COTUIT'S VILLAGGIO - FINE DINING WITH A SIDE OF CAPE COD HISTORY

Cape Cod has no shortage of historic buildings from Barnstable’s Sturgis Library, the old Nauset Lighthouse, the culturally significant Kennedy Compound in Hyannisport, and even the “Big House” on Wings Neck highlighted in the 2003 book by George Howe Colt.

There are many properties on Cape Cod, however, that blend right into the seaside landscape, equally historic structures that receive limited attention in comparison. The Roland T. Crocker house located at 4631 Falmouth Ave. in Cotuit, the current home of Villaggio Prime Bar & Grille, is one such place, a cozy award winning restaurant in a village that is one of the Cape’s best kept secrets.

Roland Thacher Crocker was the grandson of Ebenezer Crocker, commonly regarded as the first official settler in Cotuit dating back to 1739 when he used 17 yokes of oxen to drag the village’s first building all the way from West Barnstable, a structure still standing at the corner of Route 130 and Falmouth Road. “Houses were often moved because it was an easier task than finding nails,” according to Sharon Johanson, Curator for the Historical Society of Santuit and Cotuit in June 2010. Ebenezer’s son, Alvan, built a home directly across the street from his father beginning what would become a family compound of Crocker houses in Cotuit. Roland Crocker eventually built his home further up the road in 1796 in order to put down permanent roots for himself while marrying Rebecca Jenkins Bacon of the prominent Bacon’s Farm family of Barnstable. Recognizing a community need, Crocker began operating a general store from the back room of his house providing people with a place to buy goods within walking distance. An old records book from Crocker’s store currently protected at the Cotuit Library lists an extensive variety of products that could be purchased, a list that reflects an already expanding worldwide market. An old antique shutter from Crocker’s original store uncovered during a renovation in 1982 currently sits above the bar at Villaggio, the location of Crocker’s actual store advertising “Rum, Brandy, Gin and Wine” and is branded with “W.I. & N.E.”, an indication that Crocker believed in welcoming travelers from the West Indies to New England, people from everywhere. In an effort to best serve the community, Roland Crocker used his store as the location for Cotuit’s first library making books available in 1797 with genres including poetry, British literature, and history as well as religious works. By 1821 Crocker shifted his concentration from running Cotuit’s library to opening its first post office successfully serving as Postmaster until his death in 1846.

Although Crocker and his wife Rebecca never did have children, their large house was never empty. The stagecoach route that came down through Sandwich into Cotuit, Marstons Mills, Osterville, and then continuing to Centerville and Hyannis provided them with an opportunity for lodgers, both drivers and passengers, including Senator Daniel Webster from the distant town of Marshfield who often came to the Cape to fish looking specifically for salters, brook trout that could be found in the Mashpee River.

With the passing of both Roland and Rebecca Crocker, the old house was turned over to a sister’s grandson during the 1850s, a man eventually responsible for a great deal of construction on Nantucket. Within a decade, the house was purchased by Captain Joseph Folger who is believed to be Cotuit’s first Portuguese resident. Folger had spent his life whaling, coming to Cape Cod by way of Nantucket to marry Cynthia Baker. Folger, who is said to have adopted the name of his ship’s captain, started a successful dairy farm while also learning to work Cape Cod’s cranberry bogs. Folger was active in the community, serving as Cotuit’s Master of the Mariners Masonic Lodge, and is believed to have eventually passed ownership of the house over to his daughter as part of an inheritance. Folger’s daughter then passed it on to her own daughter years later. There is some belief that the Crocker house was sold to the Nickerson family at some point, although such a transaction was never officially recorded by deed. Notwithstanding, a local legend has it that Mrs. Nickerson, who had been forced to give up her opera career, fell into the hands of Mr. Nickerson’s butler while her husband was traveling abroad. It has been reported that the ghosts of Mrs. Nickerson and her lover are now said to haunt the old house. Some visitors have claimed to hear playful laughter while passing by the stairway close to the restaurant’s front door. After falling into disrepair by the mid-1900s, the house was restored while owned by Cape Cod artists Richard and Barbara Sparre during the 1970s, the couple making it part of their work to restore the old home.

In 1983 Brantz Bryan and his wife Wendy transformed the old Crocker House into the Regatta Restaurant, a popular establishment that had a successful run lasting nearly thirty years, not to mention an ironic connection with Chef Jay Bartolomei whose restaurant Villaggio would take over the spot in 2014. Bryan and his wife Wendy had actually gone out on their first date to Danny-Kay’s in Falmouth, a celebrated Cape Cod Italian restaurant that belonged to Chef Bartolomei’s grandfather, Danny, during the 1970s.

Villaggio carries every bit of the influence that Bartolomei learned from his grandfather years ago. Warm and welcoming, an evening at Villaggio Prime Bar & Grille in Cotuit’s old Crocker House is a dining experience to look forward to. According to the Cape Cod Times in 2017, “Stepping into Villaggio Ristorante, with its wide-plank wood floors and golden lighting, makes one feel instantly ensconced in the 1700s when the house was built. One could easily imagine weary travelers seeking refuge here.” As a fourth generation Cape Cod restaurant owner, Chef Jay Bartolomei is in touch with the flavor of the Cotuit community, and the flavor is delicious.

The Crocker House at 4631 Falmouth Ave. was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987, forever preserved as a living legacy to the history of Cotuit. “W.I. & N.E. - Rum, Brandy, Gin and Wine”- an authentic lasting invite from Roland Crocker himself that is close to 250 years old, and at Villaggio, it’s an invite that still brings people together.

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