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The Official Page of Osterville Village

@ostervilleofficial

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Sometimes we forget how lucky we are.

Dowses before sunrise, captured by @wcvb5 morning anchor @doug.meehan (@dougmeehanphotography).

Your pick: sunrise or sunset at Dowses?

#Osterville #DowsesBeach #CapeCod #CapeCodSunrise #VisitCapeCod taken in Dowses Beach Osterville, MA by @ostervilleofficial

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4 days ago

As Wimpy’s closes its doors in Osterville today, we’re sharing a message from the Hostetter family - a thank-you to the staff and patrons who made it special, and a look at what comes next.

Swipe to read their full statement.

#Osterville #Wimpys #CapeCod #OstervilleVillage #CapeCodHistory taken in Wimpy's Seafood Cafe & Market by @ostervilleofficial

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7 days ago

October 10 will be Wimpy’s final day in Osterville - closing out an 88-year run in the village where it began.

Wimpy’s isn’t disappearing. It’s moving to the Roadhouse Cafe location in Hyannis, where it plans to remain open year-round. But after nearly nine decades, this is the end of an unmistakably Osterville chapter.

The story began in 1938, when Raymond and Winnie Hostetter opened a six-stool hamburger stand, partly to feed telephone workers who had nowhere nearby for lunch. The name came from J. Wellington Wimpy, Popeye’s hamburger-loving character.

Those six stools eventually grew into the 200+ seat restaurant generations know today. For roughly 40 years, one specialty was an oversized open-faced cheeseburger topped with onion, tomato, relish, and a single green olive.

Raymond and Winnie’s son Vincent “Skip” Hostetter, who grew up in the house behind Wimpy’s, started working there at eight, washing dishes and sweeping floors. He later graduated from the Culinary Institute of America and, after his father died in 1970, helped take over. Skip became known for doing everything from running the kitchen to renovations - even building Wimpy’s long bar from different woods.

The Hostetters owned Wimpy’s for 58 years before the Siscoe family bought it in 1996. In 2017, Raymond’s grandson Adam brought it back into the family. Fun fact: Adam also represented the U.S. in snowboarding at the 1998 Winter Olympics, when snowboarding made its Olympic debut.

The vintage photo here is from the era when it was billed as “Wimpy’s Restaurant & Tower Club.”

By then, Wimpy’s had long been woven into village life. Early Osterville Men’s Club members would gather at the Fox Hole before crossing the street to Wimpy’s for dinner. Generations came for the tavern, seafood market, fieldstone fireplace, family dinners, familiar servers, and traditions passed down through families.

For a place that started with six stools, it leaves quite a footprint.

Share your favorite Wimpy’s memory below - a go-to meal, favorite server, family tradition, old photo or anything else you’ll remember about the Osterville location.

#Osterville #Wimpys #CapeCod #OstervilleVillage #OldCape taken in Osterville, Cape Cod, MA by @ostervilleofficial

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23 days ago

82 years ago today, a hurricane erased a mansion from Dowses Beach.

On September 14, 1944, the Great Atlantic Hurricane struck Cape Cod with destructive winds and storm-driven flooding that devastated low-lying parts of Osterville.

At the time, Dowses wasn’t a public beach. The point at East Bay was the Dowse family estate, with a waterfront mansion roughly where the bathhouse is today.

William B.H. Dowse was a Harvard-educated patent lawyer and businessman who married Fanny Reed, daughter of Henry G. Reed of @reedandbarton. After Reed’s death, Dowse became president of the famed silver company and helped modernize and expand it.

He was the Wianno Yacht Club’s first recorded commodore (1913-15), and in 1913 he and Henry Day approached H. Manley Crosby about creating the one-design sailboat that became the Wianno Senior.

The estate had an impressive design pedigree as well. Records at @olmstednhs show that Olmsted Brothers - the landscape architecture firm led by Frederick Law Olmsted’s sons - worked on the Dowse estate in 1909-11 and again in 1920.

Then came the hurricane. The storm lifted the mansion from its foundation and carried it into East Bay. The family chose not to rebuild. Remarkably, a pianoforte recovered from the house survived and is now preserved by @ostervillemuseum.

Across Osterville, more than 60 feet of Wianno Beach was lost and hundreds of trees came down. At @crosbyyachtyard, floodwater lifted stored boats off their blocks. At the time, storage was just $5 per month. Shoaling also changed where Wianno Senior races could begin. JFK’s own Wianno Senior, Victura - built by Crosby’s - survived the hurricane after he dragged it onto a beach to save it.

After the storm, German POWs held at nearby Camp Edwards helped with cleanup. The Wianno Club sold “Hurricane Notes” to fund shoreline work; Barnstable covered 15% and the state 50%.

The Dowse family gave the land to the town, which spent about $30,000 creating the public Dowses Beach generations of Osterville residents know today.

Hard to imagine all of this sitting where we now park, swim, and watch the sunset.

#osterville #capecod #capecodhistory #newenglandhistory #dowsesbeach taken in Dowses Beach by @ostervilleofficial

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a month ago

Happy Labor Day from Cape Cod!

