Hyannis Port Has Been the Kennedy Family's Summer Address Since Joseph Kennedy Bought a Cottage in 1928

Hyannis Port is a small waterfront village within the town of Barnstable on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, known almost entirely for one family. Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. rented a summer cottage at 50 Marchant Avenue in 1926 and bought the property two years later, a modest 1904 house built for an earlier owner that he enlarged as his family grew. Over the following decades, his children bought neighbouring parcels along the same stretch of shoreline, and the three adjoining properties became known collectively as the Kennedy Compound.

Barred from one club, welcomed by another

Joseph Kennedy's arrival in Hyannis Port came in part because Boston's more established Protestant social clubs kept Irish Catholic families like his at a distance. He found membership instead at the Hyannisport Club, a local golf club run by an Irish Catholic proprietor, and built his family's own alternative to the enclaves that had excluded him.

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A summer White House

John F. Kennedy bought his own house at 111 Irving Avenue in 1956, directly behind his father's property and beside the home of his brother Robert F. Kennedy and Robert's wife Ethel. After his 1960 election, the compound became a working base for his administration through the summer months, informally known as the Summer White House through his presidency.

A working estate, not a museum

Unlike some old-money compounds that have since opened to the public, the Kennedy properties in Hyannis Port remain private family homes. In 2012, the main house was donated to the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, but the wider compound is still used by Kennedy family members rather than run as a historic site.

Cape Cod's quieter old-money village

Hyannis Port itself has stayed a small, low-key village even as nearby Hyannis grew into Cape Cod's commercial hub; narrow lanes, modest shingle-style houses and private beach association access have kept the enclave feeling far smaller than its fame suggests.

Traveller tips

• The Kennedy Compound is private property; it is visible from public roads and the water but not open for tours.
• The John F. Kennedy Hyannis Museum in downtown Hyannis is the place to see artefacts and exhibits related to the family, rather than the compound itself.
• Harbour cruises departing from Hyannis Harbor pass within view of the compound's waterfront side.
• Hyannis, a short drive away, has Cape Cod's main ferry terminals for Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket.