Buildings of New England

Where are my golfers at??

Across Sippican Harbor from the town center of Marion, the Kittansett Club property provides some of the best views in town. The Kittansett Club was founded by a group of members of the Beverly Yacht Club in 1922.
At the time the Beverly Yacht Club and its clubhouse and yachting facilities, were located in a building (no longer extant) at the southern tip of Butler’s Point. Its members had come to feel that the property was underused and that it made sense to expand it into a golf club, which could be used throughout the spring, summer and fall rather than for only several weeks during the summer for yachting. Kittansett was derived from two Native American words, “Kittan,” said to mean “sea,” and “Sett,” said to be a common word-ending for “near”, roughly translating to “near the sea”. The wealthy group of men who developed the peninsula with assistance from the Olmsted Brothers, landscape architects, totaling over 180 acres, a substantial portion was leased to the golf club while approximately 16 house lots were retained for those fronting the cost, to members of the club to help defer the expenses of developing the course. In 1925, the Kittansett Club undertook the construction of what became known as the “Winter House,” (the current clubhouse) which was a winterized building with heating and plumbing. The Colonial Revival building is sited so elegantly at the tip of Butler’s Point, looking out at Buzzards Bay.