Labor Day may mark the unofficial end of peak summer, but around here it also marks the beginning of locals’ summer - quieter beaches, fewer crowds, and some of the best weeks of the year.

To everyone who spent time in Osterville this season, thank you for coming, supporting the village, and being part of another great year on the Cape. Safe travels home, and we’ll see you next summer.

And to everyone sticking around, happy locals’ summer!

#Osterville #CapeCod #CapeCodLife #CapeCodSummer #LaborDay taken in Cape Cod, Massachussets by @ostervilleofficial

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a month ago

Tomorrow marks 42 years since Joe Cronin - whose No. 4 hangs above right field at Fenway - died at his Starboard Lane home in Osterville.

Known nationwide as “Mr. Clutch,” Cronin was the man you wanted up in a big moment. A seven-time All-Star and .301 hitter, he became Washington’s player-manager at 26 and remains the youngest manager to reach the World Series.

On his honeymoon with Mildred, Joe learned that Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey had offered Washington owner Clark Griffith - Mildred’s uncle and father figure - Lyn Lary and about $250,000 for him, a record sum during the Depression. Joe told Griffith to take the deal. He later led Boston to the 1946 pennant, entered the Hall of Fame in 1956, and still leads Red Sox managers with 1,071 wins.

Joe and Mildred bought their Starboard Lane home in 1946, where their four children spent childhood summers. After Joe became American League president in 1959, he moved the league office from Chicago to Boston and kept returning to Osterville most weekends.

Rev. Clarence P. Murphy of Our Lady of the Assumption remembered Joe as “a very humble, kind and warm person” who “came every day to the 7 a.m. Mass.” Mildred was a member of Oyster Harbors for 55 years and belonged to the Beach Club in Centerville. Like generations of Osterville families, the Cronins shopped at Fancy’s and were frequent visitors to Wimpy’s.

As Red Sox GM, Cronin helped establish the club’s Jimmy Fund partnership. For 20 years, an Osterville fishing tournament bearing his name raised about $4.5 million.

In May 1984, cancer left Joe gravely ill. Their neighbor Laura O’Neill drove Joe and Mildred from Osterville to Boston’s Park Plaza Hotel. The next morning, Ted Williams spent hours reminiscing with Joe. That evening, the Red Sox retired Cronin’s No. 4 beside Williams’ No. 9 - the club’s first two retired numbers.

Too weak to take the field, Cronin watched from a suite as Williams looked up and said, “No one respects you more than I do, Joe. I love you.”

Three months later, Joe died at his Osterville home at age 77. He is buried at St. Francis Xavier Cemetery in Centerville.

#Osterville #CapeCod #BostonRedSox #JimmyFund #BaseballHistory taken in Osterville, Cape Cod, MA by @ostervilleofficial

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a month ago

What a day in Osterville!

The 52nd Annual Osterville Village Day brought the village together for one of the best days of the summer - with music, dancing, classic cars, antique fire trucks, creative floats, family fun and crowds lining the streets for the parade.

Thank you to the organizers, volunteers, local businesses, performers, parade participants, first responders and everyone who came out and helped make this year’s Village Day another great success.

Swipe through some of our favorite moments from the day!

Photo credits: @saltybroadstudios, @bethwalshdancecentre, @comm_fire_department, and Suzanne Conley

#Osterville #OstervilleVillageDay #OstervilleMA #CapeCod #02655 taken in Osterville, Cape Cod, MA by @ostervilleofficial

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3 months ago

Get ready for one of the best days of summer!

The 52nd Annual Osterville Village Day returns this Saturday (July 18) and the village will be packed with events, music, food and family fun throughout the day:

👟 8 AM - Cape Cod 5K Championship Run through the village to benefit @ostervillelibrary. Register at CC5K.org
🎨 9 AM-2:30 PM - Paint the Village Arts & Crafts Fair on the Calvin C. Gould Library Green
🏛 Veterans Hall (@foxholeosterville) Open House & Craft Fair
🚗 10 AM-2 PM - Antique and vintage cars on display at @ostervillemuseum before joining the parade
🎈 10 AM-1 PM - Free family activities at @ostervillebaptistchurch, including balloon animals, face painting, popcorn, arts and crafts, inflatable games, lawn games, 9 Square in the Air, and a photo booth. Each visitor will receive a free raffle ticket, and welcome bags will be available for the first 1,000 visitors
🎈 11 AM-1 PM - @daveandlulu balloon twisting and more, presented by @fivebaysbistro
🎨 11 AM-2 PM - Face painting at @alexandcompany_home
🎶 Live music throughout the village featuring Vernon Parris on steel drums, Cape Jazz and @capeharmony, plus additional bands performing throughout the parade
💃 Performances by @bethwalshdancecentre
🍔 Food from @momandpopschatham and @redriverbbq
🎭 1 PM - The Festive Village Day Parade featuring antique cars, the COMM Tribute Band (@comm_fire_department), community groups, antique fire trucks, and more
🛍 Village businesses will also be celebrating with sales, refreshments, pop-ups, giveaways, and special activities. Swipe to see what individual shops have planned!

