Marston Family Bed & Breakfast

This home is an example of a Georgian full Cape. The windows are dropping down from the roof's edge, which is indicative of the Georgian-Cape styling. The front door has a transom with five lights. It has double-hung 6/6 windows with shutters on the front and double-hung 2/2 windows on the sides. The house has two original chimneys with four working fireplaces plus a newer chimney in the rear. Two dormers have been added in the back roof. The exterior front is white painted clapboard made from white oak and chestnut. There is a fieldstone wall bordering the road in front of the house.

The parlor is wainscoted. The borning room has been converted to a bathroom. In the keeping room the fireplace has a delicately hand carved mantle. The original wide pine floor boards are still present. Under the Kitchen and accessed through a trap door is an 10' diameter 6'deep root cellar constructed of small carved English brick. 11 original interior doors and hardware still remain. A set of steep stairs run from the keeping room to the attic, a common feature in Cape homes. Upstairs there are two original rooms and a large storage room, which has been remodeled into a bedroom.

Directly behind the residence stands a barn built in the Greek Revival style. The barn is a full two story structure measuring 20' x 20'. Its hand pegged, braced, pit sawed, pine beam structure is noteworthy of the barn's construction. The wide pine planked floor is fastened with hand wrought iron nails. Under the first floor is an 8' diameter 6'deep root cellar constructed of small carved English brick. In the SW corner of the first floor is a set of narrow steep stairs leading to the second floor. There is a ladder leading up to a loft. There is an antique copper goose weathervane on the roof.

Historical Significance:

This house has been owned by 10 members of four or five families in the past 218 years: timeline:

*Based on Town of Barnstable Historical Commission Survey of Historic Homes-, However this is unsupported by Census, Family or Probate records. Stephen Davis's argument that Joseph Bassett, Brother of Daniel Bassett, was the builder and first resident is partially supported by Census, early maps and family history. Both the Historic Comission and Davis agree that the house was built in 1786. The biographical facts of the Marstons given below are accurate, whether or not Winslow and Nymphas Marston built and/or lived in the house.

-Snowden, Laurie P., recorder. Barnstable Historical Commission, "Form B - Building, area B, Form no. 38, Winston Marston House". Boston: Massachusetts Historical Commission, June, 1981.

Winslow Marston 1786 - 1817

Winslow Marston built the Winslow Marston House on Marston Avenue, Hyannis Port in 1786 after having obtained the land from his paternal uncle*, the influential town leader, early Tory turned prominent independence advocate and respected County Judge, Hon. Nymphas Marston Esq. He was the adopted son of his uncle Nymphas whose children died in childhood. (See biography: Nymphas Marston)

Deacon Winslow Marston was born June 1, 1764 in Marston Mills, the son of local business leader and mill owner Prince Marston and Sarah Winslow Marston.

The brothers Nymphas and Prince were sons of Benjamin Marston, born about 1694 in Salem. Soon after December 8, 1716, Benjamin and his wife Lydia Goodspeed Marston moved from Taunton to Barnstable where he built and operated a grist-mill. In 1738 he acquired the first mill in America for carding wool and fulling cloth, which had been established in 1689 by Thomas Macy. The pioneer mills and woolen factory were the nucleus for the village of Marstons Mills. Prince succeeded his father in the management of the mills.

Winslow married Elizabeth Blish, born July 31, 1765, Daughter of Lt. Joseph Blish, on July 22, 1786, and moved to their new home in Hyannis Port where they raised five children. He was bequeathed Nymphas' extensive properties and later settled on Nymphas' estate, adjacent to that of his father Prince in Marstons Mills.

Winslow was a yeoman and not politically active. He was a man of conspicuous virtues, a deacon of the West Parish Meeting House, and quite wealthy. Elizabeth Blish Marston died August 5,1837 at the age of 72 and is buried in the Marston Mills Cemetery. He died 14 years later on January 6, 1852 at age 87 and is also buried at Marstons mills Cemetery.

