques to they can build something better suited to New Seabury or the Hamptons. The killers of the concept are the vocal 20 percent who oppose any new government regulation as a violation of their god-granted libertarian rights to do whatever they want. Cotuit is too nice. In the mid-90s we could have restricted public comment to only those people affected by the proposed district, but instead we were inclusive and tried to achieve a village-wide consensus that was impossible to reach.
The power of a Real Estate Economy. The Cape’s year-round economy is dominated by the building trades and a broad web of realtors, attorneys, architects, engineering firms, banks, lumberyards, surveyors, house cleaners, landscapers, septic installers — all who need to make a living in a saturated market. Ever wonder why a dozen landscaping trucks are parked on the village sidewalks every Friday afternoon making you slalom around them praying you don’t take out a dog walker or a kid on a bike? If there are no new houses to build, then you put down your hammer and pick up a leaf blower. If you can’t build on open land, then tear down an existing home and build a new one.
Growth is Good and infinite. The town is a business that benefits from rising property values, transaction fees, and the cascade of cash from beach stickers, dump stickers, dinghy stickers, mooring stickers that help the town avoid Proposition 2 1/2 overrides…… Realtors want inventory. Now that the Rape the Cape era of subdivisions is finished, we’ve entered the Teardown Era as the affluent are priced out of Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, the Hamptons and have come to Cotuit looking for a waterview where they can build a trophy temple to their success. Now that the era of quarter-acre subdivisions is over, expect the town to bless more and more four-story grey apartment/condos. Town leadership has a tradition of selling its soul for revenue. The notion that we’ve reached capacity offends them.
All things must pass. Not to be a nihilist, but very few houses last forever, and of those that do, who would want to live in one? Ever visit the Hoxie House in Sandwich (c. 1675) or tour the Richard Sparrow House in Plymouth? (1640) and think “Wow, what an awesome pad! I wish I lived here”? I live in a house that is nearly two centuries old and it looks nothing like it did in 1830. It’s been added on and modified to the point where the original house is almost completely concealed by dormers, wings, bay windows, outdoor showers, decks, and old boat sheds and sail lofts. Owning it is an honor because my family has owned it since 1860 and I’ll don’t want to be the guy who sells it or tears it down. I’m a caretaker more than an owner. The floors creak, the roof leaks, but it’s my heritage and I’m proud of it. I would never presume a new arrival in the village to move into a house of similar vintage to have the same irrational reverence for the past that I do. Central air and new appliances, like modern dentistry, are good things.
In closing, change is constant and inevitable. We’re a village filled with old houses that were dismantled in Nantucket and reassembled here. The norm in Cape Cod architecture is to keep adding on and on. Cotuit hasn’t changed as much as most of the Cape, but change it will.
Sometimes change is for the good, sometimes not. If you want to save something, then say something. Be vigilant and be paranoid. Read the public meeting notices, show up at meetings, send letters, tell other people …. but whatever you do, don’t wring your hands for the good old days and expect a return to the past. Throw your hat in the ring and get appointed to a town committee. Let the politicians and committee members know your feelings. And every time a house changes hands in the old part of the village, assume the new owner bought it expecting to move it or tear it down. You won’t be surprised when they do.
The proposal to move the Ebenezer Crocker house at 49 Putnam Avenue to a new location has revived questions about what can be done to preserve the unique historical character of Cotuit and what regulations are now in place to protect the village’s old homes.
Here’s the bottom line:
The National Register of Historic Places (49 Putnam Avenue is on the register) is mainly a honorary designation and generally applies protection when federal funds, licenses, or permits are involved. None of those conditions apply to 49 Putnam.
If a building permit is requested from the town of Barnstable to demolish, move, or renovate a structure 75 years or older, it automatically gets referred to the town’s seven-member Historical Commission which can order an 18-month “demolition delay” during which time a way might be sought to save a threatened structure either by persuading the owner not to proceed, or to move the structure to a new location.
If a project involves the demolition or substantial alteration of a building listed on the National Register, then it must be referred to the Cape Cod Commission as a candidate to be reviewed and designated a “Development of Regional Impact” (DRI). The project is reviewed in light of the Regional Policy Plan, which sets out the standards for protecting historic buildings, landscapes, and archaeological resources. The Cape Cod Commission has the authority to block or modify the demolition or alteration of historic structures.
