Eastham Center Historic District

Eastham () is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, Barnstable County being coextensive with Cape Cod. The population was 5,752 at the 2020 census.For geographic and demographic information about the village of North Eastham, please see North Eastham, Massachusetts.

The Eastham Windmill, located in Eastham, Massachusetts, is the oldest windmill on Cape Cod. It was constructed by Eastham resident Thomas Paine in Plymouth in 1680. It was first moved to nearby Truro in 1770, then finally to Eastham in 1793. In 1808 the windmill was moved to its present location, near the Eastham Town Hall and the Eastham Public Library. Eastham Windmill, as part of the Eastham Center Historic District, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.A local festival, Eastham Windmill Weekend, has been held on a yearly basis in Eastham since 1977, and takes place the first weekend after Labor Day. While repairs are necessary over time, a large contribution was made in 1996 by a local Boy Scout whose Eagle Project included both raising the funds and providing the labor to replace several sections of the fencing around this historic landmark. All of the funding was provided by businesses located within Eastham. The Eastham Windmill has been a long-standing icon to the local Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts.

The Bridge Road Cemetery is an historic cemetery on Bridge Road in Eastham, Massachusetts. It is a roughly 1.4-acre (0.57 ha) rectangular parcel on the west side of Bridge Road. The cemetery was established in 1720, and marks the location of the town's second meeting house. It was the second cemetery established in the town, after the Cove Burying Ground. The cemetery was in use from 1720 until the late 1880s; its earliest dated grave is marked 1754. Most of the burials took place between 1770 (when burials ended at Cove Burying Ground) and about 1830, when a new cemetery was laid out further north. There is a single 20th-century burial, dated 1933.The cemetery was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.

Eastham station was a train station in Eastham, Massachusetts. It was built by the Old Colony Railroad around 1870 when the rail line was extended from Orleans to Wellfleet. Passenger service to this station ended in 1941 when the New Haven Railroad discontinued scheduled service between Yarmouth and Provincetown.

The Cape Cod National Seashore (CCNS) encompasses 43,607 acres (68.1 sq mi; 176.5 km2) on Cape Cod, in Massachusetts. CCNS was created on August 7, 1961, by President John F. Kennedy, when he signed a bill enacting the legislation he first co-sponsored as a Senator a few years prior. It includes ponds, woods and beachfront of the Atlantic coastal pine barrens ecoregion. The CCNS includes nearly 40 miles (64 km) of seashore along the Atlantic-facing eastern shore of Cape Cod, in the towns of Provincetown, Truro, Wellfleet, Eastham, Orleans and Chatham. It is administered by the National Park Service.

Eastham Public Library is the public library of Eastham, Massachusetts that has been serving the community for over 130 years. It provides a collection of print, non-print, and electronic resources for the community. The Eastham Public Library is a part of the Cape Libraries Automated Materials Sharing library network on Cape Cod and the Islands.

The Old Town Center Historic District is a historic district roughly along Locust Public Rd. and Salt Pond Road in Eastham, Massachusetts. The district encompasses Eastham's original town center, with a cluster of well-preserved 18th- and 19th-century buildings. The area served as the town's civic center due to its proximity to Salt Pond, which provided access to the Atlantic Ocean, and was a major transportation route. (Most of the district is now separated from Salt Pond by US Route 6, a four-lane road.) The advent of the railroad in the 1870s shifted the town's economic and civic heart to the present center. The Old Town district is 40 acres (16 ha) in size, with 42 mainly residential buildings contributing to its significance. The oldest building in the district is the c. 1672 John Knowles House at 191 Locust Road. The town's first town hall (1851) and first schoolhouse (1869) still stand in the district; the schoolhouse is a landmark visible from Route 6.The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.

The Fort Hill Rural Historic District is a historic district encompassing two farmsteads with more than 200 years of history in Eastham, Massachusetts. The district is a 100-acre (40 ha) area of forest, fields, and salt marshes that was owned by the Knowles and Penninman families from 1742 to 1941. It has been part of the Cape Cod National Seashore since 1961. The area is dominated by the rise called "Fort Hill", which provides extensive views of the area and has its own rich history. The district includes the Edward Penniman House and Barn, previously listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the Nauset Archeological District, a National Historic Landmark.The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.

The Edward Penniman House and Barn is a historic site in Eastham, Massachusetts, on Fort Hill, which is currently protected by the Cape Cod National Seashore and home to Indian Rock. The house was built in 1868 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

The Nauset Archaeological District (or "Coast Guard Beach Site,19BN374" or "North Salt Pond Site,19BN390") is a National Historic Landmark District in Eastham, Massachusetts. Located within the southern portion of the Cape Cod National Seashore, this area was the location of substantial ancient settlements since at least 4,000 BC.The first written account of this area was by Samuel de Champlain in 1605, in which he described sailing into a bay surrounded by the wigwams of the Nauset tribe (see map, right). The account detailed the settlement's crops (e.g. corn, beans, squash, tobacco), housing (round wigwams covered with thatched reeds), and clothing (woven from grasses, hemp, and animal skins). De Champlain's map also depicts one of their fishing methods, using a conical weir constructed of saplings and grass rope, designed to capture fish swimming from the marsh into a pond. To farm the land, they used stone hoes and fire-hardened wood tools. About 150 people were living at the site around Nauset Harbor, and about 500-600 were living around Stage Harbor to the south in the area of present-day Chatham. Archaeological studies have since shown that these settlements were occupied year-round.After 1620, English colonists from the settlement at Plymouth visited Nauset many times to buy food and trade. In addition to goods for trade, however, the Europeans also unwittingly introduced diseases. Many of them died as a result, and their population declined drastically. In 1639 about half of the English from Plymouth relocated to the Nauset area, settling the town that is now Eastham. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1993. The area can be visited via the Fort Hill area of the Cape Cod National Seashore, off U. S. Route 6, where the Fort Hill and Red Maple Swamp trails wind from the top of the hill to the marsh and beyond.

The Cove Burying Ground is an historic cemetery located just south of MA 6 and Corliss Way in Eastham, Massachusetts, US. It is Eastham's oldest cemetery, dating to c. 1646. It was laid out not long after the town's first meeting house was built nearby. Although there are no graves marked with 17th-century markers, it is virtually certain that some of Eastham's early settlers are buried here. It was the town's only burying ground until the establishment in 1720 of the Bridge Road Cemetery. The cemetery remained in active use until about 1770. Families placed memorial markers in there in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.Three of the Mayflower's 1620 original passengers have marked headstones here. They are: Giles Hopkins (1607–1690) Lt. Joseph Rogers (1608–1678) Constance Hopkins (1605–1677)The cemetery was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.

Doane Rock is a glacial erratic located in Eastham, Massachusetts on the grounds of the Cape Cod National Seashore. It is the largest exposed boulder on Cape Cod. It stands 18 feet (5.5 m) high and extends below the ground an estimated 12 feet (3.7 m). This boulder is named after Deacon John Doane, one of Eastham's original settlers. It has also been called Enochs or Enos rock for the deacon's son, as well as Great Rock. The rock was left by the glaciers (Laurentide Ice Sheet; 18,000–12,000 years ago) between what is now the Salt Pond Visitors Center and Coast Guard Beach. Doane Rock is located just off Doane Road about one mile past the Salt Pond Visitor Center on National Park Service land. Limited parking is available near the rock.