EXTRA...

Banana King's compound for $3.6M

TODAY's Quote: "The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining." - JFK

A storied history for $3,625,000.
A family parts with a Wellfleet home that once hosted great literary figures

This historic property includes 4 Buildings, 17 Rooms (9-12 Bedrooms) with 6 Fireplaces, all nestled on 10+ rolling, secluded acres of permanent privacy. Unique spot on Bound Brook Island Road for family compound, artists' retreat, or for a stable of horses to enjoy the Seashore trails.

1790s sea captain’s house with original fireplaces, random width floors and “Indian” shutters, 1820s converted antique barn, guest cottage and two-story studio. Birthplace of Wellfleet's banana king, L. Dow Baker, owned later by Francis Biddle, America's Attorney General under Roosevelt. Price is for all properties combined. Over 10 acres total, surrounded by National Seashore.. See the listing.

Among the most coveted invitations in Wellfleet during the summers of the 1950s and '60s were the jovial cocktail parties thrown by Judge Francis Biddle and his wife, Katherine Garrison Chapin Biddle, at their vacation home on Bound Brook Island.

The Biddles hosted what amounted to a powerhouse literary salon, with Conrad Aiken, Arthur Schlessinger, Edmund Wilson, and Mary McCarthy among the regulars. The Biddles, however, had one rule: No one could read aloud his or her own work, only the work of others.

"Everyone in town knew about the parties," said Helen Purcell, 87, a member of the Wellfleet Historical Society, who can still recall the collection of beautiful china Katherine Biddle used when she entertained. "And if one was lucky enough to be invited, they just loved being there."

Situated on 10 acres within the Cape Cod National Seashore and a short walk from Cape Cod Bay, the Biddle property is now for sale for $3.62 million... The property also has an impressive pedigree.

The Biddles themselves were a well-read couple with literary successes of their own. Francis Biddle was the US attorney general during most of World War II and the primary American judge at the Nuremburg war crimes trials. In addition to his memoirs, Biddle authored books on US politics. And Katherine Biddle was a published poet and prolific writer of essays and reviews on poetry.

It was also the birthplace of Lorenzo Dow Baker, a 19th-century ship captain and merchant who became known as "The Banana King."  His genius was in realizing that if picked green, bananas shipped from Jamaica would arrive in the United States ripe, instead of spoiled. He and entrepreneur Andrew Preston started a banana market in Boston, and their business would later morph into the United Fruit Co., the colossus that came to symbolize US Colonial capitalism in Latin America. It has since evolved into Chiquita Brands International... Globe.

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