{"nrhp_refnum":"91001899","name":"Nye, Benjamin, Homestead","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"85 Old County Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Sandwich","county":"Barnstable County","state":"MA","lat":41.728697209000075,"lon":-70.43132408199995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1992-01-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 2 1/2-story, shingled, gable-roofed house on Old County Road in East Sandwich, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, believed to have been built in stages from about 1680 to 1816, with a 1920s rear ell.","why_significant":"The house sheltered one family for seven generations and was the site of locally important grist and fulling mill operations from the mid 17th to the mid 19th century. Its physical evolution over some 240 years illustrates the changes in a single property. It retains integrity and is tied to a significant family and to early Sandwich's agricultural life.","narrative":"Set on a small lot beside a brook on Old County Road in East Sandwich, this Cape Cod house grew in stages from a small 1 1/2-story cottage, possibly begun around 1680, into a five-bay, 2 1/2-story shingled house completed by 1816. Benjamin Nye, an original settler of Sandwich, established a gristmill nearby by about 1685, and his descendants ran it until 1867. A fulling mill was added in the 18th century. Seven generations of the family lived here until 1910, farming and keeping account books of mill and farm business. In 1816 the house was raised to two full stories and its chimney rebuilt. The state owned it from 1923 and the house deteriorated. In 1959 it passed to the Nye Family of America Association, which restored it and opened it as a house museum in 1973. The mills are gone, but the house preserves early framing, paneling and wide pine floors, and marks local agricultural and milling history.","period_of_significance":"ca. 1680-1941","architect_builder":"Unknown","architectural_style":"Colonial: Postmedieval English; Early Republic: Federal","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Owned by a family association that has restored it and operates it as a seasonal house museum, open since 1973.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:03.548948-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/67/7940/63794067/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/91001899.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/91001899/3f60177786-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/91001899/3f60177786-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Unknown authorUnknown author","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Benjamin_Nye_House,_Sandwich,_Massachusetts,_circa_1880.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Unknown authorUnknown author</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Benjamin_Nye_House,_Sandwich,_Massachusetts,_circa_1880.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794067","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Nye_Homestead","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4889071"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/barnstable-county/nye-benjamin-homestead-91001899/"}