Site of John Cooke Homestead (1660s to 1778)
Private property, no original building remains
265 Adams Street
Northeast corner Adams Street and Howland Road
After John Cooke moved here from Plymouth about 1662, his homestead was established on the crest of the hill at the present-day intersection of Adams Street and Howland Road. Cooke’s house was burned by Wampanoag raiders at the beginning of the King Philip War in 1675. The house was rebuilt on the same foundation. It was inherited by Stephen and Mercy West after the death of John Cooke’s wife Sarah.
Cooke’s grandson Bartholomew West was in his eighties and living in the house when British troops marched through town in September 1778. West’s servant, a Wampanoag woman named Hannah Sogg, carried the old man out of the house before it was burned by the British. The enemy troops from the South Devonshire 46th Regiment of Foot stole the West family Bible, which is now displayed in Bodmin, England.
Nothing remains of the original homestead. A short distance to the west on Howland Road the Site of John Cooke’s Garrison is marked in a tiny park.
Click on the links below to learn about Fairhaven sites associated with John Cooke.
Capt. Thomas Taber Chimney Wall (ca. 1678)
