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Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
Postcards from Falmouth Oral History Transcript
Recorded: July 30, 2021
Oral Historian: Joel Peterson
Interviewer: Troy Clarkson
Topic: The Dome Restaurant
Note: The right column references postcards by identifiers searchable in the Digital
Commonwealth online collection.
00:00
[Music]
00:45
Joel welcome glad to have you here today
00:47
thank you so we're here to talk about
00:49
one of Falmouth's most iconic spots
00:52
the Dome in Woods Hole and throughout
#thedome
Gunning_WoodsHole_Bldg_0607
and 0608
00:55
your life you've had an involvement with
00:58
that so take us first through the
01:00
history of how the Dome came to be
01:02
and then we'll talk about how it was a
01:05
community gathering place for so many
01:07
years
01:08
well my father was an architect in
01:11
Falmouth
01:13
fairly controversial one unfortunately
01:16
because his architecture was what they
01:18
called contemporary or modern
01:21
which
01:22
Falmouth didn't think was that great
01:26
and
#egunnarpeterson
1
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
01:27
so that went on for a while and then he
01:29
decided that he thought it would be a
01:32
good idea to
01:33
build a hotel
01:36
and then building a hotel maybe we'd
01:38
have a restaurant with it and of course
01:40
it had to be different
01:42
you know and it had to
01:44
there was a lot of controversy when we
01:47
were building it
01:49
I at the time it was 1953
01:52
I was 12 years old
01:54
but I do remember it very well
01:57
the Dome was the most controversial
02:00
most of the people in Woods Hole and
02:03
you’re familiar with the
02:07
ethos if that's the word of Woods Hole
02:10
um we're
02:12
vehemently against it
02:14
in
02:16
all of the stuff that you see now about
02:19
“save the Dome” it's going to go down it's
02:23
was the exact opposite if it goes up
02:25
it's going to ruin life as we know it
02:27
and
02:29
and
02:31
it's very amusing that probably the
#nautilusmotorinn
#1953
2
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
02:34
grandchildren of the people that were
02:36
fighting it going up are now fighting it
02:39
going down yeah
02:41
but uh anyway my father
02:44
Bucky Fuller R. Buckminster Fuller was
02:47
the
02:49
inventor if that's the word the father
02:51
of the Dome
02:53
and uh
02:55
my father thought it would be fun to
02:57
have
02:58
that as a restaurant
03:00
so he got in touch with Bucky who who
03:03
was quite a guy in his own right I mean
03:05
he was on a stamp and you know I mean he
03:08
was Bucky was quite a guy
03:11
and
03:12
personally he was like a grandfather to
03:14
me
03:16
as I say I was 12. he and his wife came
03:18
and lived at our house
03:20
for the summer of 1953
03:24
and lived with our family
03:26
while the Dome was being built
03:29
in the Dome um
03:32
is an interesting structure in that it's
03:35
very lightweight and it can span large
3
#buckminsterfuller
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
03:38
areas like a baseball field for instance
03:41
you know but
03:42
but at that time
03:44
he had only built one commercially he
03:47
built one in Dearborn Michigan for the
03:49
Ford Motor Company
03:52
and when he got through with that job he
03:54
came to Woods Hole
03:56
the Woods Hole Dome is wood
03:59
and all the wood was pre-cut
04:02
at MIT and was brought down on a couple
04:05
of trucks
04:07
the dome structure itself is is uh he
04:11
called it dynamic he used he made up the
04:14
word geodesic which
04:16
describes the construction but
04:18
dynamic being that
04:20
there are multiple panels
04:23
all
04:24
engineered and fit together
04:27
and what enables a large space to be
04:31
to be
04:33
constructed without
04:36
without falling down and without any
04:38
supports
04:40
is that one piece was pushing on the
04:42
other
#geodesicdome
4
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
04:43
so the building is always moving and if
04:47
you're in there
04:48
and there's no people or nothing
04:51
you can hear it it's cracking all the
04:53
time
04:54
and it's not just wind it's just it just
04:57
does that
04:59
of course that makes
05:01
the outside rather tough because you've
05:04
got a solid outside in the insides
05:07
moving
05:09
so consequently it leaked a lot
05:12
that was really the hardest part
05:15
and we were working on that all the time
05:18
a guy named Dave Gardner was the
05:21
was the roofer and he tried everything
05:24
in the world you know that he could find
05:26
uh elastomeric you know to keep to seal
05:30
the joints
