Brewster dates to 1656, and 5 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 83% of U.S. towns · #208 of 283 in Massachusetts. What drives it
5 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 263 buildings between them. Most of Brewster was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1983. Below: 9 old photos and papers, maps from 1887 on, and the census since 1850.
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1804.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Brewster’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Brewster is more historic than 83% of U.S. towns, #208 of 283 in Massachusetts. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Brewster’s overall grade.
Massachusetts towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Massachusetts town has 46.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Brewster’s 255 sits above most of its state (81% of Massachusetts towns have fewer) while its 266 historic buildings outnumber those of 95% of U.S. towns.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1656.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B to A+. The pre-1940 share (±2.2 points) is firm at this size.
Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Brewster’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Indigenous settlement in Brewster took place on the north shore of the present-day town, with a Sauguatuckett farming area centered around the contemporary Stony Brook. Individual accounts subdivide the indigenous tribes of pre-contact Cape Cod, but any historians and researches today use the unifying term Nauset. Somewhere around 1,200 indigenous people populated Outer Cape Cod prior to 1617 pandemics, with this number reduced to 500 by 1621. The first permanent colonial settlement in Brewster centered around the Stony Brook area, part of the "Old Comers" or "Purchasers" grant of 1641. The land that now makes up Brewster was purchased in 1653 from Wano and his son Sachemas, leaders of the local Sauguatuckett. By this period, the Sauguatuckett held significant quantities of corn, beans, and squash which were at times for sale to English settlers. Brewster was first officially settled in…
Passages that mention Brewster, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts, 1620-1637-1686-18901890 · page 895Read the page →
Read the text
This territory, from the year 1669 to the incorporation of Harwich in 1694, was within the " liberties of Yarmouth," and within its limits the settlement of the present town of Brewster began. The territory on the east side of Sauquatuckett river was, from the same date to the incorporation, within the " constablerick " or "liberties" of Eastham.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
division effected, appear in the town records : — "Agreeably to an Act of General Court, Feb. 19, 1803, to divide the town of Harwich, and inc. the North Parish thereof into a separate town by the name of Brewster; agreeably to the 2d section of sd. act, the Remonstrants to the act living in the North Parish, together with such widows as live therein, and who shall request it, have liberty to remain, with their families and estates to the town of Harwich, by leaving their names in
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The original township extended across the peninsula of Cape Cod, and for more than a hundred years included the territory that now constitutes the township of Brewster. Incorporation was granted it with the name of Harwich,1 Sept 14, 1694; 2 but it began to be settled by emigrants from Eastham, Plymouth, and other places, as early as 1647.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts, 1620-1637-1686-18901890Read the page →
Read the text
HARWICH was incorporated September 14, 1694. It then extended across the Cape from shore to shore, joining on the west old Yarmouth, on the east old Eastham and the territory of Monomoyick, now Chatham, and comprising what is now Brewster and a considerable part of the present Orleans. In 1772 the part known as Potanumaquut, but now South Orleans, was set off to Eastham — Harwich assenting — by the general court; and in 1803 the north part, then known as the North parish, after a long and somewhat
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
By decade
Brewster, decade by decade
2 decades in the archive, from the 1870s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
In 1656, according to Wikidata. Brewster’s post office opened in 1804, and the census of 1850 counted 1,525 people here.
How does Brewster rank for history?
Brewster is more historic than 83% of U.S. towns, #208 of 283 in Massachusetts. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Brewster?
5 listings: 2 buildings, 2 historic districts, the Brewster Old King's Highway Historic District and the Stony Brook-Factory Village Historic District, with 263 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 266 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Brewster?
5% of Brewster’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.2 points), against a typical 21% for a Massachusetts town; the median home was built in 1983.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (9), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (5), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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