Massachusetts
The Story
The Blish-Garret House at 350 Plum Street in West Barnstable is a vernacular Georgian-period Cape Cod half-house (story and a half) built about 1760. Wood-shingled with a low roof pitch and a small off-center central chimney, it has plain trim and small-pane 12/12 windows built up to the roof eave, with ells added later on the south and east sides. The first known owner was Joseph Blish, and Garretts Pond nearby was named for Andrew Garrett, who owned the property from 1809 to 1835; the land extended to the pond, which was used from colonial times into the 1800s for the annual washing of sheep. The house reflects Barnstable's early agricultural history and survives as an intact Georgian half-Cape.