05:31
it was originally covered in Mylar
05:36
in
05:36
1953
05:38
Mylar is a clear plastic
05:42
it was glued on
05:44
to each panel
05:46
and
05:49
that
5
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
05:50
first year we were open we opened in
05:52
1954
05:55
and
05:56
those of you of my age remember that in
05:58
1954 Hurricane Carol
06:01
came through at the end of August
06:05
and while you could walk on
06:08
on the Mylar it was strong enough to
06:11
hold you if you had something sharp that
06:14
was a different story and it got pierced
06:16
and the whole thing got ruined
06:19
so one year after it was up
06:22
it was gone
06:24
the structure was fine but the covering
06:26
was gone so then it was covered with
06:29
what it is covered with now which were
06:31
sheets of fiberglass
06:33
and fiberglass was brand new at that
06:35
time as I recall there was a company in
06:38
New Bedford that made it that made these
06:40
panels
06:42
and
06:43
the panels at that time were pink and
06:46
green you know preppy stuff
06:50
and so the whole dome
06:53
the different uh panels were either pink
06:56
or green and then there was a big
#1954
#hurricane #hurricanecarol
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�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
06:58
picture window behind what was the
07:00
sunken bar
07:02
ah let's see so
07:05
that went on for a few years and then
07:07
ultimately we had to start coating the
07:09
outside so the pink and green went away
07:13
just because it was
07:14
not painted but essentially painted with
07:17
this
07:18
elastomeric stuff
07:20
so it moved a lot it leaked a lot it was
07:23
it was an issue
07:25
so that that's a wonderful history that
07:28
only someone who lived it like yourself
07:30
could recount spent Hurricane
07:33
Carol in the cellar of the of the
07:36
kitchen
07:37
wow yeah
07:38
and that was quite a storm
07:41
I was not alive then but I have read
07:43
about it and heard about it I was here
07:45
uh of course for Hurricane Bob which was
07:48
uh that was a good one 30 something
07:50
years later and that was a good one too
07:53
but so after the reconstruction in 1954
07:56
then the Dome began its run as
07:59
one of the premier restaurants in
7
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
08:01
Massachusetts certainly on Cape Cod and
08:04
over those years
08:05
it's funny you should mention the
08:07
leaking because I still share stories
08:10
and I run into Cape Cod once in a while and
08:12
we can get to him in a minute but people
08:14
to this day tell stories about having
08:16
large dinner parties and fun and
08:19
food and drink
08:20
and the roof leaking and they would just
08:22
go right through it because that was
08:24
part of the Dome experience part of the
08:25
ambiance but
08:27
we have pictures of people sitting in
08:29
there with umbrellas though
08:31
uh just
08:33
you know to pull our chain little but
08:36
but that's isn't that part of what was
08:38
the experience because it was a local
08:40
place right people understood that they
08:42
expected it so it wasn't as though they
08:44
were put out by that but it was part of
08:46
what made it so special well that's what
08:48
we told them anyway
08:51
well it worked because uh and and that
08:54
became uh you know uh
08:56
obviously a huge part of your life for
8
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
08:59
many many years so tell us about the
09:01
evolution of the restaurant and and and
09:04
it continued uh
09:05
uh to be such an important part not just
09:08
of the Woods Hole village but of the
09:10
Falmouth and the Cape Cod community
09:12
well
09:14
I I guess
09:15
it was because I you know my father was
09:18
a local boy he went to
09:20
Lawrence High I went to Lawrence High
#lawrencehighschool
Gunning_Village_Bldg_0238
through 0257
Hunt_Village_Bldg_017 through
022
09:22
you know I mean we're we're locals
09:26
the town and back in those days was a
09:28
lot simpler than it is now you literally
09:30
knew everybody now I know you knew a lot
09:32
of people and know a lot of people but
09:35
uh
09:36
you sort of knew everybody so when you
09:38
were
09:39
in the business it wasn't I’m going to
09:42
the Dome it's I’m going to go see Joel
09:45
you know I mean
09:46
you know it became a
9
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
09:48
personality thing I think and uh
09:51
heck if I ever took a night off
09:54
you know I’d run into somebody you know
09:56
say like you downtown and say hey I was
09:59
there the other night where the hell
10:00
were you you know
10:02
you know
10:03
