_Joe Jefferson Described It As
“The Handsomest Town Out of
England”_
Joseph Jefferson, great actor of his time, called Sandwich, Cape Cod,
“the handsomest town out of England.” And even today it is interesting
to note that Sandwich--the first town settled on Cape Cod--imparts more
of the nostalgic feeling than any other community on the Cape.
Massive trees shade her quiet streets, with their beautiful old homes,
and the stranger is conscious of a serenity that places her apart from
the modern world. But, Sandwich, founded in 1637 and with a present
population of less than 2,000 has much to talk about.
The ancestry of President Franklin D. Roosevelt is traced to the
historic Freeman Farm, at a junction on Route 28. Alvin Page Johnson
of Swampscott, Mass., an accredited genealogist, definitely connects
the President with Cape Cod ancestry and beyond to John Howland, a
Mayflower passenger. Edmond Freeman was among the ten men who came
from Saugus and settled Sandwich. He, according to data discovered by
this genealogist in 1934, was found to be one of the early American
ancestors of our President. Back of the Freeman Farm are boulders with
bronze tablets marking the graves of Edmond and his wife, Elizabeth.