“It ain’t bragging if it’s true.” Ty Cobb’s famous quote fits Yarmouth perfectly regarding Cape Cod houses. Yes, it’s true that Cape Cod houses were first named by Timothy Dwight, president of Yale University, after he saw them in Yarmouth. So, our town is responsible for the naming of the style. It’s worth bragging about.

The half-house (originally called a "house" because it had one large room called a "hall"), had two windows on one side of the door. The door was at the front corner of the house, with the chimney directly behind it. This house could be enlarged easily to either the three-quarter or the full house as space was needed. The half-house was normally sixteen to twenty feet wide. That size related to English houses which often doubled as oxen stables. Two oxen needed a minimum of sixteen feet.

A half cape, 187 Old King’s Highway, Yarmouth Port.

The three-quarter house (originally a house and a half) had one window on one side of the door and two on the other. The chimney was directly behind the front door. In the full house (originally the double house), there were two windows on either side of the door. These houses were between thirty-four and forty feet wide. Often the placement of windows was not balanced as symmetry was believed to be the work of the devil! The chimney was again placed behind the door. There are rare cases of quarter houses, having only one window on the front wall. In South Dennis, there are two full Cape houses with three windows on one side and two one the other.

A full Cape, 182 Old King’s Highway, Yarmouth Port

Visual dating means looking at three features; the chimney, the foundation, and placement of windows on the front wall. After 1750, chimneys started getting smaller. Just prior to 1800, windows and doors slowly dropped from being tucked directly under the box cornice, as in the above photo, where roof meets wall. The house rose from sitting directly on ground level to a foundation lifting it as much as a foot.

By 1830, the front wall was nearly ten feet high, giving more room on the second floor. There was nearly four feet of space between the top of the windows and the start of the roof. This didn’t happen quickly. Windows dropped about a foot every ten years. By 1840 all it took was to turn the roof 90 degrees which moved the door to the gable end of the house, and the New England frame house was created.

A three-quarter Cape, or “house and a half” on Highbank Road. Note the lower windows, higher roofline.

Dating must be done locally, as styles and trends lagged in some places by as much as twenty years. However, once one house in the community is dated, others can be dated from it.

The chimney gives unreliable clues to a house's age, due to rebuilding. Early chimneys had tremendous fireplaces with an oven in the back of the fireplace. The large chimney helped retain heat. In a full house, the chimney might have as many as five fireplaces, with half-houses having two. Earliest chimneys had ledges built into them for a beam.

Shortly after 1800, a Count Rumford proposed radical fireplace changes, with dimensions or shallow, well-drawing fireplaces. Rumford's design, coupled with increasing popularity of coal, allowed for smaller fireplaces and thus smaller chimneys. By 1830, the narrow chimney and smaller fireplace was popular; the large chimney almost never built.

Windows generally had the top window fixed in place until the 1840's, and only the bottom window slid up and down. Most early windows were 9 panes over 6 with only the 6 portion moving. By the American Revolution, 6/6 had become more popular. Construction of the window indicates the age of the window, not the age of the house.

Earliest Capes were built on the ground, the sills sitting on base stones. Earliest foundations were virtually invisible from the outside. Little circular cold cellars were dug, with a trap door inside to this place of storage. Cut granite foundations came later. By 1800, most sills were off the ground, usually on granite.

Building a stone foundation for the Winslow Crocker House, 1935.

Concrete was seldom used as a house foundation much before the 20th century. Even brick, available from earliest times, seldom got used until Victorian times. Old Capes with full brick or concrete foundations have been updated at some point in their past.

With post and beam construction, the beams had to be of considerable size for a gently sloped roof. Earlier roofs tended to have steeper pitches, because beams were cut nearby and large beams were not as accessible. On Cape Cod timber became scarce; timber reuse was common. Cedar shakes were the most common roof covering, although pine shakes were also used. Roofing boards were often not trimmed on all sides, but covered by shingles.

The way boards were sawn gives evidence to their age, although this isn’t visible from the outside. Large timbers with saw cuts on a slight diagonal but straight were made using the pit saw. These were the earliest. The slight angle was so the man in the pit didn't get quite so much sawdust on him. No boards prior to the American Revolution could exceed two feet wide, as all trees greater than this were marked for use by the British Navy for their ships.

1830 marked major changes in construction. Railroads became more widespread allowing goods to be carried to all parts of the northeast. Bricks were machine made and took on their standard size of 2 1/2" x 4" x 8." Earlier, size varied according to the person making them as smaller bricks could be fired more easily in home-made kilns. The use of coal greatly accelerated in the years after 1830 and this had a large influence on the way bricks were used in building. Glass became more plentiful and windows had large panes of 2 over 2; during the Victorian era 1 over 1 came into vogue.

Bricks being made at the West Barnstable Brick Factory

Tools also changed. During this time the circular saw came into general use, making saw-cut wood more easily obtained. The power planer led to larger smoother boards, replacing the hand plane. The scroll saw allowed intricate designs to be cut in the wood, so evident and common during the carpenter Gothic period. Balloon framing started to replace post and beam during this period.

So, keep your eyes on the road, but a quick peek will give you a hint to the age of the Cape house you’re passing.

Written and researched by Duncan Oliver