Baxter, Capt. Rodney J. House

The Captain Rodney J. Baxter House at South and Pearl Streets in Hyannis (Barnstable) is a distinctive two-story octagon house built in 1850 with 18-inch-thick concrete walls, trimmed with a bracketed wooden cornice and a spindle-post verandah with a decorative iron balustrade. Its design follows Orson S. Fowler's contemporary book The Octagon House, A Home for All, with two large square central rooms flanked by smaller rooms and triangular closet spaces; a matching stuccoed octagonal carriage house with a cupola stands to the east. It was the home of Rodney Baxter, a noted sea captain who carried food to sufferers of the 1847 Irish famine and set record Atlantic passages before retiring from the sea in 1868. Cited as one of the finest examples of the octagon style in the entire state, it was listed under National Register Criteria B and C.

Baxter, Capt. Rodney J. House is a landmark in Barnstable, Barnstable County. It is one of 6,558 landmarks documented in Barnstable County, among 6,897 historic sites cataloged across the county on MassRoam.

The site sits at 41.6502, -70.2849 near Barnstable. The nearest cataloged historic site is Cook, S. E. House (landmark), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include House at 309 South St, Lothrop - Sherman House, and Coleman, Capt. Albert B. House.

This record is drawn from public historical records. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.