The New England Edition - GANT HOME

home was built in 1820 by a sea captain. On
its roof is a charming fenced terrace known
locally as a “widow’s walk”, where the captain’s
wife could watch for her husband’s return
from the sea. From here, the expansive
sea views stretch to the islands of Martha’s
Vineyard and Nantucket on the edge of the
horizon. Midnight may fi nd a dozen children
sleeping on the widow’s walk beneath
the stars on foam bedrolls. Facing the other
way, there’s a Kennedy home in every direction.
Bobby himself grew up in the house
next door with ten siblings, his mother
Ethel who still lives there and father Robert
Kennedy, the legendary attorney general
and civil rights champion of the ’60s.
The doors of this hospitable household
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is President of
Waterkeeper Alliance and the best-known
environmental lawyer in America. Waterkeeper
Alliance is the world’s foremost
grassroots water protection organization.
As president, he leads over two hundred
local waterkeeper programs that protect
rivers, lakes and ocean bays around the
world using patrol boats, litigation and science
to bring the biggest polluters to justice.
Waterkeepers understand that clean water
means healthy communities.
gant home in hyannisport
are never locked. The kitchen is always
open and the barbecue pit lit. Ringing
phones, blaring music, trampling feet and
the barking of the Kennedy’s two dachshunds,
Cupid and Cinnamon, add to the
atmosphere of amiable anarchy. Kids
box, dance, wrestle, paint pictures or play
“ananagrams” on the fl oor while the older
boys and girls clean fresh caught bluefi sh
on the outdoor patio. Somewhere someone
is playing a few bars on a piano.
Between May and September, the house
functions as the hub around which the family’s
life revolves. There is nothing ostentatious
here. The three-story house contains
an astounding twenty-one beds scattered
haphazardly over fi ve crowded bedrooms,
a living room and study, all served by a
kitchen and four bathrooms. Stained pine
fl oors complement beautiful windows cheerfully
lighting practical bedrooms strewn
with matching pillows, duvets and throws.
Terrycloth robes and towels hanging in the
bathrooms tastefully complete the casual
country home feeling.
Shelves in the kitchen and the hallways
overfl ow with plates, bowls and glasses, all
anxiously expecting unexpected visitors.
The combined dining room and study is too
small for the perpetual crowds and fl ows out
onto a patio fi lled with wicker and Adirondack
chairs, which functions as the social
center of the house.
Even on the occasional Cape Cod rainy
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