The sea captain
Captain Isaac Foster
1704–1781A Charlestown mariner who commanded nearly forty voyages to Europe. The destruction of Charlestown at the Battle of Bunker Hill cost him much of his property.
Museum recordHistory & heritage · Brewster, Cape CodEvery room.
Every room.
A story.
Meet the faces in the frames. Follow the family records. Discover the Cape Cod history beyond our garden gate.
Meet the Foster family
A home with a pastHistory, in the
History, in the
everyday details.
Wide floorboards. Timber joints. A captain’s name at the gate.
At 1222 Stony Brook Road, Captain Foster Homestead brings Brewster’s maritime past into a present-day Cape Cod stay. Its plaque dates the homestead to circa 1799; the owner’s history associates the property with Captain Elisha Foster.
The main house, carriage house and Heritage Barn each reveal a different part of the property’s character. Look for the blue-and-white sailing tiles, the wooden staircase and the exposed framing of the barn.
The owner’s account credits a Corpwell Foundation grant, private donations and volunteers with supporting restoration work.
Read the owner’s account
The faces in the framesThe Foster
The Foster
portrait family.
In 1755, Joseph Badger painted members of a Foster family from Charlestown, Massachusetts. Four of those portraits are now in the National Gallery of Art.
The family connection
Eleanor Wyer Foster
1714–1798Eleanor married Isaac in 1732. The inscription on her portrait names her parents, William and Eleanor Wyer, and records her birth on 14 July 1714.
Museum recordThe eldest son
Dr. William Foster
1733–1759The inscription identifies William as Isaac and Eleanor’s eldest son. A physician, he died at just 26; the memorial text remembers his kindness and integrity.
Museum recordMedicine & the Revolution
Isaac Foster, Jr.
1740–1781A Harvard graduate and physician, Isaac organised a military hospital in Cambridge in 1775. He later established hospitals for the Continental Army in New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island.
Museum recordPatronage & preservation
Who were the benefactors?
The documented art donors were Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, who gave these paintings to the National Gallery of Art in 1957. That gift is separate from the lives of the Foster sitters and the restoration of the Brewster homestead. The records reviewed do not establish the homestead’s Foster family as notable philanthropists.
Explore the National Gallery catalogueFrom the Brewster town booksAnother Foster
Another Foster
family story.
Brewster’s published vital records provide a small, documented family group for Elisha and Deborah Foster. These are local records, separate from the Charlestown portrait family above.
On 14 March 1824, the town clerk recorded the marriage intentions of Captain Elisha Foster and Deborah Freeman. This is the date of the notice, rather than a confirmed wedding date.
Read the marriage-intention recordParents recorded in BrewsterElisha Foster
Elisha Foster
& Deborah Freeman
Children listed in the town’s birth records:
- ElishaBorn 4 December 1825
- Deborah F.Born 21 September 1828
- MariaBorn 10 October 1831
- Nathan F.Born 4 December 1833
- Sarah AbbaBorn 22 December 1839
Published in 1904, pp. 36 and 97. The records establish this family group; the full connection to the homestead’s chain of ownership remains to be researched.
Beyond the garden gateA day with
A day with
Brewster’s past.
Make your Cape Cod stay a chance to explore the town’s working landscapes, sea captains and surviving historic buildings.
Stony Brook Gristmill & Museum
Follow the paths beside the brook and discover the last surviving building of Brewster’s Factory Village. Visit the working mill when it opens seasonally.
Plan a mill visitCaptain Elijah Cobb House
Explore another sea captain’s story at the Brewster Historical Society’s 1799 house museum, at 739 Lower Road.
Explore the house museumWindmill Village
Discover the Higgins Farm Windmill, Hopkins Blacksmith Shop and Harris-Black House at 773 Main Street, beside Drummer Boy Park.
Discover Windmill VillageCheck each venue’s current opening dates and visitor information before setting out. These are independent historic attractions.
Sources & portrait credits
Portrait identities, dates and relationships: National Gallery of Art, accession numbers 1957.11.1–1957.11.4; Ellen G. Miles, American Paintings of the Eighteenth Century (1995), pp. 3–10. All four portraits by Joseph Badger, 1755; Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch. Reproductions supplied in the property’s photo archive.
Local family records: George Ernest Bowman, Vital Records of the Town of Brewster, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849 (1904), pp. 36 and 97. Dates follow this transcription; the tree of the portrait family is a selected group, not a complete genealogy.
Property history and restoration: the owner’s Brewster Heritage history page and the photographed homestead plaque. Visitor information: Town of Brewster and Brewster Historical Society. Reviewed November 2026.
Unidentified portraits and unverified claims about ancestry, cholera, ownership transfers and philanthropy have not been presented as established history.
Your Cape Cod vacationStay a little.
Stay a little.
Remember it always.
Find summer and winter stays at Captain Foster Homestead.
Check available dates and accommodation with the booking provider.
SUMMERView dates on Del Mar
WINTER STAYSView dates on Airbnb
Rates, available rooms and house rules are confirmed by your booking provider.