History Uncorked: Meet the Historians Behind Our Summer Lecture Series

This summer, Ocean Edge is doing something a little different. As America marks its 250th anniversary, we're opening the doors of the Nickerson Mansion for four evenings of history, storytelling, and heritage cocktails — a series we're calling History Uncorked.

Each talk is led by someone who has spent years digging into the stories that shaped this property, this town, and this country. Here's who you'll be hearing from, and what they'll be covering.

Renée Dee: The Mansion's Resident Historian

Renée Dee's path to becoming Ocean Edge's resident historian started in 2016, leading mansion tours during a summer break from teaching first grade. What began as a seasonal job turned into a genuine pursuit — years of archival research into the Nickerson family, Fieldstone Hall, and the generations of owners who shaped this property before it became Ocean Edge.

Renée brings a unique vantage point to her research: her professional background with the Missionaries of La Salette has given her insight into yet another chapter of the property's history, one that connects directly to the letter-writing tradition we're reviving this summer. She continues to uncover new details about the estate, helping preserve a fuller picture of the people who once called it home.

Renée will lead two talks this season:

June 24 — The (Brewster) Nickersons & America
A look at the Nickerson family's lineage and its unexpected connections to figures from America's founding, including George Washington himself.

August 12 — The Nickerson Legacy on Cape Cod
The story of how this family's presence shaped the region — and how a private estate eventually became the resort guests know today.

David Martin, Ph.D.: A Cape Cod Historian's Historian

David Martin is Professor and Dean Emeritus from Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., who, since retiring to Cape Cod, has built a second career immersed in local history. He's the past president of the Cape Cod Genealogical Society, where he still teaches genealogy courses across the Cape, and currently serves as president of the Marstons Mills Historical Society.

He also chaired the Cape and Islands Historians Committee, which recently produced a major new book on the American Revolution on Cape Cod and the Islands — a 27-author volume that took years to assemble. David's talks this summer draw directly from that research.

July 15 — The American Revolution
David's first talk takes a wide view of the Revolution across Cape Cod and the Islands. Worth noting for Brewster locals: in 1775, "Brewster" didn't exist yet — this area was the North Parish of Harwich, not incorporated as its own town until 1803. But that doesn't mean the area sat out the Revolution. David has recently uncovered a list of ways that residents of what's now Brewster were involved during the Revolutionary period, and he'll be weaving some of those local details into this talk — likely the first time many of these connections have been shared publicly.

September 9 — From Independence to Constitution
David's second talk traces a fuller arc: the Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Paris that ended the war, and the path to the US Constitution. It's the story of how a revolution becomes a republic — and why the document signed in 1783 mattered just as much as the one signed in 1776.

Why It Matters Here

There's something fitting about hosting these conversations inside the Nickerson Mansion. A building that has stood through more than a century of Cape Cod history is, in its own way, a witness to the same long arc these lectures trace — independence, growth, reinvention, and the families who lived through all of it.

Each lecture is paired with a drink from our Heritage Cocktail Series — a small way of making 250 years of history a little easier to sit with.

History Uncorked runs June through September at Ocean Edge. All lectures are held in the La Salette Room inside the Mansion at 7PM and are open to resort guests and the public.

See the full schedule

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