The streets come alive with all the hallmarks of a classic Cape Cod village festival - art, music, food, families, floats, and plenty of community spirit. Come for the race, stay for the parade - and bring the whole family!

Osterville businesses: Did we miss your Village Day sale, pop-up, or special event? Comment below with the details so everyone knows what you have going on!

#Osterville #OstervilleMA #02655 #OstervilleVillageDay #CapeCod taken in Osterville Village by @ostervilleofficial

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3 months ago

Before Seapuit became one of Osterville’s most private waterfront neighborhoods, it was Seapuit Golf Club - Cape Cod’s second golf club, after Cummaquid.

Francis “Daddy” Parsons bought 200 acres on Osterville’s west side and named the place Seapuit, said to mean “Little River” in Wampanoag. The 9-hole course opened in 1896 and stretched across the western waterfront, with its first fairways following the river near North Bay, Bog Pond, and Dam Pond.

By today’s standards, it sounds almost mythical: 3,301 yards, par 36, tiny greens, rough fairways, blind shots, and hole names like Waterloo, Commandment, Wigwam Hill, Easy Street, Bunker Hill, and Home. It was not as polished as Wianno or Oyster Harbors are today, but everyone agreed it was beautiful.

The Seapuit Inn rose at the water’s edge with 20 bedrooms, a glass-walled dining room, and views across North Bay. After the 3rd hole, golfers could stop at Barney Hinckley’s riverside oyster shack for oysters and martinis before heading to the 4th tee.

Seapuit and Cummaquid (the Cape’s first two golf clubs) played an annual Challenge Cup rivalry, with Seapuit winning the last known match in 1910. In 1926, Walter Hagen played an exhibition here. That same year, Seapuit’s radio station, WSGC, opened with an interview featuring Donald Ross, then designing Oyster Harbors and redesigning Wianno. New owners later imagined bigger futures for the property, including Stiles & Van Kleek plans for redesigned golf, roads, and house lots.

By the Depression, Seapuit was fading, though caddies still earned $1/day just for showing up. In 1934, “Aluminum King” E.K. Davis bought the property, tore down the inn, reopened the course, and later donated profits to the war effort. The club closed in 1942, and after the 1944 Great Atlantic Hurricane destroyed many trees, the land was subdivided and sold.

Today, 50+ homes sit where one of the country’s earliest golf courses once stood. The Seapuit flag is now preserved at the Osterville Historical Society, and the shape of the old landscape is still there if you know where to look.

#Osterville #CapeCodHistory #Seapuit #CapeCodGolf #LostGolf taken in North Bay, Osterville by @ostervilleofficial

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5 months ago

Call me when you get to the bridge… it’s officially Cape Cod season 🌅🌊

#capecod #capecodlife #capecodsummer #osterville #bournebridge taken in Cape Cod by @ostervilleofficial

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5 months ago

We’re closing in on a Cape Cod summer!!! ☀️🌊

#capecodsummer #osterville #newenglandsummer #coastalliving #countdowntosummer taken in Osterville, Cape Cod, MA by @ostervilleofficial

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5 months ago

The Osterville Cut was one of the most important projects in our village’s history.

Before it, Osterville had no direct opening from West Bay to Nantucket Sound. Boats leaving the village had to work through North Bay, the Narrows, and Cotuit Bay, adding up to 4.5 miles before reaching open water - a slow, more expensive route.

In the late 1800s, villagers pushed for a better harbor entrance, and in 1899 work began on a new channel through Dead Neck. Just a few years later, Barnstable had funding to dredge farther inland toward the West Bay boatyards and oyster shanties at the time. What looks like a small opening on a map (slide 3) was actually a major practical and economic change for the village.

The Cut improved access for local boatbuilders, fishermen, and pleasure craft, strengthened harbor activity, and helped make Osterville a more functional and prosperous waterfront village. It did not create Osterville’s wealth on its own, but it helped accelerate the village’s rise by making life on the water easier, faster, and more valuable. Easier access to Nantucket Sound made West Bay and the surrounding areas even more attractive to the wealthy summer residents from Boston, New York, and Pittsburgh who would help shape modern Osterville.

The change came with tradeoffs, though. Dead Neck had once been a long spit of land, with Sampson’s separate to the west. The new Cut altered currents, interrupted the natural east-to-west movement of sand, and helped reshape the barrier beach itself. More than a century later, the shoreline still requires periodic dredging and maintenance. Most recently, a three-year maintenance dredging project completed in 2020 removed more than 133,000 cubic yards of material, improving water flow, navigation, and island habitat.

Today, the Osterville Cut is all of these things at once: a gateway from West Bay to Nantucket Sound, a favorite view at the end of Sea View Ave, a boating passage, a fishing spot, and a clear example of how one local project can shape a village’s economy, coastline, and identity for generations.

📸 @slc_rider slides 5, 7, 10

#Osterville #OstervilleCut #CapeCodHistory #NantucketSound #WestBayOsterville taken in West Bay, Osterville by @ostervilleofficial

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6 months ago