Demolition Plans for the Nimrod Restaurant Put On Hold

From the April 10, 2020, Falmouth (Ma) Enterprise  by Carrie Gentile.

This is the reason I have been writing so much about the HMS Nimrod, HMS Venturer and Patriot as well as Theodosia Burr Alston lately.  This old restaurant in Falmouth, Massachusetts, has the hole made by a cannonball fired by the second HMS Nimrod during the War of 1812 in it.

A photo accompanies the article and the place looks to be in quite bad shape.

Lionel C. Pinsonneault owns it and he has received permission from the zoning board to raze the structure, but demolition plans are put on hold  until the Falmouth Historical Commission votes on the plan.

Before it was a restaurant, it was a private residence that was hit by the HMS Nimrod during a bombardment.  The cannonball is long gone, but the hole it left is still there.

Here's Hoping They At Least Keep the Hole for Its Historical Value.  --Brock-Perry

HMS Nimrod Shells Falmouth, Ma.-- Part 3: Damage to Homes and Salt-Works

"This morning (January 29) at sunrise, she (Nimrod) sailed westward, supposed to join a ship of war said to be at Tarpaulin Cove.  Fortunately, no lives were lost and no person hurt.

"The damage done to houses, outbuildings and salt-works has been considerable, the amount of which is not known.  The greatest sufferer was myself, having eight thirty-two pounder shot through my house, some through my outbuildings, and many through my salt-works.

"The greatest part of the furniture in the house was destroyed.

"The other principal sufferers were Elijah Swift, Silas Jones, Thomas Bourne, Jehabad Hatch, Rev. Henry Lincoln, Shubael Hatch Jr., etc., etc. in damage done houses, salt-works, etc."

Among other buildings hit were present-day Elm Arch Inn, then the home of Silas Jones, and the Nimrod Restaurant, both of which have been moved from their war-time locations.

A picture accompanies the article showingthe cannonball hole in the Nimrod Restaurant.  But, it is in the men's bathroom.

Here's hoping they find a way to save the Nimrod Building, or at least the cannonball hole.

That's an Interesting Bit of History.  --Brock-Perry

HMS Nimrod Attacks Falmouth in 1814-- Part 2: A Deadline Not Met and Bombardment Began

On January 28, 1814, the commander of the Nimrod  warned Falmouth of his plans to bombard the town unless they gave up two cannons and a sloop that was docked at present-day Surf Drive.  The town's response went essentially, "If you want our cannons, you can come and get them, but we'll give you what's in them first."

Falmouth resident John Crocker, whose Shore Street home is now the central building  of Shoreway Acres, described what happened next in February 1814 in the New England Palladium.

"During the interim  the flag frequently passed;  the town was in utmost confusion; the inhabitants removing the sick, the women, the children and furniture.

"About the time set (the Nimrod had given a time the bombardment would start if demands weren't met) for the cannonading to begin, and continued with very little intermission until night, and several guns in the night, making in all about  three hundred (shots) from their thirty-two pounders, besides the smaller ones."

--Brock-Rod

The HMS Nimrod Attacks Falmouth on January 28, 1814-- Part 1

From the January 28, 2020, Cape Cod Today  "January 28, 1814:  British warship shells the town of Falmouth."

On this day in 1814, the British HMS Nimrod warship, a brig-sloop, shelled the town of Falmouth for several hours.  The reason for the bombardment, the American refusal to give up two  cannons.

There is a painting of the HMS Nimrod at the Falmouth Historical Society.

The 18-gun Nimrod had arrived in American waters the year before and quickly had become to Americans.  With the aid of two other vessels, it had captured the 20-gun American privateer Yorktown in July 1813.

That autumn, she was assigned to patrol the coast of New England with a squadron of other ships.  The squad established itself at Tarpaulin Cove on Naushon Island, a site well-known to mariners because of an inn  located there.  The innkeeper, a man maybe named Mr. Slocum, overheard the British discussing  their plans to attack Falmouth so he alerted the town.

--Brock-Perry

HMS Nimrod-- Part 3: Capturing American Prizes

The Nimrod arrived in North America on 22 September and then was involved in convoy duty.  Then there were some at sea captures.

A big capture came on 17 July 1813, when the Nimrod, the HMS Maidstone (36-gun Fifth Rate frigate) and HMS Poictiers (a 74-gun Third Rate Ship of the Line) captured the 20-gun, 140-man American privateer Yorktown, Captain  T.W. Story, which had taken eleven prizes.  The chase took four hours.

