The doors of The Captain John Kendrick Maritime Museum were open to the public for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic on Patriots’ Day. 

The event, co-hosted by Wareham Historical Society President Angela Dunham and Select Board candidate Tricia Wurts, was intended to give residents insight into the town’s past — and its future.

Captain John Kendrick is perhaps best known for his visit to Japan in 1791. He is believed to be the first American to visit the country, which had a strict isolationist policy at the time that prohibited contact with foreigners. Kendrick was blown close to the coast by a typhoon, and he made the risky decision to sail into a port in the city of Kushimoto. After the storm subsided, he made contact with residents. 

Having grown up on Cape Cod with Wampanoags, Kendrick had some skill at communicating with people who spoke different languages, so he was able to communicate some with the fishermen who boarded his ship, Dunham said.

He was told that there was no market in Japan for otter furs — the cargo his ship was carrying to be traded in China — and was warned that staying in the harbor could put his ship in real danger.

So he left after 10 days, but “not without making such an impression that today, the Japanese honor Captain Kendrick,”  Dunham said. 

Delegates from Japan have visited the Kendrick House twice, Dunham said, most recently in 2017, to celebrate Kendrick’s impact. 

Kendrick visited Japan about 60 years before Captain Matthew Perry, who through threats of force was able to secure a treaty allowing American trade with Japan. 

“In Japan, he’s like a rock star,” said Historical Society member Nancy Rice, who also noted that family legend says Kendrick took part in the Boston Tea Party. 

Kendrick died in Hawaii after — perhaps intentionally or accidentally — being struck by a British cannonball. There is no known gravesite for him there, but there is a monument, Dunham said.

After his death, Kendrick’s wife continued to live in the family’s Main Street home in Wareham for about a decade, operating a small shop that sold goods to the sailors and shipbuilders who worked in the Narrows.

When she moved out, she took her belongings. The only artifact found within the home that belonged to the Kendricks is a delicate teacup that was found under a set of stairs. Many of the objects in the home are from Captain Alden Besse’s home — which now hosts the Verilife cannabis dispensary. 

The home is owned by the Wareham Historical Society, and Southcoast Health donated the land it sits on, so it will be preserved in perpetuity. 

Dunham said she hopes to open The Captain John Kendrick Maritime Museum and the Fearing Hill Tavern to the public this summer. 

For more information, to join the Historical Society, or to volunteer, go to www.warehamhistoricalsociety.com.