Penniman, Capt. Edward Stone Retaining Wall

This retaining wall is a feature of the Captain Edward Penniman House property in Eastham, a two-and-a-half-story Second Empire style frame house built in 1867 for whaling captain Edward Penniman, described historically as "the finest house in Eastham." The yellow clapboard house, with its red mansard roof, Corinthian-columned porch, and octagonal cupola, sits on an artificial terrace built up on the south side of Fort Hill Road and retained by a stone wall, with a matching barn (c. 1800) to the rear. Penniman (1831-1913) went to sea at age eleven and commanded whaling voyages to southern and Arctic waters out of New Bedford over a long career, notably returning from one three-year South Atlantic voyage with one of the largest hauls of oil ever landed at New Bedford; he retired to Eastham and built the house and its terracing in 1867. The property is significant as the only whaling captain's house in Eastham and the only one within the Cape Cod National Seashore boundaries.

Penniman, Capt. Edward Stone Retaining Wall is a landmark in Eastham, 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 41.8186, -69.9655 near Eastham. The nearest cataloged historic site is Penniman, Capt. Edward Hitching Posts (historical marker), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Penniman, Capt. Edward Whalebone Gate, Penniman, Capt. Edward House, and Penniman, Capt. Edward Flagpole.

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