Hyannis Port, the private community on the south side of Cape Cod where the Kennedys spent their summers, was a constant in John F. Kennedy Jr.’s life.

Safe Haven

Outside of Washington and Manhattan, John F. Kennedy Jr. had a rich, little-explored life on Cape Cod, his sanctuary from childhood up until his death

By Kate Storey

When we think of John F. Kennedy Jr., we mostly think of him in the early years of his life, or at the very end. We think of him as a child hiding under his father’s enormous presidential desk in the Oval Office, or saluting his dad’s coffin after his assassination. We think of him riding his bike to the Manhattan offices of George, the political magazine he founded, or holding hands with his glamorous wife, Carolyn Bessette.

But as I spoke to many members of the Kennedy family as well as to dozens of their close friends and neighbors for my book, White House by the Sea: A Century of the Kennedys at Hyannis Port, another picture of John emerged. Outside of Washington and Manhattan, John had a rich life on Cape Cod that had never been explored. The Cape was his safe haven, a place where he could avoid, for the most part, at least, the ever present lens of the paparazzi.