Dillingham House

The Dillingham House is set back about twenty feet from Route 6A, and the facade, which faces south, is protected from the road by a thick privete hedge. The rear elevation of the house looks out over open land, recently cleared of pine trees, across marshland and Quivit Creek to Cape Cod Bay. The house is set on fairly high land, and can be seen from the Bay. The surrounding land is rural in character with a few eighteenth and nineteenth century buildings interspersed with twentieth century development. The house is said to have been constructed by 1660. This date is based on local tradi- tion, a deed for the land still in the possession of the Dillinghams, and most impor- tantly, the existence of that date burned into one of the attic rafters.

The exterior of the house has been very little altered, the major changes occurring when the house was restored in 1915-18. As originally constructed the house was a full saltbox, with two - rooms on either side of the front hall on the first floor and a keeping room extending the length of the house behind, and two rooms on the second floor, with a small attic space under the leanto roof. In 1915 the house was restored and enlarged. A shed dormer was added to the rear of the house to provide room for two more bedrooms and a bathroom on the second floor; an enclosed sleeping porch, west of the dormer, was also added. I=s The house, resting on a stone foundation, is shingled, with a regular five bay facade and a large central chimney.

The first floor windows on the front have 12/12 sash 'and molded cornices; those on the second floor have 12/8 sash and plain lintels.

/ARCHITECT The Dillingham House, thought to be the second oldest house on Cape Cod, is significant both architecturally and historically. It has been in continuous family ownership from the time it was built to the present,except for a forty year period from 1875 to 1915, and is important locally for its associations with the Dillingham family. The property on which the house stands was acguired by John Dillingham in 1657, and the present house was probably constructed by 1660. John Dillingham, who lived to be 85, was a leading citizen in Brewster (then called North Harwich) and a Lieutenant in the militia. A family legend, also noted in many histories of the Cape, states that when a pirate ship was sighted off the Bay,John took quick action to defend the settlement.

He gathered his neighbors to his house and led them marching around the building, firing their guns, beating drums, and shouting. The pirates, who could clearly see the house and the gathered militia from the ship, were frightened off and did not try to land. The Dillingham family produced a number of famous clipper ship captains, who contributed to the wealth and cultural life of Brewster. John Dillingham, James Sullivan Dillingham and John Dillingham III all took their ships around the world, visiting exotic ports and brought back goods to New England. The house was occupied by Dillingham sea captains until 1875 when the property was bought by the Black family. In 1915 I. S. Dillingham again acquired the property, and had the house restored under the direction of Emery Stratton.

The restoration was carefully documented, and the original windows, doors, fireplaces, stairway, paneling floors, and other major architectural features were care- fully preserved.