While President John F. Kennedy and his family are often associated with their Hyannisport home on Cape Cod, the South Shore was where they summered and made many cherished memories throughout their famous history.
It was Hull in particular where the Kennedys spent many a summer in a house that can quite simply be described as spectacular, if not breathtaking. At the turn of the twentieth century, the property was owned by John F. Honey Fitz; Fitzgerald, then mayor of Boston. The father of Rose Kennedy, he would later become the grandfather of a young JFK. The late president spent many summer afternoons visiting his grandfather there as a boy.
Located at 940 Nantasket Avenue in the Point Allerton neighborhood of Hull, the ‘Honey Fitz’ tudor-style summer house was purchased by John “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald in 1915. The former mayor of Boston, Fitz along with his wife and six children would spend the summer months there basking in the splendor of the South Shore’s beauty.
It was his daughter Rose who would go on to marry Joseph Kennedy and subsequently raise the political dynasty the world came to know as the Kennedys. Rose and Joe would return to Nantasket Avenue with their children in the summer months, including the future president John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Marks signifying the children’s heights are even still present on the living room wall inside the Honey Fitz summer house.
Featuring splendid ocean views, the twelve-room house showcases a dining room and living room with 10 foot high ceilings, a fully equipped family kitchen with butler’s pantry, mudroom, sunroom, master suite, and five additional bedrooms. The house is perched elegantly atop three-quarters of an acre with a library/games room on the third floor. To this day, this once summer getaway for the Kennedys still retains many of its original features including fireplaces, vaulted ceiling, and wood paneling.
The South Shore remained a special place in the Kennedy’s lives for many years after childhood. In 1944 Bobby graduated from Milton Academy, followed by Ted in 1950. Bobby’s son, and the late Michael Kennedy, called Cohasset home in the 80s and 90s.
The Honey Fitz home was last purchased in 2017 but can still be admired from afar for anyone visiting beautiful Hull, MA.