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January 6, 2006     Barnstable Patriot
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January 6, 2006
 
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Cotuit's dreams are unveiled by a look through a book By Paul Gauvin pgauvin@barnstablepatriot.com THE DRIVE LESS TRAVELED - Privacy in Cotuit is a house at the end of a lane. To many "aliens" who washed ashore in Hyan- nis or Barnstable Village in the last several decades, Co- tuit may as well be on the other side of the moon. Off the well-beaten Route 28 path between Mashpee/Fal- mouth and Hyannis, the insular peninsula surrounded by the water is a topographical jewel tucked neatly in a closet corner as might be a shoebox of cash. The well-treed community stretching south beyond Route 28 to meet up with Nantucket Sound lacks shopping malls, movie houses, corner pubs (save one), a high school or town hall, the endeavors that attract the masses burdened with public business or addic- tive consumerism. Therefore , and despite hous- ing growth, Cotuit's sanctum sanctorum has morphed into a relatively tranquil bedroom community unto itself - so much so that it appears stand- offish, a perceived character- istic fortified by sporadic but spirited attempts to secede from the town. The 2003 book Images of America: Cotuit and Santuit describe the village 's "Mansard-roofe d houses" as having "added to a dominant feeling of restrained Classicism" - classi- cism being aesthetic values and attitudes embodied in ancient Greek and Roman art, literature and architecture. The authors of this liter- ary walk through the village and its past are locals James W. Gould , a historian of note , and Jessica Rapp Grassetti, who at the time of prepar- ing the manuscript was president of the Historical Society of Santuit and Cotuit. Drive slowly down the long Main Street , which stretches from Route 28 to the Sound on a bright and relatively warm winter day, and one is guaran- teed not to have to curse the traffic. There isn't any - foot , horse, bicycle or motorcar. Peaceful. Unhurried. Pleasant. Far from the maddening crowd. With nobody to talk to, look to the book , and discover it wasn't always that way. Village folk took to relax- ing on the steps of the "Sunset Club" at Alex Nickerson 's store in 1896, where, it would appear, a stranger all the way from Hyannis might enjoy decipher- ing the village character via banter and repartee. It is a safe guess contemporary Cotuitites no longer sit on the steps of a village store smoking and inhal- ing gossip, therefore rendering social intercours e with travelers less likely. There were other business including a 200-room hotel, a stagecoach from the West Barnstable Railroad Station, the eclectic Handy Brothers Shoe and Photographic Store, Harlow's butcher shop, Bearse groceries, Cotuit Co-op, Sear's department store (not Sears & Roebuck), a gasoline station, water company, Savery's Shoe Store, Hoxie's groceries, Burlin- game's Store - a little Hyannis that it no longer is. The village even had a racetrack where Capt. Ulysses Hull, a sheriff at one time, toned his trotters and pacers. A sign at the foot of School Street in 1938 claimed Cotuit was purchased from the Indi- ans by Myles Standish in 1648 for a brass kettle and a hoe, hence explaining the source of a local restaurant' s name, the Kettle Ho - and the rather odd name of a Cape League baseball team - the Kettleers , prefer- able, at any rate , to being called the Deadnecks in honor of the Dead Neck barrier beach that sits as a sentinel at the side of the Cotuit Bay entrance from the Sound. Cotuit doesn't have a high school now, but it did at the turn of the 20th century, and it sent more graduates to the normal school (now Barnstable Town Hall in Hyannis) than did Hyannis High School. Inciden- tally. Elizabeth Jones Lowell, daughter of George Jones, a co-founder of The New-York Times , donated the Cotuit school building and the land. The school was destroyed by fire in 1937. Cotuit Bay is a haven for sailors and shellfishermen , but rank and file with marginal income are more apt to make acquaintance with a clam than they are with the tanned cap- tain of a 28-foot Catalina. The village reeks of pri- vacy, to wit, one civic-minded resident who has performed a unique service to the com- munity gently declined to be interviewed , explaining she is "a private person" who, like the heart of the village , spends a decent amount of time side- stepping the limelight , forcing the curious to look to the book There is much more to the history of the village, its fa- mous people , its part in World War II and its trip from olden open-armed congeniality to its apparent contemporary thirst for being free of unsanctioned intrusion , or, as reclusive Greta Garbo put it in the movie Grand Hotel , "I vant to be alone." FEATURING | BOARS HEAD PRODUCTS • Fresh Baked Muffins & Pastries • Breakfast Sandwiches & Burgers • Made-to-Order Sandwiches Mon-Sat • Prepared Meals 6:30-7:00 • Choice Wines, Beers & Liquor 7:00-5:00 Historical society annual meeting Jan. 29 The Historical Society of Santuit and Cotuit will hold its Annual Meeting and election of Officers on Sunday, Jan. 29 at 2 p.m. at the Cotuit Library on Main Street. Seth Mendell of the Mat- tapoissett Historical Society will be the featured speaker and will talk about the Solar Salt Industry in Southeast Massachusetts from the period 1760 to 1865. All are invited and re- freshments will be served. WINTER FEST at WEST BAY ANTIQUES Storewide Sale on Antiques, Collectibles, Furniture & Jewelry Op en Tues-Sat 10-4 876 MAIN STREET, OSTERVILLE 508-420-7997 ^^gap, - In Next Week's Issue... I Cf? (C) . • I Cy ve- y ^yp enr ng. FRIDAY , FEBRUARY IO , 2006 •v* "^x*>Z WE win. BE CLOSED PROM JAN . 1 - FKB. 9, 2006. 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