Lithograph of Winslow's Uncle, Nymphas Marston and his signature. (engraving copied from original painting by Coply) This original lithograph and Marston Family Papers. Ca. 1819-1865 9 including deeds (ca. 1819-1858) of Allen, Benjamin, Clement, and Winslow (yeoman); Charles, as assignee in a bankruptcy case; and William (trader), all of Barnstable, to real estate in Barnstable. Also a certificate of marriage in 1865 of Prentiss (farmer) to Sophronia Backus, both of Barnstable are also in the Nickerson Room manuscript collection at Cape Cod Community College.

Some writings of Nymphas Marston (which I have not yet researched) are among the Joseph Emerson Smith Papers, 1803-1874, at the Harvard
Law School Depository, Modern Manuscript Collection, Special Collections.

Nymphas Marston, 1817 - 1826?

Their first child, Nymphas Marston, was born February 1, 1788, ten days before the death of his namesake uncle. Nymphas graduated with a bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard College in 1807. During the War of 1812: Nymphas along with his brother Prentice and first cousin Clement, were privates in the Massachusetts Militia in Capt. Calvin Crocker's Company from January 28 to October 5, 1814. The company was raised in Falmouth on January 28, 1814, at the time the British brig "Nimrod" bombarded the town.

Nymphas was married to Elizabeth Weld Blish, born January 25th, 1800, daughter of Maj. Joseph Blish, about 1817 by the Reverend Oakes Shaw, pastor of the West Parish of Barnstable, father of William Smith Shaw.

Nymphas gained possession of the family home at Hyannis Port. They had one surviving child, Prentiss, born December 15, 1817, who always lived in Barnstable and succeeded to his fathers estate. Their second child, Oakes Shaw Marston, was born in May,1820.

Elizabeth died soon after the birth of Oakes Shaw, on June 15, 1820 at age 2I. Oakes Shaw died March 13, 1821 at age 10 mo. It seems Nymphas never remarried as he was listed in the 1850 Barnstable census as living with his father Winslow and son Prentice.

Nymphas became an influential attorney at law of great reputation, an eminent counselor and highly respected as a citizen. He served as the County representative to the Massachusetts General Court from 1821-1823 and was a member of the State Senate in 1826 and 1827.

He served as Justice of the Peace in Barnstable County from 1827-1828, The records of Justice Nymphas Marston, 1 vol. 49pgs. Typescript is in the Nickerson Room manuscript collection at Cape Cod Community College.

He was appointed by Governor Lincoln as Judge of the Barnstable County Probate in February 1828 where he served 26 years with distinction until December 1854. At some time he moved to and retired on his fathers estate in Marstons Mills.

He died May 2, 1864 in Barnstable, MA. The epitaph on his grave marker in Marstons Mills reads: "As a man he was modest, sincere, and upright; as a friend he was faithful, constant, and true; as a judge he was able, impartial, and sympathetic, the protector of the widow and orphan. A learned lawyer, a wise and discrete counselor, a persuasive and winning advocate, richly furnished for all the contests of the bar. He sought no professional triumphs at the expense of trust or the sacrifice of justice, won his highest distinction in settling differences and in composing strifes." He is quoted as saying: "I was a father to the poor and the cause which I knew not I searched out."

He was a man of "infinite jest". There is an often told story of Nymphas Marston that; while defending a man charged with the theft of a pig, Marston told the jury this had been a case of mistaken identity, his client had a spotless reputation, and he was a hard worker and honest in his dealings with others. Marston's plea was so eloquent and persuasive, that the jury deliberated only a few minutes before finding his client not guilty. Once the verdict was announced, the defendant turned to Marston and asked, "So what do I do with the pig?" Marston replied. "Eat it... The jury has found that you did not steal it."

In another case argued before a jury at Barnstable, a man was tried by the district attorney, Nymphas Marston for a violent assault. In argument, his defense counsel, who was from an inland county, alluded to the fact that the injured person had not called a doctor to treat wounds which he had described as serious, and based the defense very largely upon this. He saw no possible answer to his argument. But he did not know his ground.

Judge Marston, afterward attorney-general of the State, born and bred of a family of Barnstable lawyers, had this ready answer. "Gentlemen," he said, "you have heard the plausible argument of my ingenious young legal friend, who has come from a distant city to enlighten your benighted understandings, and you see through his sophistry. You all know the father of the victim of this assault is a ship Captain; you know what our young friend, with all his learning, has plainly never discovered; that a man is not master of a ship for thirty years without learning how to deal with wounds, and you know well that there is no doctor on Cape Cod who can heal cuts and bruises better than the Captain can. Why should he have sent for a doctor?"

