You’ve probably passed by the carriage house on Mill Road, with its distinctive arches, but how much do you know about the mansion it outlived, or the man who built them both? Check out Bill Swift’s oral history to learn about Arm & Hammer co-founder John E. Dwight, who put down roots in Falmouth in the 1880s, complete with winter and summer homes and other properties across town.

The estate has dwindled over the years, most notably when the mansion was lost to the 1944 hurricane, but this oral history will take you back to its early days, when horses raced at Trotting Park, Grover Cleveland summered at Gray Gables, and Mrs. Dwight sat reading on her tiny artificial island in Salt Pond.

Explore the Dwight Estate with Bill Swift here.

Explore the postcard collection online here.

Postcards from Falmouth is a local history project of Falmouth Public Library, funded by a LSTA grant and administered by the MBLC.

The First Congregational Church of Falmouth may be a downtown icon, but it didn’t start life on the village green. Its first iteration was built at the site of the Old Burying Ground, and it had several different incarnations before it arrived at its current home. In this oral history interview, Reverend Jonathan Drury charts the course it took and highlights the details of the church we know today, from the Falmouth granite in its foundation to the bell in the steeple, cast by none other than Paul Revere.

While the First Congregational Church has deep roots in Falmouth’s past, Reverend Drury also emphasizes the way it looks toward the future. “Our congregation should be open and available,” he says, “as a place where people can feel not the divisiveness but the potential that exists in harmony.”

Visit our First Congregational Church digital exhibit here.

Explore the postcard collection online here.

Postcards from Falmouth is a local history project of Falmouth Public Library, funded by a LSTA grant and administered by the MBLC.