Kennedy Compound
Encyclopedia
The Kennedy Compound or Hyannis Port Historic District is the name given to six acre
s (24,000 m²) of waterfront property on Cape Cod
along Nantucket Sound
in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts
, United States
.
It was once the home of American businessman and political figure Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.
, his wife Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy
, and two of their sons, U.S. President
John F. Kennedy
and U.S. Senator
Robert F. Kennedy
. Their youngest son, US Senator Edward M. “Ted” Kennedy
lived in his parents' house, and it was his main residence from 1982 until his death in 2009.
John used the compound as a base for his successful 1960 U.S. Presidential campaign
and later as a summer White House
and presidential retreat until his assassination
in 1963.
It was suggested on August 27, 2009 — following the death of Joseph Kennedy's last surviving son, U.S. Senator Edward "Ted" M. Kennedy
— that the compound could be transformed into an education center and museum.
at 28 Marchant Avenue in Hyannis Port. Two years later, he purchased the structure, which had been erected in 1904, and enlarged and remodeled it to suit his family's needs. In and around this house, their nine children spent their summers, acquiring a lifelong interest in sailing
and other competitive activities.
In 1956, three years after his marriage, John
bought a smaller home of his own at 111 Irving Avenue (41.6308°N 70.3035°W), not far from his father's home. Subsequently, Ted
acquired the residence at 28 Marchant Avenue (41.63°N 70.303°W) adjacent to the other two in 1995 and sold it to Robert
and his wife Ethel in 1961. Edward lived in the compound until his death.
The compound also contains houses of non-Kennedy members.
structures typical of vacation residences on Cape Cod.
s and garden
s and it commands sweeping views of the ocean
from its long porches.
On the main floor are a living room, dining room, sun room, television room
, the bedroom that John used before he purchased his own house in the compound, the kitchen, and various pantries
and utility room
s.
On the second floor are six bedrooms, a sewing room, packing room, and four servants' bedrooms. The house has a full attic
.
The basement
contains a motion-picture theater
and a hall covered with dolls from all around the world. A wine cellar designed after a ship's hull
and a sipping room — one of the Kennedy family's favorite hideouts. It is considered the place that Ted coined the well-known toast "There are good ships, and there are wood ships, the ships that sail the sea. But the best ships are friendships, and may they always be."
The house has changed little, either structurally or in furnishings, since John's association with it.
, tennis court
, and four-car garage
and two guest houses.
There are two circular driveways with flagpoles standing in the middle, a boathouse
and several large stretches of lawn area where the many family touch football
games were played.
Other parcels of land that assorted members of the family have purchased remain as well-tended as those of the more prominent homes.
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
s (24,000 m²) of waterfront property on Cape Cod
Cape Cod
Cape Cod, often referred to locally as simply the Cape, is a cape in the easternmost portion of the state of Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States...
along Nantucket Sound
Nantucket Sound
Nantucket Sound is a roughly triangular area of the Atlantic Ocean offshore from the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It is long and wide, and is enclosed by Cape Cod on the north, Nantucket on the south, and Martha's Vineyard on the west. Between Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard it is connected to the...
in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
It was once the home of American businessman and political figure Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.
Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.
Joseph Patrick "Joe" Kennedy, Sr. was a prominent American businessman, investor, and government official....
, his wife Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy
Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy
Rose Elizabeth Kennedy was the wife of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. and the mother of nine children, among them United States President John F. Kennedy, United States Senator Robert F...
, and two of their sons, U.S. President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
and U.S. Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
. Their youngest son, US Senator Edward M. “Ted” Kennedy
Ted Kennedy
Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy was a United States Senator from Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party. Serving almost 47 years, he was the second most senior member of the Senate when he died and is the fourth-longest-serving senator in United States history...
lived in his parents' house, and it was his main residence from 1982 until his death in 2009.
John used the compound as a base for his successful 1960 U.S. Presidential campaign
United States presidential election, 1960
The United States presidential election of 1960 was the 44th American presidential election, held on November 8, 1960, for the term beginning January 20, 1961, and ending January 20, 1965. The incumbent president, Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower, was not eligible to run again. The Republican Party...
and later as a summer White House
Summer White Houses
A "Summer White House" is typically the name given to the regular vacation residence of the sitting President of the United States aside from Camp David, the mountain-based military camp in Frederick County, Maryland, used as a country retreat and for high-alert protection of Presidents and their...
and presidential retreat until his assassination
John F. Kennedy assassination
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas...
in 1963.
It was suggested on August 27, 2009 — following the death of Joseph Kennedy's last surviving son, U.S. Senator Edward "Ted" M. Kennedy
Ted Kennedy
Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy was a United States Senator from Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party. Serving almost 47 years, he was the second most senior member of the Senate when he died and is the fourth-longest-serving senator in United States history...
— that the compound could be transformed into an education center and museum.