The strongest level of protection to preserve old houses is a Local Historic District (not to be confused with the Cotuit Historic District listed on the National Register). These are districts established under Chapter 40C of the state’s housing laws, with their own regulations and review board. They are unpopular due to their reputation of being overly strict and fussy. Cotuit attempted to create such a district in the mid 1990s but neighborhood opposition killed the plan. The Old King’s Highway District that covers Route 6A from Sandwich to Brewster, is an example of a Local Historic District. Nantucket, Beacon Hill, Concord …. are some other notable examples. There are more than 200 local historic districts across the state. If Cotuit had enacted such a district, then the 49 Putnam Avenue proposal could be denied without the involvement of the town Historical Commission or the Cape Cod Commission.
The National Register of Historic Places
First, a little history lesson into historical preservation. The Federal Historic Preservation act of 1966 was enacted when urban renewal and other federally funded projects were erasing important historic landmarks. A great example of why the act was passed was the extension of Route 18 in New Bedford in 1963 which obliterated much of that city’s historic waterfront. The Preservation Act established the National Register of Historic Places, the official federal list of “sites, buildings, structures, districts, and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or great artistic value.”
There are over 1.5 million properties on the National Register. Of those, 95,000 are listed individually and the rest are contributing resources within historic districts. The National Park Service administers the register. Inclusion on the register does not guarantee protection as it places few if any restrictions on what a private property owner can do with their property, up to and including demolition.
The Massachusetts Secretary of State oversees the Massachusetts Historic Commission (MHC) which inventories historic properties within the Commonwealth and acts as the state-wide arm of the National Park Service. The MHC reviews properties submitted for inclusion on the National Register. Submissions follow an inventory format that are created by local historic commissions, historical societies, and volunteers.
Cotuit was the subject of such an intensive inventory effort in the 1980s led by the late Professor James Gould, the Town of Barnstable Historical Commission, and several volunteers who catalogued over 100 properties. That led to the creation of the Santuit and Cotuit Historic Districts, both of which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
As of now, the following houses/properties in Cotuit and Santuit are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Keep in mind there are two “historic districts” — Santuit and Cotuit — that encompass a large number of historic homes. Santuit encompasses eight homes along Route 28 in the original colonial settlement; the Cotuit district includes 107 buildings, “and encompasses the areas historically known as Cotuit Port and Cotuit Highground. Boundaries were selected to encompass the areas of densest 19th century development, when this part of Cotuit assumed the leading village role from the inland area of Santuit.”
The listing for the Santuit Historic District states: “The boundaries for the Santuit Historic District include 8 buildings, 2 of which are modern and non-contributing. The boundaries were selected to encompass the remaining dwellings of the important Santuit family, the Crockers.”
Cotuit’s seven stand-alone listings on the National Register are structures that fall outside of the two districts.
Cotuit Historic District, defined as “Main St., Lowell & Ocean View Aves. bounded by Osterville Harbor, Nantucket Sound, & Popponessett Bay”
The Town of Barnstable Historical Commission is a seven member board (one alternate) appointed by the Town Council. Its powers are defined by Section 241-22 of the town bylaws. Any application to demolish, modify, or renovate a historic structure (older than 75 years) is submitted by the building department to the BHC who convenes a public hearing to either grant or delay the proposed changes.
“The Historical Commission surveys and compiles a listing of all historical sites and buildings within the Town, public and private; determines the functions and structures of all historical organizations within the Town; and holds correlative seminars with historical organizations. It further determines the requirements for repair, reconstruction, and protection of historical landmarks and assists and cooperates with public commissions in the conduct of public historical events. The Historical Commission is an advisory committee of the Town.”
The town bylaws governing “Protection of Historic Properties” (Section 112) states “This article is enacted to promote the public welfare and safeguard the Town’s historical, cultural and architectural heritage by protecting historical resources that make the Town a more interesting, attractive and desirable place in which to live. This article aims to protect and preserve historic properties within the Town by encouraging their owners to seek alternatives to their demolition and by providing the Town an opportunity to work with owners of historic properties in identifying alternatives to their demolition.”
The Town Historical Commission defines a “significant building” as:
Any building or portion thereof, which is not within a regional historic district or a local historic district subject to regulation under provisions MGL c. 40C but which has been listed or is the subject of a pending application for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, or has been listed on the Massachusetts Register of Historic Places, or is over 75 years of age and which is determined by the Commission to be a significant building as provided by § 112-3D of this article, either because:
A. It is importantly associated with one or more historic persons or events, or with the broad architectural, cultural, political, economic or social history of the Town or the Commonwealth; or
B. It is historically or architecturally important (in terms of period, style, method of building construction, or association with a famous architect or builder) either by itself or in the context of a group of buildings.
The by-law goes on to state that if the Historical Commission determines an applicant’s notice of intent to demolish a significant building “would be detrimental to the historical, cultural or architectural heritage or resources of the Town, such building shall be considered a preferably preserved significant building” then:
Upon a determination by the Commission that the significant building, which is the subject of the application for a demolition permit, is a preferably preserved significant building, the Commission shall notify the applicant, the Building Commissioner, and the Town Clerk, and no demolition permit may be issued until 18 months after the date of such determination by the Commission is filed with the Town Clerk.
The Cape Cod Commission
The Cape Cod Commission has a mandatory “development of regional impact” (DRI) review for any proposed demolition or “substantial alteration” of a building listed in the National Register of Historic Places or the State Register of Historic Places. 49 Putnam Avenue qualifies for mandatory Commission review.
Referral to Cape Cod Commission, if necessary:
In cases where the Historical Commission finds a proposed project constitutes a “substantial alteration,” or when full demolition of an historic building is proposed, the building inspector/commissioner or other appropriate municipal agency (including the select board/town council) shall refer the project to the Cape Cod Commission for mandatory DRI review. In these cases, the DRI review will be limited to issues related to the “cultural heritage” goal of the Regional Policy Plan (RPP).
The Cape Cod Commission, once it takes over the review of the proposal from the town Historical Commission, can designate it a development of regional impact. The Commission’s enabling legislation grants it the following powers over a DRI:
The commission may approve, approve with conditions, or disapprove the development of regional impact. If the commission disapproves the development of regional impact no further work may be done on the development. A development of regional impact which has been approved, or approved with conditions shall be valid and effective, and municipal development permits may be issued pursuant thereto for seven years following the date of the written determination.
What’s next?
On August 19 the Town of Barnstable Historic Commission voted unanimously to impose an 18-month demolition delay on 49 Putnam Ave.
Chairman Robert Frazee noted in his time serving on the commission he could think of no project which received as many letters of opposition as 49 Putnam (39) with no indications of support.
After hearing from the applicant’s architects and taking testimony from more than a dozen concerned Cotusions, the commission voted to impose the 18-month delay and refer to the application to the Cape Cod Commission for its review as a possible Development of Regional Impact (DRI) .
The criteria for referring a project for DRI review varies, but the CCC’s regulations specifically call out as mandatory “any proposed demolition of substantial alteration of an historic structure listed with the National Register of Historic Places or the Massachusetts Register of Historic Places, outside a municipal historical district or outside the Old Kings Highway Historic District.”
Because 49 Putnam meets that criteria, the Barnstable Historic Commission was bound by law to send a mandatory DRI referral form by certified mail or hand delivery to the clerk of the Cape Cod Commission.
Once the clerk receives the referral, “the Commission may, at a meeting, accept the referral for review as a development which may have regional impacts and which presents one or more of the concerns listed in Section 12(b) of the Act. The Commission may delegate to its regulatory committee, the Executive Director, or to the Commission Staff the responsibility to meet and make a recommendation to the Commission as to whether the Commission should accept a discretionary referral.“
The Cape Cod Commission is required to conduct a public hearing within 60 days of receiving the DRI referral from the town. [As of August 25, 2025 such a hearing has not appeared on the Commission’s online calendar.] The official page for CCC meeting notices is https://www.capecodcommission.org/meeting-notices/
Written comments may be submitted by mail to the Cape Cod Commission, P.O. Box 226, 3225 Main Street, Barnstable, MA 02640 or online using the form located at https://capecodcommission.org/comment
Documents submitted to the Commission for its review of the project as potential Development of Regional Impact will be archived and available to the public.
When all is said and done, the Commission “may disapprove the development of regional impact. If the commission disapproves the development of regional impact no further work may be done on the development.”
In the future I’ll write about the effort led by the late Professor Jim Gould in the 1990s to establish a Local Historic District in Cotuit.