From then until December, the Nimrod captured eight more vessels, three of those times with the Poictiers and Maidstone.

On 29 January 1814, the Nimrod bombarded the town of Falmouth, Massachusetts.  This has been the subject of the blog posts from earlier in the week.

--Brock-Perry

Log of the HMS Nimrod "Firing On the Town to Destroy It"

From the July 13, 2013, Cape Cod Wave Magazine  "Nimrod fans hope to save historic building."

Clara Hennessey Gilbert of West Falmouth, Massachusetts, has done a lot of research on the Nimrod Building and went to England and tracked down the HMS Nimrod's captain's log

"Captain's Log of His Majesty's Brig-sloop of War Nimrod" from January 28, 1814.

The log described the weather that day as "moderate breezes and fine."

It also describes the attack, noting that from 1 to 4:30 pm, the Nimrod was "firing on the town to destroy it."

The town was not destroyed, but damage was done.

That cannonball hole in the Nimrod building is part of that same bombardment.   The cannonball is long gone, but the hole remains.

--Brock-Perry

The Demolition of the Nimrod-- Part 2: The Cannonball Hole

The 1814 cannonball hole from the HMS Nimrod was preserved and is still visible today from the inside of the structure.  As such, it is a direct link to Falmouth's history.

In 2014, a big deal was made about the bicentennial of that 1814 attack and yet that did not mean that the building would be forever preserved.  As a matter of fact, the structure might just be on kits way to extinction.

J. Malcolm Donald and his group, the Save the Nimrod. Org has been working to save the Nimrod and thought at one time that they had succeeded.  Now it appears that the town is going to lose the building by neglect.

They are hoping this does not happen.

--Brock-Perry

The Demolition of the Nimrod in Falmouth (Mass)-- Part 1

From the March 20, 2020 Falmouth (Mass) Enterprise Letter to the editor from J. Malcolm Donald.

The Nimrod Restaurant is long gone.  That restaurant was just one of the tenants who called the Nimrod Building at Old Main Road in North Falmouth home.

The restaurant may be gone, but that building has is a big piece of the town's history and that goes back to the War of 1812.    The British brig-sloop ship HMS Nimrod shelled the town, but was driven off by militia, but not without significant damage to Falmouth.

One of the Nimrod's cannonballs penetrated the Issac Bourne House, which was located on Main Street at the corner of Gifford.   Later, the Bourne House was moved to Dillingham Avenue and joined with a second house to make the left wing of the Nimrod Building.

And, A Bit of History Inside.  --Brock-Perry

The Nimrod and the Salt Works

From "Cape Cod History" printed 1896.

In the early 1800s, New Englanders started a salt industry, making salt from sea water.  There were quite a few such salt works at Falmouth, Massachusetts.  One of the owners was John Crocker who I wrote about the last several days.

The Nimrod was after the guns captured by Captain Jenkins at Tarpaulin Cove and the frigate Nimrod (actually a sloop) approached the shore near the foot of Shore Street and bombarded the town when the Americans refused to turn the guns over.

Much damage was done including to the Congregational Church, a large house on Shore Street now owned by E.E.C. Short (then occupied by Captain John Crocker and thought to be the governor's residence).

--Brock-Perry

HMS Nimrod Cannons-- Part 4

Considerable damage was done to the town's buildings, but no lives were lost nor were there any injuries.

Captain John Crocker continued: "The greatest sufferer was myself, having eight thirty-two pound shot through my house, some through my outbuildings, and many through my salt works.

"The greatest part of the furniture in the house was destroyed.  The other principal sufferers were Elijah Swift, Silas James (Jones0, Thomas Bourn, Jehabad Hatch, Reverend Henry Lincoln, Shubel Hatch Jr., etc."

A Nimrod of An Action.  --Brock-Perry

HMS Nimrod Cannons-- Part 3

Captain John Crocker of Falmouth, Massachusetts, described the British attack in a letter to the New England Palladium the day after the attack.

Shortly after 10 a.m. the British sent a group to the town under a flag of truce and demanded the town's field pieces (cannons) and a sloop tied up to the wharf.  If this was not met, they would bombard the town commencing at noon.  In the meanwhile, the American militia assembled and the townspeople moved out.

About noon, the Nimrod opened fire and continued until night.  Even after nightfall, an occasional shot would be fired.  The Americans estimated the British fired about 300 shots from their 32-pounders.

--Brock-Perry