Fort Hill Rural Historic District: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Cape Cod National Seashore
Commisso M and Tisinger J. 2025. Fort Hill Rural Historic District: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Cape Cod National Seashore. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 650072. National Park Service. NPS Northeast Regional Office, Boston, Massachusetts / CRIS-CL Database
Located in the Town of Eastham, Massachusetts, on the easternmost portion of the Cape Cod peninsula, the Fort Hill Rural Historic District occupies open area of land that provides expansive views of the Nauset Marsh and Atlantic Ocean. The property was once two large farmsteads owned by the Knowles family and their relatives by marriage, the Penniman family, from the 1740s through the 1940s. Much of the property was farmed until it changed ownership in the 1950s. The National Park Service later acquired the majority of land between 1963 and 1965 as part of Cape Cod National Seashore. The district contains the Captain Edward Penniman house and barn, Burrill (formerly Seth Knowles) house, Avery (formerly Sylvanus Knowles) house, long stone walls, stone boundary markers, and several archeological features including a sharpening rock used by Native Americans.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Commisso, Michael; Tisinger, Jake
- Date of Issue
- 2025
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- CACO , NER
- Keywords
- Agriculture, Archeology, Architecture, Avery, Burrill, Captain Edward Penniman, Community Planning and Development, Development of the Colonies, domestic, Eastham, Fort Hill, French Second Empire Style, Georgian Style, Greek Revival Style, Historic Vernacular Landscape, Knowles Family, Museum, Recreation, residential, Samuel Treat Property, Seth Knowles, Single Family Dwelling, Syvanus Knowles, Willard Knowles, William Knowles