The Raising of Falmouth Heights

Today, Falmouth Heights is one of the most heavily visited and well-known parts of the town. Its beginnings, however, were decidedly low-profile.

Before the year 1870, what is now the Falmouth Heights area was known simply as the Great Hill. The area surrounding the Great Hill was largely untouched, save for the salt works that were found by the shore of Deacon's Pond.

All that changed when a group of Worcester businessmen happened upon the land after a visit to Martha's Vineyard. Their original plan for purchasing the land was to turn it into a A-list summer resort that would include cottages, hotels, stores and various means of transportation over the 100 acres of the Great Hill.

The men who purchased the land later incorporated themselves into the Falmouth Heights Land and Resort Company.

The company hired one Elbridge Boyden, a fellow Worcester resident, to draft architectural plans and create their lavish resort. Boyden's designs took a naturalistic approach, with the streetscapes designed to blend in with the environment. The hilly sections of the Heights would have streets arranged in circles and angles, whereas the flat section was made into a grid design.

A park dubbed the Central Park would be placed between the hill and flat sections of the park, and there would also be a number of other open spaces. All the park land originally belonged to Charles Godwin who, back in 1901, sold them all to the town on the condition that they remain free and open to all.

The first structure raised up by Boyden and the money provided by the Land and Wharf Company was the Tower House Hotel. The resort flourished quickly, with another building dubbed The Observatory constructed on the top of the hill, and numerous well-to-do individuals buying up parcels of land and building their own cottages atop them.

These were good times for Falmouth, as the expansion of the resort's grounds caused the economy of Falmouth to balloon. Sadly, the ballon burst due to the financial crush known as the Panic of of 1873.

Though the money had dried up, there was still much wealth in the land, and that eventually helped Falmouth Heights slowly move its way back up—with the result that business again began to boom by 1890.

While the company that pushed for the initial formation of the land is long gone, the street plan developed by Boyden can still be seen, along with many of the houses that were first built on the property and its park system.