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The Front Door was for the Minister

Traditionally, a visitor to a Cape Cod style house did not announce himself at the front door. He would conform to one of the oldest native customs and go around to the kitchen or side door. (Most old Cape Cod houses had a front door and a side or “kitchen door”)

The late Edith Marion Crosby of Osterville, one of the oldest residents in her community at the time once said:

It always seemed to me â€” this is my own version â€” at that time, front doors, parlors and front rooms were used for funerals. The minister always came in the front door. ‘Twas more particularly a room used in time of sickness. There was a bed most always in the front room, but it was dressed up. That is as near as I can remember.

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