you know you got that a lot so
10:05
you know it was a
10:07
it was a
10:09
summer
10:11
tourist place
10:13
but the locals went there
10:15
for sure I mean I grew up uh off of
10:17
Davisville in East Falmouth and
10:20
uh you know the opportunity to to travel
10:23
to Woods Hole in general but you know on
10:26
a very special occasion we would go
10:28
there and that was always a highlight
10:30
for the family and that's those memories
10:33
uh you know last a lifetime and so your
10:36
place has been part of
10:38
uh so many memories for thousands of
10:40
people and that's what I still get you
10:41
know I still run into people at you know
10:44
the hardware store or whatever who'll
10:46
say just that you know God I remember
10
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
10:48
coming there on Mother's Day I remember
10:50
there's some you know
10:52
different things of course weddings and
10:55
I just had it out in the hallway here
10:57
your previous
10:59
guest
11:01
was telling me stories about a wedding
11:03
he went to there and
11:05
and talking about Cape Cod and yeah I mean
11:08
so it goes on all the time oh absolutely
11:11
and Cape Cod was a big big big part of it
11:14
so for those watching this Arne of
11:15
course is Arne Grepstad who was
11:18
uh
11:19
general manager was his title or manager
11:21
or but he was part of the heart and soul
11:23
of that place and certainly the
11:24
personality Arne Grepstad was was a uh
11:28
an exchange student
11:30
at at
11:31
Lawrence High
11:33
I don't know if it was Falmouth High
11:34
then no it's still Lawrence High then I
11:36
think and uh
11:38
and
11:41
for some unknown reason they asked me to
11:44
be one of his advisors
#arnegrepstad
11
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
11:47
and I wasn't that much older than him
11:48
and he was very well adjusted and didn't
11:51
seem to be having any problems so I
11:53
would take him to Red Sox games and you
11:55
know I mean we just did stuff and
11:58
and became friends so when his year was
12:00
up
12:02
I said
12:03
you know what are you going to do I’m
12:05
going back to know yeah but what are you
12:06
going to do
12:07
and
12:08
and he didn't really know
12:11
so one thing and another I went to the
12:13
Cornell Hotel School and so we got him
12:16
into the Cornell Hotel School
12:20
and then he started working summers for
12:22
me and then when he got through I said
12:25
what are you gonna do and I said well
12:27
why don't you come here and he just came
12:29
and never left and uh
12:31
you know he
12:33
as we like to say he's like a rash you
12:35
know you get
12:36
it of him
12:38
Arne’s the best no question about it
12:41
and uh absolutely he's a
12
#cornellhotelschool
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
12:43
bit of a character but uh
12:46
I could tell you Arne’s stories for a
12:49
long long time
12:50
but that's what makes places like the
12:52
dome so special because as you just
12:55
experienced people identify
12:58
their life story by people places and
13:01
things and the Dome had all of those it
13:03
was this amazing thing in the middle of
13:05
the village a special place and had
13:08
people like you and Arne that made it
13:10
an experience it wasn't going to Anyplace
13:12
USA to you know for a ham sandwich
13:15
it was going to the Dome
13:17
for that whole experience and uh and so
13:19
people still very much identify with
13:21
that as
13:22
as you know uh Phil Stone is my stepdad
13:25
and uh is one of your contemporaries and
13:27
you know to to this day he tells stories
13:30
about
13:31
the Dome and about Woods Hole
13:33
oh sure Phil and Dick
13:34
yeah oh yeah and and but that's I think
13:37
places like the Dome are woven through
13:39
the fret of the thread of the community
13:41
and make it really the special place
13
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
13:44
Quarterdeck today is that kind of a
#quarterdeck
13:47
place you go absolutely you know it's
13:50
all
13:51
people I know for the most part you know
13:53
it's
13:54
it's home you know it's Falmouth like
13:57
Cheers where everybody knows your name
13:58
right exactly
14:00
exactly so so
14:01
if you could pick out just a couple of
14:03
uh memorable stories from the Dome uh
14:07
famous people that dine in there or
14:09
experiences that that happen are there
14:11
any that stand out
14:13
well you're a baseball fan yes of course
14:16
my favorite player
14:18
was Jackie Jensen
14:21
right fielder
14:22
the outfield of Williams Piersall and
14:25
Jensen Pearsall of course lived in
14:27
Hyannis and
14:30
Ted Williams needs no introduction
