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Penniman House Being Renewed At Cape Cod National Seashore

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By Kurt Repanshek - January 15th, 2022

The Captain Penniman House is being restored to its original lustre/NPS file, Brent Ellis

During my parents' retirement years on Cape Cod, I came to know the Captain Edward Penniman house and the nearby Fort Hill and Red Maple Swamp trails in Cape Cod National Seashore. Peering into the 19th century whaling captain's house through windows was the best I could do, as it long had been in disrepair.

That began to change in 2015 with a determined effort to return the home to how the captain experienced it. Through financial support from the Friends of the Cape Cod National Seashore and Eastern National, the National Park Service has been working on the exterior of the 1868 house and adjacent barn, repairing the building envelopes to keep out the elements, applying much-needed paint, correcting structural issues, and installing new roofs. 

Now the work has moved inside, where the seashore is conserving the original carpets and wall coverings, repairing and painting walls and ceilings, and renewing wooden casework.

The parlor of the Penniman House/Library of Congress

The parlor of the Penniman House when it was in better condition/Library of Congress

Conservators working on wallpaper in the parlor/NPS

Two conservators take measurements of dark red patterned wallpaper above the marble fireplace seen in the parlor in the above photo/NPS

While the original whale jawbone gate (top photo) to the property that I had admired couldn't be saved, the Park Service plans to create a reproduction based on a humpback jawbone from the Humpback Whale Monitoring Program at Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska.

According to the Library of Congress, "[T]he house was built by whaling Captain Edward Penniman in 1867-1868, who had shipbuilders from Wellfleet do the work. The home is a prime example of Cape Cod domestic architecture of its time, reflecting the influence of the French Second Empire style."

Park Service historians say the home "had the first kitchen and bath with indoor plumbing in Eastham and the first indoor flush toilet in town."

If you visit the seashore this year, look for the progress being made on this historic site.

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