Built in 1817 in the Federal architecture. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. A historic map-sheet match is not published yet. The record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary.
“The Ahearn House and Summer House are a pair of houses at 450 Pamet Point Road in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. The smaller "summer house" is an early 19th-century cottage, while the main house is a subsequent construction; both are important examples of period architecture in the community.”
Wikipedia article Ahearn House and Summer House, CC BY-SA 4.0.
one of 145 National Register listings in Barnstable County · listed in 1984 · category: Building · built in 1817, Federal architecture.
Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 49 fires within 5 miles of Ahearn House and Summer House between 1992 and 2020, burning about 28 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 1 was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 8 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 6 |
| Debris and open burning | 5 |
| Smoking | 5 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 4 |
| Other causes | 2 |
| Natural | 2 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 22 September 2020 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 22 September 2020 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | Cape Cod National Seashore | LONG POND ROAD FIRE |
| 22 September 2020 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | under an acre | Cape Cod National Seashore | GROSS HILL ROAD FIRE |
| 22 September 1997 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Cape Cod National Seashore | SHAPIRO |
| 10 September 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Cape Cod National Seashore | WELLWOODS |
| 8 August 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | 1.0 acres | Cape Cod National Seashore | WHITE CREST WILDFIRE |
| 7 August 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 3,601 specimens collected within 10 miles of Ahearn House and Summer House between 1819 and 1975: 2,639 Animalia, 664 Plantae, 98 Chromista, 77 Unrecorded, 62 Fungi, 61 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. K. Harrison, A. K. Harrison, G.C.H., A. M. Ottley and others. Each is a physical object with a catalogue number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be concluded from a species being absent.
| Image | Species | Year | Collected by | Where, as recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laminaria caperata Bachelot de la Pylaie, 1824 | 1819 | Collector unknown | ||
 | Aralia hispida Vent. | 1827 | A. M. Ottley | |
 | Brevoortia tyrannus (Latrobe, 1802) | 1853 | Atwood, Nathaniel E. | Provincetown, Cape Cod, Massachusetts |
 | Pseudopleuronectes americanus (Walbaum, 1792) | 1853 | Atwood, Nathaniel E. | Cape Cod, Massachusetts |
 | Scophthalmus aquosus (Mitchill, 1815) | 1856 | not recorded | Provincetown |
_native_range.jpg) | Ammodytes americanus DeKay, 1842 | 1859 | Weinland, David Friedrich | Cape Cod, Massachusetts |
 | Pomatomus saltatrix (Linnaeus, 1766) | 1859 | Ordway, A. | Cape Cod, Massachusetts |
 | Aspidophoroides monopterygius (Bloch, 1786) | 1860 | Smithsonian Institution | Provincetown |
 | Prionotus carolinus (Linnaeus, 1771) | 1860 | Harvard Museum | Provincetown |
 | Stenotomus chrysops (Linnaeus, 1766) | 1860 | William Bemis | Cape Cod Bay, Wellfleet Harbor |
 | Paralichthys oblongus (Mitchill, 1815) | 1862 | MCZ team | Cape Cod, Massachusetts |
 | Carex foenea Willd. | 1864 | W. P. Alcott | Wellfleet |
All 3,601 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Ahearn House and Summer House: 1 past producer, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| John F Wood Inc. | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| North Truro Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Wellfleet, the town this property stands in, in 10 storm reports between 1997 and 2020: 5 hail, 4 thunderstorm wind, 1 flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2018 | Flood | Wellfleet | $30,000 | At 7:27 PM EST, the Beachcomber Restaurant in Wellfleet was evacuated due to flooding in the restaurant. At 7:35 PM EST, a car was floating in flood waters at the junction of Hamblin Farm Road and Chequessett Neck Road in Wellfleet. At 7:39 PM EST a car was towed from flood waters on Cove Road. At 8:06 PM EST a basement was flooded on Kendrick Avenue. |
| August 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wellfleet | $10,000 | Trees and wires were downed on Chipman's Way. |
| August 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wellfleet | $5,000 | Trees were downed by thunderstorm winds. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wellfleet | $1,000 | A large branch on Marconi Station Road was downed by thunderstorm winds. |
| August 2008 | Hail | Wellfleet | $1,000 | Some vehicle damage occurred with quarter sized hail that fell in Wellfleet. |
| November 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wellfleet | - | In Wellfleet, on Lieutenant Island, an amateur radio operator recorded a wind gust to 65 mph at 1219 PM EST. |
| August 2008 | Hail | Wellfleet | - | no account filed |
| August 2008 | Hail | Wellfleet | - | no account filed |
| June 2006 | Hail | Wellfleet | - | no account filed |
| July 1997 | Hail | Wellfleet | - | no account filed |
No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.