Captain Zenas Marston: 1826? - 1885

Captain Zenas Marston and his Wife Mary Scudder Marston,
Photos courtesy of special collection, Sturgis Library, Barnstable

Zenas was a Master Deep Water Mariner who operated large schooners carrying bulk cargoes up and down the East Coast. He was a meticulous man who according to a niece had a clean shirt and shaved every day during his voyages. On long trips, he would take enough shirts for a year, all handmade by his wife. He was Treasurer of the Barnstable Fraternal lodge A. F. and M. E. (Masons) for 25 Years. His next-door neighbor to the west, Daniel Bassett, a gentleman, was Master of the Lodge in 1852.

He was listed in the 1830 Barnstable Census as 20-30 years old living with a woman, surely Mary, adjacent to his father Clement and other family in Marstons Mills. All three of their children died in infancy. They are buried in Hyannis at the Oak Grove Cemetery opposite the Sea Street Market. Their 2-foot high white marble stone reads:

Mary probably wanted to live in Hyannis Port to be close to her many Scudder family members and childhood friends there and incidentally away from his many family members in Marstons Mills, especially considering that her husband was often away at sea. When they moved is still unknown, though the Hyannis burial location of their children may indicate a move soon after their marriage in 1826. Perhaps they were only visiting Marstons Mills on the date of the census enumeration.

In the 1850 Census, Zenus was listed #534 as a 48-year-old sailor with a $1,000. estate, living with 47 year old wife Mary S. and, strangely, a 1 year old girl, Sarah B. He was listed after Daniel and Sarah Bassett #533 and before David Hinckley #535 a 73 year old farmer, Prince L. Bassett #536 a 28 year old sailor and Nathaniel Bassett #537, a 56 year old sailor.

As Zenus and Mary's 3 children all died in infancy they may have been looking after Sarah Bassett Coleman (1849-1908), the daughter of Mary Bearse (1826-1884) and Hemen J. Coleman, Sr., a sailor (1815-1909). Mary Bearse was the adopted daughter of Daniel and Sarah (Linnell) Bassett who lived at their house next door with them and her husband Hemen .

On the 1856 Town of Barnstable Map by H. E. Walling, The homes of D. l. Bassett, Z. Marston on the North and an unlabeled home and N. Bassett (22 Nob Hill Rd.) on the south are shown in that order from west to east in Hyannis Port, on an unnamed street now Marston Ave., . The unlabeled home near the present location of 99 Marston ave. may have been that of Prince L. Bassett b. 1822, who appears only in the 1850 Census.

The 1870 Census lists Zenus as a 67-year-old seaman with $1,500 real estate and $5,000 personal estate. 65-year-old Mary was listed as keeping house. Mary died March 23,1878. The 1880 Census of Hyannisport lists Zenus Marston as a 77 year old widowed retired mariner living alone. He is listed between Sarah Bassett age 76 and John G. and Prudence (Bassett) Lumbert, ages 53 and 49.

Zenas died Dec. __, 1885 at age 83. Zenus and Mary are buried in Hyannis at the Oak Grove Cemetery, above the three Baxter/Hallett crypts on the hill just south of the small marshy hollow, just in front of their children. Their three-foot granite stone reads simply:

He willed all his vessells property and real estate to his youngest Brother Russell.

Capt. Russell Marston, 1885 - 1887

Capt. Russell Marston inherited the 4-acre homestead from his oldest brother Capt. Zenas Marston but probably never actually lived there. Russell Marston was born in 1816 in Boston, the youngest of seven children of Clement Marston, 1771-1841.

Capt. Russell went to sea at the age of nine as a cabin boy and cook earning $3.00/mo. In 1842 he married Sara Crosby and lived in the front part of the home of his brother in-law, Hilman Crosby, where their son Howard was born in 1846. By this time, he was Captain and owner of the coastal schooner "Outvil".

