Highland House
Off U.S. 6 on Cape Cod National Seashore, Truro, MAIn 1835, James Small built a two-story, clapboard farmhouse near the present Highland House. Isaac Small, for 50 years a resident of the area, states: "Henry David Thoreau visited our family twice on his journeys down the Cape, the first time at the Lighthouse when my father was Keeper in June of 1850, and again in 1855 when he stopped with us at the Farm." This "Farmhouse", the original Highland House, began accommodating summer visitors as early as 1835. (This old building has unfortunately been moved out of the vicinity). Isaac Small built the present House in 1907. and continued the guest house tradition--he added several guest cottages. and a golf course, one of the two oldest golf courses in the United States (dating 1892), was part of the complex.
While the present Highland House is only 67 years old, it is important as a survivor of a way of life gone forever on Cape Cod=-an architectural structure designed for visitor use years before the "summer people" began individual land and house purchases for summer retreats.
Located as it is in the area explored by the Pilgrims in November 1620, (before going on to Plymouth), utilized as the best farm site in Truro, placed in proximity to the important Life-Saving Station (1872) and Highland Lighthouse (1797), and continuously watched over by Marine Weather Station Reporter, Isaac M. Small, the present Highland House, now used as a museum, stands as a monument to a historical past embracing some 350 years.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
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.