Sandwich
Sandwich is the oldest of the Cape towns. It was incorporated is 1639. During the next hundred years the settlers worked the land as there was no natural harbor in which to moor ships. By the 1800's factories were started in the region. The Boston & Sandwich Glass Company was founded. This business grew steadily and eventually employed over five hundred craftsmen, who worked on various types of glassware. The company's biggest seller was its richly colored pressed glass items. These products could be produced quickly, inexpensively, and in quantity. This made them affordable for average people to have in their homes. The Boston and Sandwich Glass Company was in operation until about 1880 when glass factories producing similar items more economically sprang up in other parts of the United States. Pressed glass from this company is known as Sandwich Glass and is highly prized. An extensive collection of Sandwich glassware is housed in a museum across for the Grist Mill in the center of Sandwich Village.
    
After losing the major industry in the town, citizens had no choice but to return to agriculture. To supplement their incomes they turned their homes into taverns and inns. The main road leading from Boston along the coast down to the lower Cape and Provincetown passed through the town. It became customary for travelers to stop overnight at these inns and taverns. Fessenden Tavern was on of the most famous stops. It was noted for being a Patriot headquarters just before the Revolutionary War. Newcomb Tavern in town was the Tories headquarters.
     
After the Revolution merchants and wealthy Bostonians traveling by boat or stagecoach stayed overnight in Sandwich before continuing further down on Cape Cod. Daniel Webster, a prominent Boston lawyer stayed so often at Fessenden tavern that years later it was renamed in his honor. Touring the town of Sandwich is like taking a step back in history as many of these famous buildings and sights have a similar appearance as they did in the eighteenth and nineteenth century.

Town of Sandwich Website