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

Model Boat Builder Constructs Replica of the HMS Nimrod

From the June 7, 2013, Falmouth (Ma.) Enterprise" by Christoher Kazarian.

Alan G. Alan G. Lunn loves anything to do with the sea and ocean.  Just look around his home.  he collects, he builds, and the latest is a scale reproduction of the British brig-sloop HMS Nimrod that played a part in Falmouth's history.

He has spent some two hours a day and the last eight months fine-tuning his effort.  He alludes to four  specific traits for someone who makes these reproductions:  "You need to have the eyes of an eagle, the patience of a saint, the hand skills of a surgeon and the ability to curse like a sailor."  (Well, I got one of the three.)

The 84-year-old was able to get the Nimrod's  original plans from the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England, as well as materials from Woods Hole Historical Museum that proved useful in the project.

During his research, he discovered a factual error in the painting of the Nimrod in the Falmouth Public Library which shows a two-deck ship, the Nimrod only had a single deck.

The process of building a boat like this was, at time, painstaking.  For the rigging he took bristles from a broom, glued them together and painted them black.  He laughed that there were times he needed hands of a surgeon, nut those were all too often overshadowed by cursing like a sailor.

A picture of Mr. Lunn and his model of the HMS Nimrod accompanies the article.

Job Well Done, Mr. Lunn   --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

HMS Nimrod Cannons-- Part 2

The HMS Nimrod was built in Ipswich, England, in 1812 and fitted out in Sherness.  It arrived off New England some time in 1813 and was part of a squadron of British ships under Commander Paget of the HMS Superb and HMS Recruit which captured the American ship Retaliation.  The Nimrod began "preying" on American shipping and coastal towns in early October along Cape Cod.

On December 6, 1813, the Nimrod captured the schooner Hitta Franklin and, shortly afterwards the Chili with 1240 barrels of whale oil.

The British squadron was stationed at Tarpaulin Cove in Naushon Island, a place well-known by whalers and privateers.  There was an inn there owned by a Mr. Slocum.  On Jan. 13, 1814, he overheard the crew of the Nimrod discussing an upcoming attack on Falmouth, Massachusetts,  to capture two brass cannons reported to be there.  He alerted Falmouth.

--Brock-Perry

Historic Cannon (Possibly From the HMS Nimrod)-- Part 4

Stonington's 3-pounder was restored in time for the 190th anniversary in August 2004. Then, it was sent to the Maryland Archaeology Conservation Laboratory and had corrosives removed. Two cannonballs were found with traces of gunpowder which had to be removed carefully (good idea). It was then coated with a solution to make it rust-resistant. It came back to Stonington and a reproduction carriage built for it.

It is too fragile to be exhibited outside of the historical society which does not have enough room for the 1800 pound cannon so it has been housed in a storage shed the last eight years.

Falmouth has now obtained the Stonington cannon.

--Brock-Perry

Historic Cannon (Possibly From the HMS Nimrod)-- Part 3: "If You Want Our Cannons...."

Recent investigation, however, reveals that the cannons are too old to be from the Nimrod. They might even date back to the Revolutionary War. Plus, Stonington was attacked after the cannons were dumped from the Nimrod so either way, the Stonington cannon would not have been from that ship.

The cannons were kept in a vat of non-corrosive saltwater to leach the many years of salt out.

In January 1814, the Nimrod demanded that Falmouth surrender its two brass cannons are else. The Americans supposedly replied, "If you want our cannons you can come and get them, and we will give you what's in them first."

After this refusal, the Nimrod opened fire. Several Falmouth buildings still bear scars from that bombardment, including the one with the Nimrod cannonball.

--Brock-Perry

Falmouth, Massachusetts

From Wikipedia.

I had never heard of this town (and at first thought it might be in Maryland) so had to look it up. It is in Massachusetts and on Cape Cod.

During the War of 1812, action took place there when several British frigates and ships of the line bombarded Falmouth Heights while Massachusetts militia hastily entrenched on the beaches to repel an expected landing that never came.

Also, in 1859, Katharine Lee Bates, author, poet and lyricist of "America the Beautiful" was born there.

Nothing about the Nimrod attack, though.

--Brock-Perry

Save the Nimrod Organization

This organization in Falmouth has a $700,000 fundraiser going on to save the building. It will be demolished September 30th otherwise. It is the Isaac Bourne house part of it that has the cannon ball hole.

The Captain Nathaniel Lewis home is the larger of the two and a 17th century home.

Let's Hope They Save It.  --Brock-Perry

HMS Nimrod's Shot

Myrna Katz Frommer continued, "With Jim standing guard, we both went into the men's room to take a peek. And there it was, decidedly out of place behind a little door set into the blank white bathroom wall.."

The wall wasn't a bathroom back then. It was on the exterior of a small 17th century harbor-front home. Later, it was picked up and moved, hole and all, to Main Street beside a larger 18th century house.

In 1922, both buildings were put on rollers and pulled by a team of 8 horses to a two acre site on Dillingham Avenue where they were combined into a single residence. Then later it became a guest house and then a semi-private club.

In the 1970s it was converted into a restaurant named for the ship that fired the cannonball, the Nimrod.

Jim Murray bought it in 1995 and it is named the Nimrod Restaurant and Jazz Lounge at 100 Dillingham Avenue in Falmouth, Massachusetts (on Cape Cod).

Using the Bathroom By a Piece of History. --Brock-Perry

HMS Nimrod and Why There Is a Hole in the Men's Bathroom

Back on August 23rd, I wrote about the Nimrod House in Falmouth, Massachusetts, where a group is trying to save it. It is named after the British ship in the War of 1812 which hit it during the bombardment. The cannonball is gone, but the hole is still there.

I was kind of surprised to find that Wikipedia did not have an article about the ship, but did find information in two other sources.

From the Travel Watch "The Nimrod Falmouth, Massachusetts: The Place With a Hole in the Wall."

"...there's the nearly 200 year old hole in the wall of the men's bathroom...."

The Nimrod's owner, Jim Murray, said the hole "was made by a cannon ball fired by the British frigate, the HMS Nimrod, during the War of 1812. The ship's captain demanded the people of Falmouth hand over their guns. When they refused, he had the cannons fire on the town, and a cannon ball penetrated this part of the building. The ball has since disappeared, but the hole remains."

--Brock-Perry

HMS Nimrod-- Part 1: An 18-Gun Ctuizer-Class Brig-Sloop

From Wikipedia.

Here we go again, I have just now spent considerable time researching this cannonball hole in Falmouth, Massachusetts, and the HMS Nimrod. Before the article I printed earlier today, I'd never heard of either the town or ship.

I am learning a lot about it, but still do not have a definitive date for when the house was struck by the Nimrod cannonball.

Wikipedia did not have an article on the 1812 HMS Nimrod which evidently is the Nimrod in question here (there have been several HMS Nimrods). But it did say the Nimrod was an 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop launched in 1812 and wrecked in 1827.

You Have to Wonder About a Ship Named the Nimrod. --Brock-Perry