Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Yarmouth Port

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Yarmouth Port

Yarmouth Port’s post office opened in 1829, and 2 of its places are on the National Register

Most of Yarmouth Port was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1980. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1887 on, and old-book passages.

1829first post office
2on the National Register
5%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Yarmouth Port’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Yarmouth Port began

When was Yarmouth Port founded?

1829

The Yarmouth Port post office opened in 1829, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 5,403197 years
Founding year: the first Yarmouth Port post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Yarmouth Port’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18875 editions of the USGS map, 1887 to 1974. Watch Yarmouth Port change.Deep rootsA post office since 1829: 197 years of Yarmouth Port.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Yarmouth Port’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Yarmouth Port’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old view1899 Yarmouth public library Massachuse…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Yarmouth Port on the map, 1887 to 1974

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Yarmouth Port. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Yarmouth Port on the 1887 USGS mapYarmouth Port on the 1893 USGS mapYarmouth Port on the 1949 USGS mapYarmouth Port on the 1961 USGS mapYarmouth Port on the 1974 USGS map1887Yarmouth sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Yarmouth Port.

Timeline

Yarmouth Port, 1858 to 1978

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1858Born hereThomas Chandler Thacher is born here
  3. 1887On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 1899In the archive1899 Yarmouth public library Massachusetts
  5. 20th century
  6. 1978Born hereKeith Reed is born here
The story so far

Yarmouth Port, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Yarmouth Port yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Yarmouth Port (or Yarmouthport) is a census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Yarmouth in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 census, Yarmouth Port had a population of 5,403. Yarmouth Port was home to the original Christmas Tree Shops until its closing in 2007. The town is home to the international headquarters of IFAW.

Its first post office opened in 1829. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 5,320 in 2010, 5,403 in 2020.

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Yarmouth Port in 1890

Passages that mention Yarmouth Port, cut from the printed page as they were published.

June 20, 1873, a fire broke out in the woods northeasterly from the town house, burning over a region of a square mile, destroying a large quantity of cut and standing wood. The station house of the Old Colony Railroad Cempany, in Yarmouth Port, was destroyed by fire November 17, 1878, and a few mo…
History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts, 1620-1637-1686-18901890 · page 470Read the page →
Read the text

June 20, 1873, a fire broke out in the woods northeasterly from the town house, burning over a region of a square mile, destroying a large quantity of cut and standing wood. The station house of the Old Colony Railroad Cempany, in Yarmouth Port, was destroyed by fire November 17, 1878, and a few months after another was erected on the spot. Village Hall, Yarmouth Port, was also destroyed by fire,

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The Universalist Society was organized in Yarmouth Port, in 1836, when the pre.sent meeting house was erected. The pastors have been here in the following order. The first, after the erection of the meeting house, was Mr. Abraham Norwood, of Brewster, who officiated half the time for one year, when…
History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts, 1620-1637-1686-18901890 · page 474Read the page →
Read the text

The Universalist Society was organized in Yarmouth Port, in 1836, when the pre.sent meeting house was erected. The pastors have been here in the following order. The first, after the erection of the meeting house, was Mr. Abraham Norwood, of Brewster, who officiated half the time for one year, when he left, to preach in Marblehead, Mass. October 22, 1837, Rev. John N. Parker commenced to preach one half the time. In April, 1840, he went to another field of labor.- In August, 1840, Rev. Gillman Noyes, then officiating at Hyannis,

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

Yarmouth Port, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1890s1 item
1899 Yarmouth public library Massachusetts18991899 Yarmouth public library Massachusetts
1900s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
Today5 recent
Rambler Roses Cape Cod2011Rambler Roses Cape CodMA Route 6A eastbound entering Yarmouth MA2008MA Route 6A eastbound entering Yarmouth MAFollins2006FollinsAgeratum houstonianum (alverson)2006Ageratum houstonianum (alverson)Yarmouth, Massachusetts2005Yarmouth, Massachusetts
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

1899 Yarmouth public library Massachusetts
Retake this view1899 Yarmouth public library Massachusetts, 1899

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Yarmouth Port’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

2 listings protect 220 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
220
each building in a district counts

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Yarmouth Port

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Thomas Chandler ThacherAmerican politician · b. 1858
K
Keith ReedAmerican baseball player · b. 1978
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Yarmouth6 historic placesADennis5 historic placesB+Barnstable Town82 historic placesASouth DennisIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Yarmouth Port’s history

What year was Yarmouth Port founded?

The Yarmouth Port post office opened in 1829, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps 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.