Cotuit Historic District

Cotuit Historic District is a village core on a long neck of land between Popponessett Bay, Osterville Harbor and Nantucket Sound, in Barnstable, Massachusetts. It takes in the areas once called Cotuit Port and Cotuit Highground, running south along Main Street and around Ocean View Avenue. Most of the buildings are wood-frame houses of one-and-a-half to two-and-a-half stories, with some shops and institutional buildings. Federal and Greek Revival houses recall the seafaring decades, when oyster packing, fishing, shipbuilding, salt making and coastal shipping fueled a mid-19th-century building boom and many captains built homes. Italianate, Gothic Revival, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival buildings reflect the later growth of a quiet summer resort, which drew Boston families beginning with Samuel Hooper in 1849. Freedom Hall, the Union Meeting House and a general store formed the village center. The district was listed for its well-preserved record of maritime and resort life on Cape Cod.