Kennedy Compound

Three white frame clapboarded houses on about six acres beside Nantucket Sound make up this Hyannis Port compound, typical of Cape Cod vacation homes. The largest belonged to Joseph P. Kennedy, who rented the 1904 cottage in 1926, bought it in 1929 and greatly enlarged it. His children spent their summers there, learning to sail and taking part in competitive activities. John F. Kennedy bought a smaller house on Irving Avenue in 1956, and Robert Kennedy acquired a house adjoining both properties. The compound was John Kennedy's base during the 1960 presidential campaign and served as the Summer White House in 1961, though security and privacy problems later led him to stay in nearby Squaw Island homes. The main house was the center of family activity for most summers from 1926 to 1963 and has changed little since. The three properties together are treated as one historic property because of their place in the political history of the 1950s and 1960s.