Sandwich on Cape Cod

How appropriate I thought, a Salt Box in Sandwich or, to be more precise, a Salt Box House.  I had just driven from Boston to Cape Cod and hadn’t been able to resist going to look at the town of Sandwich.  As a Londoner, I already knew the town of Sandwich in Kent.  And there was the Salt Box house.

With its narrow streets and overhanging trees you could almost be in an English village.  Here are delightful houses and shops in all shapes, sizes and colours.  White, pink, yellow and one or two in deep wine red.  All very picturesque.  I parked the car and strolled up and down taking pictures, then out of curiosity followed the road around a bend.  There were some large white clapboard houses, a church, the Dexter Grist Mill and a village pond.  More and more like England.

I didn’t have time to stand and stare, I was looking for the Americana Museums and Gardens at the Heritage Plantation of Sandwich.  As it wasn’t within walking distance I took a slow and careful drive along a twisting country lane. With my usual luck, it was a showery day.  I am not sure whether that was because I seem to be a rainmaker or whether it is because there is a shop called 'The Weather Store' in the village.  Because of the rain I didn’t get to see much of the gardens at the Plantation although I am told they are beautiful, particularly in spring when the rhododendrons and azaleas are in bloom. 

The first museum was the J.K. Lilly III Automobile Museum.  As a lover of veteran and vintage cars I was in my element – there are even two old Rolls-Royce cars here.  The building is a copy of a large Shaker Round Barn so I was able what one of these look like. Among the cars there are a gaudy yellow Stutz Bearcat, a Ford Tin Lizzie, Chevrolets, Oldsmobiles, a Cadillac and almost any make of American car you can think of.  They even have a car which once belonged to Gary Cooper – an immense leaf green and primrose yellow Duesenberg.

Stutz Bearcat

Gary Cooper's Deusenberg

As the rain was still bucketing down I ran from here to the Carousel café for a warming bowl of chowder whilst hoping the rain would subside.  It did and it was then a rather quick walk to the Military Museum. For people are into all things military it is great.  Firearms and flags, military miniatures, and Native American artifacts.  And I saw a very strange Union Jack – red, white, blue and beige!

Outside and another quick dash to the Art Museum.  Here I indulged myself with looking at a room full of glasswork, lithographs, toys and loads of miniature model birds. Everyone’s favorite ‘toy’ in here has to be the gorgeous carousel.  I sat for ages watching it.  No, I didn’t get on it but did enjoy watching everyone else. The last section is American art.  Some of the paintings are, to say the least, naïve, others, particularly the landscapes, interesting.  There is also a collection of weather vanes – some quite strange – and carved cigar store figures.  You know, those human sized figures which you see outside tobacco stores in old American movies.  What I cannot understand is why there are so many Native Americans - both male and female.  What do they have to do with cigars?  They smoked pipes of peace.

Then it was time to return to the village to discover one more place I had always wanted to see.  To be exact, a type of house.  I had read of Salt Box houses but never seen one.  The Hoxie House is a wonderful example.  Why is it called a Salt Box?  If you have ever seen an old fashioned saltbox you will know that the lid slopes down to the front so that any moisture will run off and not get into the salt.  The house has a short deep pitched roof at the front and at the back a long steep pitched roof.  Thus the snow falls off! 

A guide showed us about the house, explaining the artifacts and how they were used.  Bearing in mind that the house is thought to have been constructed around 1670 and you will realize that some of the items are very strange.  The most important room is the Keeping Room where all the cooking was done and the family congregated – especially in the winter.   Here all the sewing and laundry was dealt with.  Above that room is a loft which could be used for sleeping or storage with a wooden ladder up which to climb.

Also done in this room would be the spinning.  You couldn’t just go to a shop and buy wool in the seventeenth century.  You had your own sheep, sheared them and had the wool spun.  This was usually done by an unmarried lady of the village.  Hence the name “spinster” for an unmarried lady.

There is a Great Room or parlour which was used for high days and holidays.  This is furnished appropriately with a table and chairs, a chest and a large loom.  In those days the weavers were travellers who received free bed and board in exchange for doing the weaving which sometimes took two or three months. Above this room is the Chamber or bedroom.  A large room where parents and children would have slept - the parents in a double bed and children in cradles or truckle beds.  During the day these last were pushed away out of sight under the big bed. And above that is the loft - reached by a ladder. 

For me the best was yet to come.  I stayed at The Belfry Inn, a wonderful B&B. My room was in the Painted Lady – a pretty Victorian wooden house which was once the Manse (Drew House).  Adjacent is The Belfry, a deconsecrated church now turned into a wonderful restaurant.  And a section has had a first floor added with six guest rooms.  (www.belfryinn.com)

During the rest of my stay I drove extensively around Cape Cod. Looking at some of the town names. It is easy to tell where some of the Pilgrims and later Settlers came from. Chatham, Falmouth, Harwich, Yarmouth and Truro.  Enough to make the English feel at home.