The JFK Hyannis Museum building is undergoing construction and will be closed until late Spring. We apologize for any inconvenience.
The John F. Kennedy
Hyannis Museum
is a multimedia exhibit designed to open a window on the days JFK spent
on Cape Cod; days relaxing with family, days playing football with
PT109 buddies, days spent sailing on the ocean to which he was so
constantly drawn.
The exhibit features over 80 photographs spanning the years 1934 to 1963 and is arranged in thematic groupings to reflect John F. Kennedy, his family, his friends and the Cape Cod he so dearly loved. In addition to photography, a video narrated by Walter Cronkite depicts the president's experiences on the Cape. Several themed areas include charged oral histories of JFK's friends.
The Hyannis Area Chamber of Commerce is proud to have created this opportunity for visitors and residents alike to remember the John F. Kennedy era on Cape Cod. We all share his love of the environment - Cape Cod - our special place on earth.
Kennedy was a man of vigor, vision, hope and faith in America. He inspired a generation. He was our 35th President and our neighbor. We hope you enjoy this glimpse at the life of John Kennedy on Cape Cod.
For more information: call 508-790-3077 or contact the Hyannis Area Chamber of Commerce directly.
Hours:
Mid-April through October, Monday through Saturday 9am - 5pm; Sundays and holidays 12 - 5pm.
November through early December AND
mid-February through mid-April,
Thursday through Saturday 10am to 4pm; Sundays and holidays 12 - 4pm.
Admission
is $5 for adults and $2.50 for seniors and children 10 - 16 years of age.
http://www.hyannis.com/JFKStatue.asp
Local volunteers chaired by Cape Cod author and historian Louis Cataldo of Barnstable Village have begun a nationwide non-profit drive to raise funds to erect and maintain a life-size bronze statue of the late President John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
President
Kennedy
called Hyannis Port “home” throughout the summers of his childhood and
presidency. Noted Osterville artist, David Lewis, has been commissioned
to create a life-size bronze rendering of JFK. Lewis’s concept and
design were inspired by the late President’s quotation:
“I always go to Hyannisport to be revived, to know again the power of the sea, and the Master who rules over it, and all of us.”
The JFK Memorial Statue Committee, in response to the community’s desire to honor its most famous neighbor, accepted the artist’s concept and design earlier this year.
“President Kennedy was our most famous local resident,” said Mr. Cataldo. “It is important that the community he called ‘home’ celebrate this man. We must preserve our history and keep it alive, not only in literature but in art, so we will have visible symbols of people and events that preceded us. President Kennedy may have been born in Brookline, but he adopted Cape Cod as his home, and we adopted him as our hometown President. It is important that visitors and residents be aware that internationally powerful people lived here and internationally significant events were mapped out in the Summer White House in the ‘Port,” the local historian said.
The bronze sculpture of the President will be placed in a small plaza directly in front of the old Barnstable Town Hall on Main Street in Hyannis, Massachusetts, the current site of the JFK Hyannis Museum. This location is immediately south of the town’s Soldier, Sailors, and Airmen Memorial flagpole dedicated in 1927. The sculptor depicts President Kennedy casually dressed, barefoot with his pant legs rolled up walking in the sand.
“That is how I envision him,” says Mr. Lewis, “forever young, optimistic, and alive in the minds of those who knew and loved him. I strived to keep in mind the President’s great love of the sea.”
Official groundbreaking will be announced at a later date.
For additional information contact:
Louis Cataldo, Chairman 508-362-9484
Alice
George, vice-chair 508-362-6906
Make checks payable to:
Town of Barnstable, JFK Statue
Mail your contribution to:
JFK/Historic Section; 200 Main
Street; Hyannis, MA 02601
Gifts of stock, please contact:
David Mason at A. G. Edwards and Sons, Inc.: 508-771-2300
The Wedding of Jacqueline Lee Bouvier and John Fitzgerald Kennedy
September 12, 1953
First introduced at a May 1951 Georgetown dinner party, John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier saw each other frequently over the next two years. During that time, she would interview the newly elected senator for her "Inquiring Camera Girl" newspaper column. In June 1953, upon her return from Europe where she covered the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth for the Washington Times Herald, Jacqueline Bouvier accepted John Kennedy's proposal of marriage.
