Family divided over future of Kennedy compound
Main house to be turned into institute
HYANNIS PORT, Mass. – For the Kennedys, the family compound has long been a place to relax, to celebrate and to grieve.
Members of America’s most glamorous political dynasty played touch football on the lawn, walked the beach and sailed the sound. The cluster of white-clapboard homes on Cape Cod served as the summer White House when Jack was president. It was there that the family retreated after his assassination. And it was there that Caroline held her wedding reception and Ted spent his final days.
Now, as the Kennedys gather for another wedding there, the family is divided over the future of the compound.
Today, Patrick Kennedy, a former eight-term congressman from Rhode Island and the son of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, will marry New Jersey schoolteacher Amy Petitgout in a small, private ceremony presided over by Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. At the same time, the Kennedys are split over what is to become of this Camelot-by-the sea.
Sen. Edward Kennedy’s widow, Vicki Kennedy, and his three children plan to transfer the main house at the compound to the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, perhaps for use as a scholarly retreat or a museum.
Some Kennedys have raised concerns about those plans, according to a family associate who spoke on condition of anonymity. They are worried about protecting the privacy of family members who will continue to live on the grounds, maintaining the overall character of the compound and ensuring access to the beachfront property, the family associate said.
Family members are discussing the concerns in hopes of resolving the issue before the property changes hands, the family associate said.
A statement on Thursday from the Edward M. Kennedy Institute, of which Vicki Kennedy is a co-founder and trustee, said the compound’s future use will be in line with what the senator wished for the property.
The Kennedys’ presence in Hyannis Port began in 1926 when Joseph Kennedy Sr. and his wife, Rose, rented a summer cottage with sweeping ocean views. A few years later, the Kennedy patriarch purchased the property and expanded it to suit his growing family. Twenty years after that, JFK and his brother Robert expanded the family footprint when they bought homes nearby. Edward Kennedy made the main house his home for decades.
Ethel Kennedy, Robert’s widow, still keeps a house next to the main residence.