|
Advancing Times
Yarmouth was, by the 1880's, hardly the pioneer outpost it once was when incorporated some 211 years earlier. And by 1881, 355 children between the ages of five and 15 were students in Yarmouth's public school system. And as early as the late 19th century, tourists discovered that Cape Cod was the perfect place `to summer', and many beach resorts, such as the Hotel Engelwood in West Yarmouth then opened.
By 1890, 1,760 people called Yarmouth home; the town's three district villages formed a self supporting, prosperous town. By 1890, for instance, the dry goods dealer Crocker & Company sold its share of clothing and home supplies from its store in Yarmouth Port. H.Q. Brigham was a town dentist, and Hallet's Drug Store had just opened its doors along Hallet Street (Route 6A) in Yarmouthport and remains a fixture on the Northside today.
Rightfully proud of their past, the people of Yarmouth work hard to preserve their unique heritage. The private, nonprofit Historical Society of Old Yarmouth is headquartered in the retirement home of Captain Bangs Hallet. The society also owns and oversees 50 acres of Nature Trails open to the public.
The Yarmouth Historical Commission, organized at town meeting in 1977, identifies and protects historical assets such as the Baxter Grist Mill in West Yarmouth and other sites on the prestigious National Register of Historic Places. And the Old Kings Highway Committee, organized under the state law but locally administered, addresses the architectural historical integrity of homes and businesses on the Northside of Yarmouth.
Yarmouth has always charmed visitors with its pristine beaches and storybook sunsets. Among the first to be impressed was perhaps the explorer Bartholomew Gosnold, who in 1602 named this sandy peninsula of Massachusetts because cod was so plentiful. Stretching from Cape Cod Bay to the north and Nantucket Sound to the south, and in equal distances east and
west, the Mid-Cape town of Yarmouth retains the charm and quaintness of early New England coastal communities while accommodating contemporary lifestyles.
Those lucky enough to reside in and not merely visit Yarmouth are truly blessed; they live and work amongst the pages of American history.
|