At the age of thirty one, in 1847, he sold his ship, turned his back on the sea and started the famous Marston's Restaurants, Well known for good food in Boston. The first restaurant was a ten-stool shack on Commercial Wharf, where the specialty was Cape Cod Clam Chowder. In 1949 Russell expanded his business to 13 Brattle St. , serving regular diners and again expanded in 1854 to a large establishment at 25 - 27 Brattle St. In 1859 he built a prominent Victorian style residence across the street from Hilman Crosby on extensive lands of what is now 454 Main Street, Centerville. By 1882, he had another restaurant on 17 Hanover St. A third restaurant on Summer St. also served alcoholic beverages but was not successful.

Russell Marston was an avowed abolitionist who on at least one occasion assisted a runaway slave to freedom. He befriended abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, who had a summer home in nearby Wianno. His restaurants were the only ones in the city to welcome blacks at that time.

Russell was highly successful and well established in Centerville by the time he inherited his brother Zenus's modest home and small farm in 1885 and certainly did not need it as a place to live.

His son, Howard Marston, second generation in the restaurant family, with partners Woodbury and Wing, added The Mercantile Dining Room at 4 N. Market St, Boston to the Marston Family Restaurant chain. Apparently another restaurant was added because, in 1912 The Centerville Club of Boston held its annual meeting in the Marstons Restaurant on Devonshire Street. The Barnstable Patriot reported a bountiful collation was served. These restaurants grew to serve 10,000 meals daily. Dinnerware, menus and business cards from the Marstons Restaurants are on display in the alcove of the Mary Lincoln House, in Centerville, site of the Centerville Historical Society Museum.

Eight 8-inch International Silver Co. silver soldered bread plates engraved "Marston's" were recently acquired by Marcus Sherman from an estate sale in Hyannis Port. Six of them are on display in the Kitchen at 70 Marston Ave. These old plates, earlier purchased from the Fernbrook Estate in Centerville, are thought to have been originally used in Marston's Restaurants. Their engraving matches the Marstons silver on display with other Marston memorabilia at the Centerville Historic Society Museum. Two of the Marston's plates were donated by Marcus to the museum in 2004.

Howard Marston built a beautiful 14 acre Estate called "Fernbrook" at 481-495 Main st. in 1881, across the street from Russell’s house. Herbert Kalmus later bought this estate and summered in there. An MIT graduate and 1912 inventor of Technicolor, Kalmus hosted stars of the movies and politics, including Walt Disney, John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. Cardinal Spellman of Boston was a frequent guest and a room at Fernbrook is named for him. The beautiful gardens of Fernwood were designed for Kalmus by Frederick Law Olmsted, the progressive founder of American landscape architecture.

A prominent citizen, Kalmus donated Dunbar’s Point, a large projection of beach land in Hyannis Harbor, now called Kalmus Beach, to the Town of Barnstable and the 7 1/2 acre hilltop behind Fernbrook, where Our Lady of Victory Church presides, to the Catholic Church.

Russell Kelly Marston, son of Howard, and his wife Elizabeth Kilpatrick Marston (1906 -2004) operated the Log Cabin Gift Shop in Centerville, where they built and sold furniture and ran a charter boat service on their sloop, the Hobo.

More detailed information on Russell and Howard Marston is in: THREE CENTURIES OF CENTERVILLE SCENES. VIGNETTES OF A CAPE COD VILLAGE. by Charles F. Herberger, PhD. available from the Centerville Historical Society

The Smith Family, 1887 - 1946

The 1880 Hyannisport Census Lists Prince B. Smith, a 20 year old farm laborer, the fifth of ten children of John Smith, a farmer, and his wife Emily. Prince's older brothers, Herbert A. age 23 and Francis E. age 21, were also farm laborers. They had one older and four younger sisters. They lived nearby and it is likely that the Smiths worked the Marston land before Zenus Marston's death in 1885.

In 1887, at age 27, Prince B. Smith purchased the property from Russell Marston. Deed text

Soon after Prince Smith bought the property, he planted the two large European Linden trees now shading the front of the house. Prince operated a thriving vegetable farm for many years, supplying local markets with cartloads of fresh produce. He also used to sell ice and milk. The 1910 Census of Marston St. lists Prince B. age 50 truck farmer, living with his wife Alice M. age 43 mother of 5 children four surviving, daughter Janice B. age 17 and son John B. age 10. Prince and Alice were later divorced and in 1925, Alice sold the property to their son John B. Smith and his wife Marion G. Smith. Gradually the property was subdivided and the farm fields sold for construction of new homes.

