Sen. M. Kennedy and his wife, Vicki, outside their home in earlier times.
Now that Sen. Edward Kennedy is gone, there has been much wondering about what will become of his seaside home in the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port, Mass. Some muse that at least some portions of the compound will become a museum -- CNN has reported that Kennedy had hoped for a museum.
There is much history attached to the compound -- the main home, at 50 Marchant Ave., was purchased by Joseph and Rose Kennedy in 1928. It was there that the Kennedy family was raised, including its famous sons: President John F. Kennedy, Sen. Ted Kennedy, and their brother, Robert, once a U.S. Senator and a U.S. Attorney General. Like his brother, JFK, RFK was assassinated. It is the main home in which Ted Kennedy and his wife, Vicki, lived. (See this ABC video to see the compound and to learn more about its history.)
There are two other Kennedy homes in the compound: one at 28 Marchant Ave., which Ted Kennedy purchased in 1955 and sold to Robert and Robert's wife, Ethel, in 1961, and a house at 111 Irving Avenue that John Kennedy purchased in 1956 before he became president, according to CapeCodOnline.com. (CapeCodOnline.com has an excellent article that details the history of the Kennedy compound and looks into the likelihood of whether or not the property will be turned into a public museum.)
Prime real estate
Vicki Kennedy has been living at 50 Marchant Ave., but it's not likely to remain her residence -- she and the senator bought an upscale home in Washington's Kalorama neighborhood, and it's believed that she will make her home there, the Washington Post reports.
The three white clapboard, Cape Cod-style homes are on about 6 acres of property along Nantucket Sound with extensive views of the Atlantic Ocean. The compound would be highly sought-after real estate, even without its ties to the dynastic Kennedy family.
I did some searching online, and found the 2009 property assessments for all three of the homes on the Kennedy Compound. The largest home (and the one that Ted Kennedy inhabited) has an assessed value of nearly $9.6 million. Sketches of the 21-room home can be viewed at the town of Barnstable's website.
The house at 28 Marchant Ave. -- which had been sold to RFK, was assessed in 2009 at a value of just over $2.3 million, while the property at 111 Irving Ave. has a 2009 assessed value of nearly $1.8 million. An additional land parcel in the compound has a 2009 assessed value of just over $1 million. All together, that makes a total assessed value of more than $13 million.
Reading the article at CapeCodOnline, it seems that the locals would rather that the compound remain in the Kennedy family's hands and not become a museum. The area is a small residential neighborhood, those interviewed in the article said, and could not handle the parking and the traffic that a museum would draw.
Readers: What do you think? Should parts of the Kennedy compound become a public museum? Is it likely that the property will become a museum?—Lauren Baier Kim