Museum Profile
Winslow Crocker House
617-994-6661
www.historicnewengland.org/historic-properties/homes/winslow-crocker-house
In 1936, Mary Thacher had Winslow Crocker House moved six miles down the Old King's Highway to its present location. Over a ten-month period, the house was taken apart, beam by beam, and reassembled next door to her ancestral home in Yarmouth Port. Miss Thacher remodeled the interior of the house to provide an attractive backdrop the significant collection of antique furniture she collected over her lifetime.
The house was built around 1780 by Winslow Crocker, a wealthy trader and land speculator. Considering that Cape Cod in the eighteenth century was a region of small farms and fishing ports, the Winslow Crocker House is surprisingly elaborate, with rich paneling in every room.
Visitors learn about Miss Thacher’s ambitious relocating and remodeling of Winslow Crocker House, including changes she made to the paneling, windows, and fireplaces. The result of her efforts is a colonial Cape Cod house with a twentieth-century flavor. Rooms are filled with Miss Thacher's impressive collection of furniture, which represents a thorough survey of early American styles, including Jacobean, William and Mary, Queen Anne, and Chippendale. The furniture is accented by colorful hooked rugs, ceramics, and pewter.