On the morning of September 12, 1953, more than 750 guests filled St. Mary's Church in Newport, Rhode Island to watch as John Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier exchanged wedding vows in a ceremony presided over by Archbishop Richard Cushing. For the occasion, the church had been decorated with pink gladioli and white chrysanthemums. Boston tenor Luigi Vena sang "Ave Maria." Following the 40-minute ceremony at which a papal blessing was read, the new couple emerged into a throng of 3,000 well-wishers as they made their way by motorcycle escort to Hammersmith Farm, the Auchincloss estate overlooking Naragansett Bay.
After two hours of greeting family and friends in a receiving line, the bridal couple joined the 1,200 invited guests for champagne and dancing to the music of Meyer Davis and his orchestra. For the first dance, the Kennedy's chose "I Married an Angel." (Davis, who had played at the wedding of Jackie's parents, would later perform at the 1961 Inaugural Ball). Following the cutting of the five tier wedding cake, a luncheon of fruit cup, creamed chicken and ice cream sculpted to resemble roses was served.
Late in the afternoon, Senator and Mrs. Kennedy departed Hammersmith Farm amid a shower of paper rose petals. They traveled to New York to spend the night at the Waldorf Astoria before continuing on to Acapulco, Mexico for a two-week honeymoon.
Purchased in the summer of 1953, the Van Cleef & Arpels engagement ring John F, Kennedy presented to Jacqueline Bouvier consisted of one 2.88 carat diamond mounted next to a 2.84 carat emerald cut emerald with tapered baguettes. In 1962, the ring was reset to include round diamonds totaling .66 carats and marquise diamonds totaling 1.46 carats.
Jacqueline Bouvier's ivory silk wedding gown required 50 yards of ivory silk taffeta and took more than two months to make. It was the creation of Ann Lowe, an African-American dress-maker born in Grayton, Alabama, who had designed gowns for the matrons of high society families including the du Pont, Lodge, and Auchincloss families. Ms. Lowe was 54 when she designed the Bouvier wedding dress which featured a portrait neckline and bouffant skirt decorated with interwoven bands of tucking and tiny wax flowers. She also designed the pink faille silk gowns and matching Tudor caps worn by the bridal attendants.
The wedding gown was recently restored by staff from the Textile Conservation Center of the American Textile History Museum in Lowell, Massachusetts. The bride wore her grandmother's heirloom rosepoint lace veil, attached to her hair with a small tiara of lace and traditional orange blossoms. She also wore a single strand of family pearls, a diamond leaf pin which was a wedding present from Ambassador and Mrs. Joseph P. Kennedy and a diamond bracelet the groom had presented to her the evening before the wedding. She carried a bouquet of white and pink spray orchids and gardenias.
At the bridal dinner, held at Newport's Seaside Clambake Club on September 11, Senator Kennedy presented each usher with a Brooks Brothers umbrella engraved with his initials and the wedding date.
Senator John Kennedy's best man was Robert F. Kennedy. His ushers were Edward M. Kennedy, Charles Bartlett, Michael Canfield, George Smathers, K. LeMoyne Billings, Torbert MacDonald, Charles Spalding, James Reed, Benjamin Smith, Joseph Gargan, R. Sargeant Shriver, Paul B. Fay, Jr., and Hugh D. Auchincloss III.
Jacqueline Bouvier's matron-of-honor was Lee Bouvier Canfield. Her maid-of-honor was Nina Auchincloss and her flower girl was Janet Auchincloss. Her bridal attendants were Nancy Tuckerman, Martha Bartlett, Ethel Skakel Kennedy, Jean Kennedy, Shirley Oakes, Aileen Travers, Sylvia Whitehouse, and Helen Spaulding.
The eight-Minute color home movies were taken by President Kennedy's friend Paul "Red" Fay, who happened to bring along his 8 mm camera.
