Seth the Peddler

from "Cape Cod Pilot" by Josef Berger, pub. by M. I. T. Press, 1937, p. 32.

"If you wish to carry further your quest fror homes that have lived long, Old Sandwich [Massachusetts] will reward you on Valley Road, where are more good examples dating back beyond the turn of 1700. Also, there is the 1699 Seth Pope homestead, the story of which is told in a booklet, 'Cape Cod Legends,' which the Cape Chamber of Commerce has published.

'Seth the Peddler,' according to this story, in 1669 was ordered to depart from the town of Sandwich lest he become a public charge. He went, but as he trudged off towards the King's Road, he flung back the boast that he would return and 'buy up the town.'

Seth went to New Bedford, worked and saved, and built himself a wharf and warehouse. He became selectman and representative to the General Court. And, good as his word, 'in 1699 he came back and purchased nearly all the land in the village,' and built a house for each of his sons. Then he turned upon the community that had 'warned him out,' and announced that, although his children could stay there if they chose, as for himself, he 'would not live in the damned town.' And off he went again; but the house known as the Seth Pope House has remained in the family to this day. This house is on Grove Street, across from the cemetery....over the door is the date, 1699."