Captain Bangs Hallet House Museum

Today, this sea captain’s home, the only one on Cape Cod regularly open to visitors, provides an intimate glance into 19th century family life. The parlors are arranged as if the captain was just returning from his voyage to China, likely 16 to 18 months duration. His gifts of silk fabric, toys, porcelain, lacquered pieces and tea are on display as well as costumes from the period. Knowledgeable docents lead guided tours of the museum and relate lively stories of Yarmouth captains’ hair-raising adventures at sea. New this year is a gentleman’s study and a refurbished dining room. In the basement of the original house, a special exhibit of an 18th century kitchen features an extensive collection of early lighting fixtures.

Prominent in the Maritime Room hangs a large oil painting of the clipper ship The Red Jacket by artist Axel William Torgerson. The Red Jacket’s first commander was a Yarmouth captain, Asa Eldredge. In this room one will see artifacts, other marine paintings, ship models and antique navigational equipment.

The Captain Bangs Hallet House was built by a member of the Thacher family around the year 1840. Incorporating an older structure to the rear, the house has an unusual floor plan and a unique cellar kitchen. After the Thacher family, the house was occupied by the family of Captain Allen Hinckley Knowles, one of Yarmouth's better known clipper ship captains and skipper of the famous Donald McKay ship Chariot of Fame. In 1863, Knowles swapped homes with Captain Bangs Hallet who had recently retired from a long and illustrious career at sea. Bangs and Anna Hallet occupied their retirement home until their deaths in the late 19th century.