Ernest P. Wendemuth, 1946 - 1959

In 1946, the Smiths sold the remaining .43 acres of property surrounding the house and barn to Ernest P. Wendemuth of Stuart, Florida who used it as his families' summer residence. Perhaps he is the husband of Lillian E. Wendemuth, 1904 - 1991, who is buried at St. Marys Memorial Garden in Stuart Florida.

Frank M. Sherman III, 1959 - 1987

In 1959 Ernest sold the property to Frank Morton Sherman III, a carpenter and his wife Bonnie Bandy Sherman, an executive secretary. They moved from South Yarmouth with their four young children; Marcus Morton, Sarah, Peter Barrows and Paul Gifford. The Shermans are direct descendants of several Mayflower Passengers and first English settlers of Dartmouth, Ma.

Frank made several improvements to the house including installation of new oil fired furnace with forced hot water baseboard heat in every room of the house, construction of two large dormers in the attic and conversion of the attic to a large bedroom, new asphalt shingle roof, new cedar shingle exterior, redecorating of all rooms, upgraded electric wiring, replumbing the bathroom, installation of new septic system, installation of storm windows throughout the house, construction of a greenhouse off the laundry room in the rear of the house and installation of insulation, electric heat and benches for a workshop on the first floor of the barn.

The children spent many happy years playing and growing up on the old Marston homestead, then moved away to college and their own lives. Bonnie died in 1982 from a stroke suffered while she and Frank were planting potatoes in the garden behind the barn. Frank remarried in 1984 to Tibby Gould and moved away to her house off Gosnold St. Frank died in 1997.

Marcus M. Sherman, 1987 - present

Marcus and Judith Taylor Hannegan were married in 1976 and had three fine children. Kelly Taylor was born 1978 in Worcester, Ma., Anne Gifford and Nicholas Morton were born in Bangkok, Thailand in 1981 and 1983 respectively, while their father was employed there working on rural development projects. In 1985 the young Sherman family returned to the U.S.A. and moved into the old Marston home. In 1987 Marcus purchased the home from his father to raise his family and made several improvements to the house.

In 1987, Marcus established a new business, Catboat Rides Inc., taking tourists for sailboat rides. In 1999 he and Judith were divorced and she moved off Cape.

By 2002 the Sherman children had all left home for college and Marcus established the Marston Family Bed & Breakfast. A new era in the History of the Winslow Marston House had begun. In 2005 Marcus Married Lynette Furtado and they both now serve as innkeepers of the B&B.

History of the Winslow Marston House
In Hyannis Port, Barnstable, Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Architectural Significance:

Historical Significance:

Winslow Marston 1786 - 1817

Nymphas Marston, 1817 - 1826?

Captain Zenas Marston: 1826? - 1885

Captain Zenas Marston and his Wife Mary Scudder Marston,
Photos courtesy of special collection, Sturgis Library, Barnstable

Capt. Russell Marston, 1885 - 1887

The Smith Family, 1887 - 1946

Ernest P. Wendemuth, 1946 - 1959

Frank M. Sherman III, 1959 - 1987

Marcus M. Sherman, 1987 - present

History of the Winslow Marston House In Hyannis Port, Barnstable, Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Architectural Significance:

Historical Significance:

Winslow Marston 1786 - 1817

Nymphas Marston, 1817 - 1826?

Captain Zenas Marston: 1826? - 1885

Captain Zenas Marston and his Wife Mary Scudder Marston, Photos courtesy of special collection, Sturgis Library, Barnstable

Capt. Russell Marston, 1885 - 1887

The Smith Family, 1887 - 1946

Ernest P. Wendemuth, 1946 - 1959

Frank M. Sherman III, 1959 - 1987

Marcus M. Sherman, 1987 - present

History of the Winslow Marston House
In Hyannis Port, Barnstable, Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Captain Zenas Marston and his Wife Mary Scudder Marston,
Photos courtesy of special collection, Sturgis Library, Barnstable