Harwich Historical Society Hosts Historic Tours This Summer

 HARWICH – The Harwich Historical Society is expanding its series of walking tours, which will focus on the history of Harwich Center and Captains Row, the buildings and people who shaped the villages, those who settled the town and who fought for its independence, and the town’s prominent politicians and mariners.

 The series starts on Saturday, July 5 at 1 p.m. with a tour of Harwich Center by former State Senator Paul Doane.

On Sunday at 10 a.m. local historian and vice chair of the society Duncan Berry will guide a walking tour of Captains Row. The one-mile walk will include discussions on the architecture from the 1740s to 1940s along a stretch of West Harwich.

Captains Row is named for the many sea captains and merchants who settled in West Harwich, building the structures that now dot the village. The tour will also focus on early religious leaders and politicians with a special focus on the Chase family of Chase and Sanborn coffee fame. Berry will also lead the Captains Row tour on Aug. 9 at 10 a.m. Meet at the lot adjacent to the Depot Street and Route 28 intersection.  

 On July 12 at 10 a.m, Berry will conduct a tour of Pine Grove Cemetery in the West Harwich village and will be discussing the families linked to West Harwich’s legacy of ocean-going sea captains as well as the locally prominent and notorious characters interred in the graveyard. The presentation will be illustrated by period photos of the deceased and their dwellings in the village. A second tour will be held on Aug. 16  at 10 a.m. Park by the tallest white marble obelisk in the cemetery. 

Berry will also host tours of the West Harwich Baptist Church Cemetery. A special focus will be on the families with deep Cape roots, including the Mayflower and Winthrop fleet families who settled in town in the 1630s. Berry will also focus on the role the Baptist Church has had in Harwich’s history. That tour will take place on July 19 at 10 a.m. Park adjacent to the cemetery on the church property. 

Doane, who has lived in town for more than 80 years, will provide several fact-filled, engaging strolls while exploring the people, sites and fierce politics that shaped Harwich Center. The two-hour tour covers the early centers of activity such as Pine Grove Seminary, the South Parish Meetinghouse, Exchange Hall and the Broadbrook block. Park in the lot between Brooks Academy Museum and the A. Elmer Crowell barn.

 The Harwich Center walking tours are scheduled for 1 p.m. July 5 and 19 and Aug. 2 and 16.

There are several East Harwich Union Cemetery lantern tours planned over the summer and into the fall. The society will be visiting with the “ghosts”  of those buried on the grounds adjacent to the East Harwich Methodist Church. “Our ghostly hosts will be a variety of mariners, Revolutionary War soldiers and town folk,” said HHS President Anita Doucette. “Each has a unique tale to tell.”

The lantern tours will be held on July 19 at 5, 5:30 and 6 p.m., and at the same times on  Aug. 23 and Sept. 20.

The price of each tour is a $10 donation to the society; the suggested donation for children under 18 and seniors is $5. Tickets are available for purchase on the day of the walk or in advance at harwichhistoricalsociety.org/events..