History
In 1926 Joseph rented a summer cottageCottage
__toc__In modern usage, a cottage is usually a modest, often cozy dwelling, typically in a rural or semi-rural location. However there are cottage-style dwellings in cities, and in places such as Canada the term exists with no connotations of size at all...
at 28 Marchant Avenue in Hyannis Port. Two years later, he purchased the structure, which had been erected in 1904, and enlarged and remodeled it to suit his family's needs. In and around this house, their nine children spent their summers, acquiring a lifelong interest in sailing
Sailing
Sailing is the propulsion of a vehicle and the control of its movement with large foils called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and sometimes the keel or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to move the boat relative to its surrounding medium and...
and other competitive activities.
In 1956, three years after his marriage, John
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
bought a smaller home of his own at 111 Irving Avenue (41.6308°N 70.3035°W), not far from his father's home. Subsequently, Ted
Edward Kennedy
Edward Kennedy may refer to:*Ted Kennedy, Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy , United States Senator from Massachusetts*Edward Kennedy , journalist who first reported the German surrender in World War II*Edward Kennedy, Jr., son of U.S...
acquired the residence at 28 Marchant Avenue (41.63°N 70.303°W) adjacent to the other two in 1995 and sold it to Robert
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
and his wife Ethel in 1961. Edward lived in the compound until his death.
The compound also contains houses of non-Kennedy members.
Layout
All three buildings, none of which are accessible to the public, are white-frame clapboardClapboard (architecture)
Clapboard, also known as bevel siding or lap siding or weather-board , is a board used typically for exterior horizontal siding that has one edge thicker than the other and where the board above laps over the one below...
structures typical of vacation residences on Cape Cod.
Main house
Joe's home, The Main House and the largest of the three, is surrounded by well-tended lawnLawn
A lawn is an area of aesthetic and recreational land planted with grasses or other durable plants, which usually are maintained at a low and consistent height. Low ornamental meadows in natural landscaping styles are a contemporary option of a lawn...
s and garden
Garden
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has...
s and it commands sweeping views of the ocean
Ocean
An ocean is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas.More than half of this area is over 3,000...
from its long porches.
On the main floor are a living room, dining room, sun room, television room
Family room
A family room is an informal, all-purpose room in a house similar to a living room. The family room is designed to be a place where family and guests gather for group recreation like talking, reading, watching TV, and other family activities. Often, the family room is located adjacent to the...
, the bedroom that John used before he purchased his own house in the compound, the kitchen, and various pantries
Pantry
A pantry is a room where food, provisions or dishes are stored and served in an ancillary capacity to the kitchen. The derivation of the word is from the same source as the Old French term paneterie; that is from pain, the French form of the Latin panis for bread.In a late medieval hall, there were...
and utility room
Utility room
A utility room is a room within a house where equipment that are not used in day to day activities are kept. Utility refers to an item which is designed for usefulness or practical use, so in turn most of the items kept in this room have functional attributes...
s.
On the second floor are six bedrooms, a sewing room, packing room, and four servants' bedrooms. The house has a full attic
Attic
An attic is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building . Attic is generally the American/Canadian reference to it...
.
The basement
Basement
__FORCETOC__A basement is one or more floors of a building that are either completely or partially below the ground floor. Basements are typically used as a utility space for a building where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, car park, and air-conditioning system...
contains a motion-picture theater
Movie theater
A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....
and a hall covered with dolls from all around the world. A wine cellar designed after a ship's hull
Hull (watercraft)
A hull is the watertight body of a ship or boat. Above the hull is the superstructure and/or deckhouse, where present. The line where the hull meets the water surface is called the waterline.The structure of the hull varies depending on the vessel type...
and a sipping room — one of the Kennedy family's favorite hideouts. It is considered the place that Ted coined the well-known toast "There are good ships, and there are wood ships, the ships that sail the sea. But the best ships are friendships, and may they always be."
The house has changed little, either structurally or in furnishings, since John's association with it.
Grounds
Also on the grounds are an enclosed swimming poolSwimming pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is a container filled with water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest is the Olympic-size swimming pool...
, tennis court
Tennis court
A tennis court is where the game of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the center. The same surface can be used to play both doubles and singles.-Dimensions:...
, and four-car garage
Garage (house)
A residential garage is part of a home, or an associated building, designed or used for storing a vehicle or vehicles. In some places the term is used synonymously with "carport", though that term normally describes a structure that is not completely enclosed.- British residential garages:Those...
and two guest houses.
There are two circular driveways with flagpoles standing in the middle, a boathouse
Boathouse
A boathouse is a building especially designed for the storage of boats, normally smaller craft for sports or leisure use. These are typically located on open water, such as on a river. Often the boats stored are rowing boats...
and several large stretches of lawn area where the many family touch football
Touch football (American)
Touch football is a variant of American football in which the basic rules are similar to those of the mainstream game , but instead of tackling players to the ground, the person carrying the ball need only be touched by a member of the opposite team to end a down...
games were played.
Other parcels of land that assorted members of the family have purchased remain as well-tended as those of the more prominent homes.