Falmouth Museums on the Green

Falmouth Museums on the Green Review

This cluster of museums represents life in colonial Cape Cod. The 1790 Julia Wood House retains wonderful architectural details—a widow's walk, wide-plank floors, leaded-glass windows, and a colonial kitchen with a huge hearth. Antique embroideries, baby shoes and clothes, toys and dolls, portraits, furniture, and the trappings of an authentically equipped doctor's office, all from the house's onetime owner, fill the premises. Out back, a barn displays antique farm implements, a 19th-century horse-drawn sleigh, and other interesting items. Next door, the smaller Conant House, a 1730-60 half Cape (an asymmetrical 1½-story building), holds changing exhibitions including military memorabilia, whaling items, scrimshaw, sailors' valentines, and a genealogical- and historical-research library. One collection includes books, portraits, and other items relating to Katharine Lee Bates, the native daughter who wrote "America the Beautiful."

Guides give tours of the museums at 11, and the adjacent formal garden with a gazebo and flagstone paths is a great place to relax afterward. Free demonstrations of colonial skills are offered on Friday in July and August. You might get a chance to dip a candle, churn butter, weave a basket, or learn some sea chanteys.