14:33
Jackie Jensen played right field
14:36
and
14:37
if you're a trivia buff
14:39
which I’m sure you are and you would
14:40
know that Jackie Jensen is the only
#jackiejensen
14
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
14:43
person
14:44
who played in both the Rose Bowl and the
14:48
World Series
14:49
because he was football player
14:51
California
14:53
and then a baseball player in the World
14:55
Series unfortunately not with the Red
14:57
Sox but with the Yankees
15:00
and
15:01
anyway he was right fielder
15:04
when I was about 14 years old I was
15:07
washing dishes in the Dome
15:09
and I was too young really to run the
15:12
dishwasher but
15:13
I did anyway
15:15
until the labor people came in
15:19
and said that this kid's too young and
15:21
this is dangerous equipment and all that
15:23
other stuff and told my father that
15:27
they had to let me go
15:28
so they did let me go until he got out
15:31
of the driveway and then
15:33
and then I went back but that year
15:36
58
15:39
was one of Jackie Jensen’s best years
15:41
and I used to write what he did every
15:43
day on on the on the shelf down in the
15
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
15:47
uh cellar of the restaurant
15:49
anyway don't know why I did it
15:53
now come ahead
15:55
god 20 25 years
15:57
and this guy walks into the restaurant
15:59
I’m standing there at the desk and I
16:01
look and I said it's Jackie Jensen
16:05
couldn't believe it
16:06
I said yo Jackie Jensen he says yeah
16:08
nobody knows anymore I said no I do
16:11
anyway he had dinner he's taking his
16:13
daughter to the Vineyard
16:15
spending the night at the Nautilus
16:17
and uh came up for dinner
16:20
so I took him down in the cellar and
16:22
showed him what I had done back then he
16:25
absolutely couldn't believe it but you
16:27
know talk about
16:29
meeting your hero sort of you know I
16:31
mean it was it was neat
16:35
so that really uh exemplifies what we're
16:37
talking about and how yeah
16:40
places like the Dome are just special
16:42
and I’m sure you know he remembered that
16:44
for the rest of his days uh after his
16:46
time in the Major Leagues was over and
16:48
he had
16
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
16:51
he was one of those that
16:53
the other thing he he was well known for
16:55
was he wouldn't fly
16:58
which
16:59
you know was a problem for a ball player
17:01
so right
17:03
sort of like John Madden right exactly
17:05
exactly Madden got more famous for it
17:08
and had a bus and all that stuff you
17:10
know Willie Nelson you know it's got his
17:12
own bus but uh
17:14
yeah
17:16
so there's one um
17:19
oh we had the president of Finland
17:21
really yeah that was fun
17:24
so tell us about that
17:25
uh the president of Finland his name was
17:28
Urho Kekkonen
17:31
and
17:32
he was
17:34
obviously planning a visit to the states
17:36
and he wanted to go to Oceanographic
17:39
uh
17:40
he was very interested in oceanography
17:43
and I guess there's a lot of
17:44
oceanography in Finland you know I mean
17:46
that kind of stuff
#urhokekkonen
17
#whoi
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
17:48
so that's what got him to Woods Hole but
17:50
they had to put him up for the night so
17:54
this was
17:56
oh my lord he had
17:59
he had more U.S. Secret Service than his
18:01
own he had one
18:04
one little group of people that were
18:06
guarding him
18:07
and then a whole bunch of our people
18:09
that were guarding him you know Secret
18:11
Service guys and they had to come
18:12
through and check out all the employees
18:16
and we all had little pins that we were
18:18
wearing that were okay to get close to
18:20
them and all this sort of stuff that was
18:22
sort of fun
18:23
wow and
18:25
you know we fed him and you know it was
18:28
a good time
18:29
he had a good time Jimmy Carter stayed
18:32
with us really yeah
18:34
yeah he was at the National Academy of
18:36
Sciences
18:38
so
18:39
his
18:40
Secret Service guy came to me and said
18:43
um
18
#jimmycarter
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
18:45
and he wasn't president he was past
18:47
president when he came he wasn't
18:48
president at the time
18:50
and I said he he wanted to take a a jog
18:54
he said he liked to jog a mile or two
18:56
every morning
18:57
which was well known you know you know
18:59
Carter was a runner I said well you're
19:01
in luck
19:02
we're right on the course of the
19:04
Falmouth Road Race
19:06
so he said well show me
19:08
you know where where he where he'd go so
19:11
I
19:12
took the Secret Service guy and
19:15
down Church Street around the lighthouse
