The Kennedy Compound consists of three houses on of waterfront property in

Hyannis Port, Massachusetts Hyannis Port (or Hyannisport) is a small residential village located in the town of Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States. It is a summer community on Hyannis Harbor, 1.4 miles (2.3 km) to the south-southwest of Hyannis. Community It ...

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer months. The ...

. It was once the home of Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., an American businessman, investor, and diplomat; his wife,

Rose A rose is either a woody perennial plant, perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred Rose species, species and Garden roses, tens of thousands of cultivar ...

; and their nine children, including U.S. President and Senator

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

and U.S. Senators Robert F. Kennedy and Edward M. Kennedy. As an adult, the youngest son, Edward, lived in his parents' house, and it was his primary residence from 1982 until he died of brain cancer at the compound, in August 2009. Purchased in 1928, the compound became the place that the

Kennedy family The Kennedy family () is an American political family that has long been prominent in American politics, public service, entertainment, and business. In 1884, 35 years after the family's arrival from County Wexford, Ireland, Patrick Joseph "P ...

most associated with home. John F. Kennedy used the compound as a base for his successful 1960 U.S. presidential campaign and later as a Summer White House and presidential retreat. In 2012, the main house was donated to the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate.

History

In 1926, Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. rented a summer

cottage A cottage, during Feudalism in England, England's feudal period, was the holding by a cottager (known as a cotter or ''bordar'') of a small house with enough garden to feed a family and in return for the cottage, the cottager had to provide ...

at 50 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 growing family's needs. In and around this house, their nine children spent their summers and early autumns, acquiring a lifelong interest in

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, Windsurfing, windsurfer, or Kitesurfing, kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (Land sa ...

and other competitive activities. The Kennedys previously spent their summers at a cottage on Nantasket Beach in

Hull, Massachusetts Hull is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States, located on a peninsula at the southern edge of Boston Harbor. Its population was 10,072 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Hull is the smallest town by land area in P ...

(where Joseph Jr. was born in 1915). In the mid-1920s, the Kennedys explored purchasing a home in

Cohasset, Massachusetts Cohasset is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the population was 8,381. History Cohasset was inhabited by the Pokanoket until 1649, when it was conquered by the Wampanoag, ...

, but when Joe Sr. applied for membership at the exclusive Cohasset Country Club, he was blackballed. Historian

Doris Kearns Goodwin Doris Helen Kearns Goodwin (born January 4, 1943) is an American biographer, historian, former sports journalism, sports journalist, and political commentator. She has written biographies of numerous U.S. presidents. Goodwin's book ''No Ordinary ...

wrote that in Cohasset, "Irish Catholics were still looked down upon by the reigning Protestant (WASP) establishment." Joe Sr., who had connections with the members at the Hyannisport Golf Club, was accepted in spite of it being another "Yankee stronghold." It was a deciding factor for Joe Sr. to purchase a house in the seaside village. In 1941, the Hyannis Port home became the family's primary (legal) residence. In 1956, John bought a smaller home of his own at 111 Irving Avenue,⁽⁾ not far from his father's home. In 1959, Edward acquired the residence at 28 Marchant Avenue ⁽⁾ adjacent to the other two, but in 1961 sold it to Robert and his wife Ethel. Edward lived in the main house at the compound until his death.

Layout

All three buildings are white, frame, clapboard structures typical of vacation residences on Cape Cod. Except for specific occasions at the Main House, the buildings are not available for public visitation.

Main house

Joseph Sr.'s home, the Main House and the largest of the three, is surrounded by well-tended

lawn A lawn () is an area of soil-covered land planted with Poaceae, grasses and other durable plants such as clover lawn, clover which are maintained at a short height with a lawn mower (or sometimes grazing animals) and used for aesthetic an ...

s and

garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...

s and it commands sweeping views of Nantucket Sound from its long porches. On the main floor are a living room, dining room, sun room, television room, kitchen, various

pantries A pantry is a room or cupboard where drink, beverages, food, (sometimes) dishes, household cleaning products, linens or provisions are stored within a home or office. Food and beverage pantries serve in an ancillary capacity to the kitchen. E ...

utility room A utility room is a room where equipment not used in day-to-day activities is 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. A utility ...

s and the bedroom that John used before he purchased his own house in the compound. On the second floor there are six bedrooms, a sewing room, packing room, and four servants' bedrooms. The house has a full

attic An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building. It is also known as a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because they fill the space between the ceiling of a building's t ...

. The

basement A basement is any Storey, floor of a building that is not above the grade plane. Especially in residential buildings, it often is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the Furnace (house heating), furnace, water heating, ...

contains a motion-picture theater and a hall covered with dolls from all around the world. The dolls belonged to Joseph Sr. and were gifted to him from a number of different acquaintances during his time as the 44th US Ambassador to the United Kingdom. The house has changed little, either structurally or in furnishings, since President Kennedy's association with it. In 2012, the main house was donated by the Kennedy family to the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate. On the grounds are an enclosed

swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming and associated activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built abo ...

tennis court A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both Types of tennis match, doubles and singles matches. A variet ...

, a four-car garage, and two guest houses. There are two circular driveways with

flagpole A flagpole, flagmast, flagstaff, or staff is a pole designed to support a flag. If it is taller than can be easily reached to raise the flag, a cord is used, looping around a pulley at the top of the pole with the ends tied at the bottom. The fla ...

s standing in the middle, a

boathouse A boathouse (or a boat house) is a building especially designed for the storage of boats, normally smaller craft for sports or leisure use. describing the facilities These are typically located on open water, such as on a river. Often the boats ...

and several large stretches of lawn area where many of the 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.

References

Sources

External links