The Melatiah Bourne House
Melatiah Bourne (1674-1742) came to Sandwich from Falmouth in 1710. About 1711, he built a new saltbox house on the bank across Main Street (at the present day #138 location). The house was originally on 6 acres of land. Melatiah became a distinguished and wealthy judge. His grandfather Richard was the missionary after whom the town of Bourne is named. When Melatiah died in 1742 the home passed to his son, Colonel Silas Bourne. In 1813 a descendent, also named Melatiah, was Treasurer of the First Parish Church (see 143 Main Street). There was a split in the church and conservative parishioners were voted out. They formed a new Calvinistic Society and built a chapel on land which just happened to be right next door to the Bourne property. There is a story that Bourne had a small barn near the chapel and made it a point to stir the animals when services were going on. This became known as “The Spite Barn” and part of town legend. This barn building was later moved across Main Street and is part of the Sandwich Glass Museum.
To log this geocache on opencaching.us, the password is Spite Barn. |