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The First Booths

When some of the men from Plymouth came to Sandwich to start a settlement of their own they are believed to have built shelters called “booths.” These were efficient but not luxurious.

They were a building one story high, about 20 feet square, with thatched roof, boarded walls, oiled paper for windows, daubed with mortar in the crevices and costing about five pounds â€” equivalent in those days to about twenty dollars in silver.

As the settlement grew and the men had more time they built more substantial houses. These were the famous “saltbox” type. One of the best examples of the salt box type of house is Sandwich’s Hoxie house beside Shawme Lake. If you step into this house you can easily believe that some form of magic has taken you back 300 years.

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