When this property was proposed for the National Register, someone wrote the case for it: what the building is, and why it matters. That document is a federal record in the public domain. It is quoted below word for word, never summarised. The text was read off the scanned case file by machine, so the occasional stray character is the recogniser's and the 1970s typewriter's.
SINOE DEE SIMMERIOUSE IS A MAJOR CONTRIBUTINK ELEMENT summary paragraph completeness clarity alterations/integrity dates - boundary selection IT SHOULD BE DESCRIBED AND LIS INTELRITY SHOULP 3E ADDRESSED. ASPECIFL STATEMENT ABOUT IIS CONTRIBUTION TO TAE OVERALL SIQUIFICANCE DE TLE PROPERTY SDULO BE MADE.
/ARCHITECT STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE The Ahearn house is representative of the 19th century version of a Cape Cod house architectural style which originated in basic form in the late 17th century and still is a prominent architectural siyle on Cape Cod today. The basically intact and unaltered three-quarter Cape central facade of the Ahearn house, however, makes this structure a noteworthy example of the 19th century architectural techniques that were used to construct this type of house. Likewise, the alterations that have been made to this structure are minimal and consistent with traditional evolutionary modifica- tions that were made to Cape Cod houses between the 19th and early 20th centuries.
The interior of the structure is largely unaltered, and still represents the basic floor plan that the original 19th century design intended (e.g., central entrance, flanked by two rooms; kitchen in rear and bedrooms upstairs). The summer house also is representative of 19th century domestic life on Cape Cod and is compatible with the architectural design and setting of the main house. The significance of the Ahearn Summer House lies with its being ancillary structure to the Ahearn House. Architecturally, its design and siting respect the Ahearn House. The purposes of Cape Cod National Seashore include the preservation of notable examples of Cape Cod style houses and the preservation of the historic scene within the seashore.
A recent survey (Pfeiffer 1981) of 110 structures that the Park Service owns or will acquire within the seashore area identified five 19th- century Cape Cod style houses. Among the five hosues, the 19th century Ahearn House is the only three-quarter Cape, a distinctive variation of the Cape Cod style. It is also one of the least altered examples of the 19th century Cape Cod style house among those that the Park Service owns.
The whole case file for this property - 2,250 words, 12 pages, reproduced complete.
Quoted from the National Register nomination for reference 84000575, 12 pages, held by the National Archives in Record Group 79. See the catalogue record.
Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.
| Photograph | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Pine Grove Cemetery | 1.5 miles | 2013 |
 | Hatch, Ruth and Robert Jr., House | 1.6 miles | 2014 |
 | Rowell House | 1.7 miles | 1988 |
 | Weidlinger, Paul and Madeleine | 2.0 miles | 2014 |
 | Tisza, Vera and Laszlo, House | 2.4 miles | 2014 |
 | Sirna, Anthony and Allison, Studio | 2.6 miles | 2014 |
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 84000575 in Record Group 79. |
| Wikipedia article | Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA. |
| Barnstable County | All 145 listed properties in this county. |
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