#falmouthroadrace
#nobskalight
Hunt_WoodsHole_Bch_573
through 578 &
Gunning_WoodsHole_Bldg_0745
through 0773
Church of the Messiah on Church
St.:
Hunt_WoodsHole_Bldg_540 &
Gunning_WoodsHole_Bldg_0565
through 0569
19:18
of course and you know back up through
19:20
and then you know make the loop
19:23
perfect he thought that was great so
19
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
19:25
sure enough at six o'clock the next
19:27
morning
19:29
there are two police cars
19:32
two Secret Service cars
19:34
four Secret Service agents running
19:36
right by him and Jimmy Carter in the
19:39
middle and they're jogging around the
19:41
lighthouse
19:43
at like six in the morning now if Carter
19:45
had run all by himself
19:48
and anyone saw him they'd say oh that
19:50
guy looks like Jimmy Carter you know I
19:52
mean that would have been about it but
19:54
with the lights going and the
19:56
police cars and you know all that uh
20:00
it was uh
20:02
you know what a great story so we can
20:04
walk up everybody we can say President
20:06
Carter ran the Falmouth Road Race right
20:09
that's great yeah and Hugh McCartney was
20:11
down interviewing him
20:14
as a matter of fact so the all of the uh
20:17
dating back over 100 years the Falmouth
20:20
Public Library who is sponsoring this
20:22
series also had an effort that the
20:26
Enterprise newspapers going back more
20:28
than 100 years are now digitally
20
#falmouthenterprise
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
20:30
preserved and online okay so I’m going
20:32
to go back and uh and try to find that
20:35
story and I’m sure over the years there
20:37
were a tremendous amount of photos and
20:39
stories about the Dome when it was in it
20:42
oh yeah so you can
20:44
well now that it's archived you can
20:47
yeah when I have some time one of these
20:49
days I’ll take a look
20:51
well this has been tremendously
20:52
enjoyable any anything in closing you
20:54
want to share with us about your
20:57
personal story related to the Dome or or
20:59
about the facility itself well it was
21:03
you know I
21:04
I miss it
21:05
um
21:07
it's it's not a uh it's not I don't miss
21:11
everything but you know it's a lot of
21:13
hours so it's a lot of work the problem
21:16
with running a restaurant is that
21:18
everybody eats three meals a day so
21:20
they're all experts you know yeah you go
21:22
to the doctor and the doctor says do
21:25
this and you do it because you're not a
21:27
doctor and you're hurt you know but you
21:30
go to a restaurant or actually a hotel
21
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
21:33
because you sleep every night right
21:35
you're an expert
21:37
and
21:38
you know it's it's uh it's an
21:40
interesting dynamic but I certainly
21:43
enjoyed I enjoyed the people the most I
21:45
mean what you're talking about
21:47
the fact that people you know just like
21:49
what happened out in the hallway here uh
21:52
that's
21:52
the best part you know that's just a lot
21:54
of fun that you know you made people
21:56
happy and uh even if it was raining on
21:59
them
22:00
well yeah I mean that was like as you
22:02
very nicely pointed out that was just
22:04
part of the experience
22:08
it rained at Fenway too the other night
22:10
you know
22:11
a good point and people still had a good
22:13
time yeah sure well thank you Joel for
22:15
to you and your dad and Bucky Fuller
22:18
for creating this opportunity for
22:20
generations to have wonderful memories
22:22
at that spot don't forget Arne and
22:25
Arne that's right and you know what
22:26
maybe we'll have him in here to do one
22
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
22:28
of these uh one of these oral histories
22:30
too because uh
22:32
uh you know I was thinking when you
22:33
mentioned the President of Finland
22:34
before we close
22:36
is Arne Finnish
22:37
no Arne’s Norwegian okay yeah
22:40
he wishes he was Finnish
22:43
I will ask him that question
22:45
that's great well thank you for sharing
22:48
some time and your memories with us and
22:49
helping us preserve this beautiful slice
22:52
of history for Falmouth my pleasure
23
�
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Transcript of Joel Peterson's Oral History on The Dome Restaurant
1953
1954
Arne Grepstad
Buckminster Fuller
Cornell Hotel School
E. Gunnar Peterson
Falmouth Enterprise
Falmouth Road Race
geodesic dome
hurricane
Hurricane Carol
Jackie Jensen
jimmy carter
joel peterson
lawrence high school
nautilus motor inn
nobska light
oral history
Postcards from Falmouth
quarterdeck
the dome
transcript
troy clarkson
urho kekkonen
WHOI