Captain Freeman Perry House

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Comments (6)

• no name | April 11, 2014

  I'm sorry to say, but Roberta "resides" down the road a bit at a different house. The Captain Freeman Perry house on 6A is where she actually is. I have been there since the early 60's and I can assure you , she "exists", just not at the Freeman Inn. The Freeman Perry House was a boarding house way back when and that is when my family started staying there for summer vacations. Mary Cavanaugh was the owner at the time and became friendly with our family and eventually told us the story of Roberta. We experienced many things during our times there including the piano playing by itself daily. I'm not sure she is still there however as the place has been sold many times and is now totally renovated and is technically an antiques shop. I would love to pop in and ask if I could stop in for a visit for the first time in 40 plus years.

  • Judi | February 28, 2020

    The owner of the Captain Freeman-Perry House was my Aunt Mary Kavanagh, (Her name was not Cavanaugh, a different Irish line. Our Kavanaghs go back to the 1100's in Ireland and 1800's in Canada and the U.S.) The house was purchased in July 1952.The next summer, after a number of renovations at the house, Mary and her sister Ruth, my mother, opened the house as a guest house, as such places were called then. The house was not a "boarding house," as another entry at this site claims. The only "boarder" was a first year teacher at Brewster School who needed a place to stay when she first came to the Cape. Mary and Ruth were happy to help out when the principal asked them to do so. She was a delightful young woman. She and I have spoken in recent years of our fond memories..I don't know if she ever experienced Roberta's presence.
    
    Aunt Mary and I saw Roberta. In each instance, Roberta appeared as a young girl. Some say that was when she was particularly happy, so that may be the reason. In the family we talked about the fact that we were the two who saw her because we were the only two that played her Chickering Square Grand Piano, which she loved. We were told by a BLL librarian that Roberta's father purchased the piano for her when she was twelve.
    
    As I say of myself, I am a very fact-based person. However, I cannot deny seeing Roberta. The image I still have of her standing in the white dress with the blue sash about 20 feet from me is still very real. It occurred only a few weeks from when we moved there, before we knew about the history of the house or anything much about the Freeman family.
    
    A number of guests asked about the noises of various sorts, including the piano playing during the night. One person said she went down the big front staircase in the foyer and the playing stopped as she went to look into the living room where the piano was and saw no one at the piano, only to hear the music start again when she reversed her steps up the stairs and went into the little front bedroom there.
    
    I have Roberta and her brother John's journals when they attended private school off Cape, in Newton, I believe. (I haven't looked at the journals in some time, so I am not sure.) One interesting part is where Roberta speaks of the day when Henry Wadsworth Longfellow came to the school to talk the students.

    • Carolyn | May 13, 2022

      I worked at the guest house in the summer of 1965 as a chambermaid/waitress - my first time away from home (New Bedford). Enjoyed it and Mary so much. Also met her niece and her husband that were delightful. Wish I could remember their names. Don't remember anything about a ghost, though. I was thinking about trying to find the house, when I go East in the fall, which is how I came upon this site.

• Ryan | January 1, 2015

  This is not true. My grandparents bought this house. That's why it's closed. I have slept in that house for weekends after weekends and I can assure you. There is no ghost in this house.

• Eve | June 29, 2018

  My granparents owned this house for several decades after it was a boarding house. I spent many weekends and holidays and vacations there. We all knew the story of Roberts but none of us ever experienced anything. Until one night when we were in the process of cleaning and moving this out (after my grandfather passed away but when my grandmother was still alive, some time between 1999-2004). I was sleeping and woke up suddenly because it was as if someone had sprayed perfume directly in my face. I woke up and turned on the light. I could still smell the perfume, it was not a dream. There was basically nothing in the room other than the bed I was in and the sheets that were on it. There were no flowers, no plug-ins, and the windows were closed. It was sudden, strong, and temporary. It left as quickly as it came. Maybe it was Roberta, letting us know she was still there. Maybe it was my grandfather. You decide.

• Charlie Z | June 19, 2025

  I was a guest there in 1969 & 1970. At the time, the owners (whose names I don't recall) rented me a room for $50/week. Their daughters were Wendy Upham, Martha West, Charlie & "Boopa".
  Had a great time hanging out with their kids. They had a party in the barn behind the house.