Wellfleet Center Historic District

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Wellfleet Center Historic District
Photo courtesy of Betsy Friedberg, Massachusetts Historical Commission and the Town of Wellfleet and Mass Dept. of Housing and Community Development
The Wellfleet Center Historic District is a well preserved group of residential, commercial and institutional buildings associated with the growth of Wellfleet from a small harbor village in the late 18th century to a flourishing maritime community in the second and third quarters of the 19th century. Transformed into a summer resort community by the early 20th century, the 119-acre historic district contains 173 buildings, 2 structures and 7 objects. The district's buildings are generally classified into four categories: buildings that predate the harbor village becoming the commercial center of Wellfleet (late-18th century to about 1830), buildings that were moved into the village from outlying areas as Wellfleet flourished and later became a focus of local maritime and commercial activity (beginning around 1830), buildings that were built in Wellfleet Center as it developed into the center of the maritime industry that supported Wellfleet's economy in the 19th century (about 1830 to 1870) and buildings associated with the beginning of Wellfleet's shift from an economy dependent on the maritime trades to one based on summer resort activity and tourism (about 1880 to 1915).

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Wellfleet Center Historic District
Photo courtesy of the Town of Wellfleet and Mass Dept. of Housing and Community Development

The oldest buildings in the district are Cape Cod style houses built in the second half of the 18th century and the early decades of the 19th century. Several examples are located on Commercial Street. Many houses, including the Mulford Rich House, the Nehemiah Paine House and a late-18th-century house on Cross Street, were moved from nearby locations to Wellfleet. The most popular architectural choice in Wellfleet was the Greek Revival style, the use of which is attributed to the village's rapid growth as the town's commercial core in the mid-19th century. Some of the Greek Revival residences are the Hawes House, the Sarah Atwood House and the Simeon Atwood House. Commercial buildings, like the Wellfleet Marine Insurance Company, or institutional buildings, like the Congregational Church on Main Street are also representative of Greek Revival style. The mid-1880s consolidation of three buildings on Baker Avenue into a single large summer estate for Lorenzo Dow Baker, known as the Belvernon, marked the beginning of seasonal residency in Wellfleet Center.

The Wellfleet Center Historic District is located in Wellfleet which lies on outer Cape Cod between Chatham and Provincetown. The Atlantic Ocean lies to the east and Cape Cod Bay is to the west. The Wellfleet Historical Society Museum, at 266 Main St., is open June-September, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, from 1:00pm to 4:00pm, and Tuesdays and Fridays from 10:00am to 4:00pm. Walking tours of Wellfleet are offered Tuesdays and Fridays at 10:15am. For further information call 508-349-9157or visit the Wellfleet Historical Society.

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