Dennis, Josiah, House
16 Whig St. (forermly Nobscusset Rd. at Whig St.), Dennis, MAThe Josiah Dennis Manse is historically significant to the town of Dennis because of its connections with the Reverend Josiah Dennis, after whom the town was named. A graduate of Harvard College, Reverend Dennis was called to the east precinct of Yarmouth (as the present town of Dennis was then known) in 1725 and was ordained there in 1727. The Josiah Dennis Manse was built in 1736, and Reverend Dennis lived there, serving the parish faithfully, until his death in 1763. When the east precinct became independent of Yarmouth in 1793, the new town was named after its beloved first minister.
The house is also significant in that it remained in the same family until the twentieth century. It passed from Reverend Dennis' widow to his daughter, and from her to her niece, a Howes. Members of the Howes family lived there from then on. The Manse and its three acres of land are now owned by the town of Dennis and are maintained as a museum and historical center.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.