HomeMy WebLinkAboutHistorical Society of Cotuit Santuit Letter
January 19, 2026
FROM: Historical Society of Santuit & Cotuit
TO: Robert Frazee and other members of Barnstable Historical Commission
On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Historical Society of Santuit & Cotuit, we’re writing
to express our concerns regarding the proposed full demolition of the former First Church of
Christ, Scientist at 94 Stevens St. in Hyannis. At the same time, we’d like to express our
enthusiastic support for relocating the most historical portion of the church – the section that
stood in Cotuit for 44 years – to Frank Raspante’s Cotuit Cranberry Farm near Lovell’s Pond in
Cotuit.
We were pleased when, two years ago, the Historical Commission postponed the requested
demolition by 18 months, giving the developer the opportunity to find another individual
interested in giving a new home to – and preserving – at least the original portion of the church.
That portion, as you know, dates from 1902 and stood near the intersection of Main and Maple
streets in Cotuit. In 1946, it was moved to its present location in Hyannis, following the union of
the Christian Science congregations in Cotuit and West Yarmouth three years earlier. (The new
building was constructed in 1949.)
We commend the developer for having seemingly made a genuine effort to find a new owner for
the oldest portion of the church. We understand he made a generous offer to move the structure
to the site of Calvary Baptist Church on West Main Street in Hyannis. It’s disappointing that fell
through, but we were pleased when John Kenney’s office reached out to Cotuit Historical Society
earlier this month. They said their client, the developer, was willing to move the 1902 portion of
the church and asked if we had any interest. Unfortunately, we’re not in a position to acquire the
structure. But they also said they’d appreciate knowing of any other organization that might be
interested.
In fact, we did. (Well, not an organization but a business owner.) We knew Frank Raspante had
been enthusiastic about the possibility of moving the structure to a parcel on his Cotuit Cranberry
Farm back in December 2023, but that the cost of moving it was prohibitive. We contacted him
to see if the developer’s gracious offer to move the building would make any difference. And it
did! We found Mr. Raspante as delighted by the idea as ever.
We certainly join him in his enthusiasm for bringing the most historical portion of the Christian
Science Church home to Cotuit. We love his plan to repurpose it as a small museum/storage
facility for his vintage cranberry farming equipment. And we applaud him for taking the
initiative in devising a plan to save this historically significant structure. (An image of the
original church, along with some background, is included on an informational panel on Cotuit
churches in our Cotuit Museum.)
We also believe Cotuit Cranberry Farm would be an ideal location, and that the Raspante family
– with their deep respect for tradition – would be wonderful caretakers. Their 6.5-acre bog is
itself historical, having been farmed for cranberries since the 1800s. Mr. Raspante took over
stewardship of the bog from the town in 2005 and purchased it in 2018. He takes pride in
cultivating his bog with organic, hands-on, traditional methods and is very community-minded.
He gave a wonderful talk on cranberry farming here at the Historical Society a few years ago. We
feel a site at Cotuit Cranberry Farm would provide a lovely setting for the historical portion of
the church and be a place where many people would continue to see and appreciate it.
More than just approving Mr. Raspante’s efforts, the Historical Society very much hopes to
establish some form of mutually beneficial partnership or alliance with Cotuit Cranberry Farm in
offering educational programs and, perhaps, harvest celebrations – perhaps almost like the farm
were a satellite campus. We would be pleased to assist him in creating interpretive materials
relating to both the old Christian Science church and cranberry farming, an industry so
economically important to Cotuit and all Cape Cod in the past. We could also assist by notifying
our membership of upcoming programs at the farm. Time has been too short to formalize any
agreement, but Mr. Raspante has said he'd welcome our involvement. We look forward to
brainstorming with him and town officials in the happy event his inspired idea comes to pass.
Sincerely,
Molly DeMello, HSSC President
Cindy Nickerson, HSSC Curator/Archivist