Barnstable Historical Society

Barnstable Historical Society A research facility and museum open seasonally mid-June to mid-October. We are currently closed for the Winter, but visits may be possible by appointment.

Please email us at [email protected]. The Society is located in the house originally built by Sylvanus B. Phinney, also founder of the Barnstable Patriot newspaper and still in existence today. The Society purchased this home as it's permanent home from the Jones family of Barnstable. The property encompasses 2.75 acres and is located in close proximity to the Sturgis Library a

nd Tales of Cape Cod, thus creating a campus like setting for the historical buildings within this area of the village.

Check out the making of "white gold" in Barnstable, and the reason why we have cannons in front of our Court House! Town...
05/12/2026

Check out the making of "white gold" in Barnstable, and the reason why we have cannons in front of our Court House!

Town of Barnstable Barnstable Village Association Barnstable375 Barnstable Land Trust The Barnstable Comedy Club

Salt-making on Cape Cod, including in Barnstable village, has a very long history. Historian Amos Otis reports in his Genealogical Notes of Barnstable families that: A salt work was erected in Barnstable very early, on the point of land on the west of the entrance of Rendezvous Creek, still known as...

Hinckley Pond Ice House & Gustavus Swift, a Pioneer of Refrigeration > Barnstable Village Civic Association Barnstable37...
05/07/2026

Hinckley Pond Ice House & Gustavus Swift, a Pioneer of Refrigeration >

Barnstable Village Civic Association Barnstable375 Barnstable Village Association Barnstable Land Trust Town of Barnstable

It is almost impossible today to contemplate life without refrigeration. However, almost within living memory that was a reality. Before refrigeration, Cape Codders harvested ice from ponds and stored it in icehouses and then ice boxes in their houses. One such pond was Hinckley’s Pond in Barnstab...

Did you know that by 1865 more than 1000 acres of cranberry bogs had been established in Barnstable County? Barnstable V...
05/07/2026

Did you know that by 1865 more than 1000 acres of cranberry bogs had been established in Barnstable County?

Barnstable Village Civic Association Barnstable375 Barnstable Village Association Barnstable Land Trust Town of Barnstable

The landscape of Cape Cod was created in large part by the glaciers of many thousands of years ago. Some of the small ponds that were left behind evolved into cranberry bogs. Native Americans harvested wild cranberries and used them for food, medicine and as a fabric dye. European settlers then cult...

Old Stone Walls of Barnstable >The old stone walls all around us on Cape Cod are part of the fabric of the land, and the...
05/07/2026

Old Stone Walls of Barnstable >

The old stone walls all around us on Cape Cod are part of the fabric of the land, and the history of the people who used to live here:

Barnstable Village Association Barnstable375 Barnstable Land Trust Town of Barnstable

On Cape Cod we are surrounded by endless stretches of old stone walls that mark property lines, fields, and thoroughfares. Those stones are a legacy from the glaciers that retreated North many thousands of years ago. As the ice melted, stones from small pebbles to massive boulders were left scattere...

Curious Crockers of Barnstable: Miss Experience Crocker (1674 - 1740) - An Interesting, Accomplished, and Independent Wo...
04/01/2026

Curious Crockers of Barnstable:
Miss Experience Crocker (1674 - 1740) - An Interesting, Accomplished, and Independent Woman of the Late 17th and Early 18th Century

https://www.barnstablehistoricalsociety.org/post/curious-crockers-of-barnstable-miss-experience-crocker-1674-1740-an-interesting-accomplished

Barnstable Land Trust Town of Barnstable Barnstable Village Association Barnstable375 Barnstable Village Civic Association

By Jeffrey D. Crocker Miss Experience Crocker was an accomplished and independent woman of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. She never married. She was the granddaughter of Deacon William and Alice Crocker, the first Barnstable Crockers, who arrived with Reverend John Lothrop in 1639 when the....

1839 Barnstable Centennial Celebrations and Re-Write of Auld Lang Syne:https://www.barnstablehistoricalsociety.org/post/...
04/01/2026

1839 Barnstable Centennial Celebrations and Re-Write of Auld Lang Syne:

https://www.barnstablehistoricalsociety.org/post/1839-barnstable-centennial-celebrations-and-re-write-of-auld-lang-syne

Barnstable Land Trust Town of Barnstable Barnstable Village Association Barnstable375 Barnstable Village Civic Association

The report of the Centennial Celebration at Barnstable on September 3, 1839 is a treasure trove of insights into our community as it once was: Among its many offerings, the report records that September 3, 1639 was the date that Barnstable was incorporated, and so that is the date for all future cen...

John Smith’s 1616 Report of Cape Cod and New Historic New England:https://www.barnstablehistoricalsociety.org/post/john-...
04/01/2026

John Smith’s 1616 Report of Cape Cod and New Historic New England:

https://www.barnstablehistoricalsociety.org/post/john-smith-s-1616-report-of-cape-cod-and-new-Historic New England

Town of Barnstable Barnstable Village Association Barnstable375 Barnstable Village Civic Association Barnstable Land Trust

In 1614, Captain John Smith (c. 1580-1631) set out to explore and map the coastline from Maine to Massachusetts. He published his findings in “A Description of New England” (1616), and set about touring the towns and cities in the Westcountry of England to promote settlement in the New World.His...

How Did “Barnstable” Get Its Name?https://www.barnstablehistoricalsociety.org/post/how-did-barnstable-get-its-nameBarnst...
03/30/2026

How Did “Barnstable” Get Its Name?

https://www.barnstablehistoricalsociety.org/post/how-did-barnstable-get-its-name

Barnstaple, Devon Barnstable375 Barnstable Village Civic Association Arts Barnstable

Who first named our town (and later county) “Barnstable” is unclear. Barnstable, Massachusetts is named after Barnstaple in Devon, England. The pronunciation is the same. The explorer Captain John Smith—who first coined the name “New England”—is said to have invited Prince Charles (later...

Curious Crockers of Barnstable:Frederick William Crocker (1809-1863)
03/30/2026

Curious Crockers of Barnstable:
Frederick William Crocker (1809-1863)

By Jeffrey D. Crocker Few people today realize that the village of Barnstable was once home to a remarkably talented nineteenth-century poet, one who has largely been forgotten. I first learned of him some years ago when my family discovered a leather-bound, handwritten journal of poetry in my grand...

Curious Crockers of Barnstable: Sarah Crocker Lawrence (1749-1825)
03/30/2026

Curious Crockers of Barnstable:
Sarah Crocker Lawrence (1749-1825)

By Jeffrey D. Crocker It is not very common to find an extensive description of an 18th-century Barnstable woman in our archives; so, when we do it is often a delight. This is the case of Sarah (Crocker) Lawrence (1749-1825). Amos Otis provides a wonderful description of this accomplished woman in h...

Address

3087 Main Street
Barnstable, MA
02630

Opening Hours

Thursday 1pm - 4pm
Friday 1pm - 4pm
Saturday 1pm - 4pm

Telephone

(508) 362-2982

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