Dr. Francis Wicks was the original owner of this 1790 house in Falmouth, Mass.

Along with Dr. Hugh George Donaldson, Wicks was one of the first doctors to advocate for smallpox vaccinations. Wicks, who had a medical office in the rear of the house, served as a medial corpsman during the Revolutionary War.

Wicks provided care to service to the town’s poor and helped establish the Poor House. Sadly, he lost his fortune and his own grandchildren later wound up at the Poor House.

The house went through a handful of other owners before Julia Cook, the granddaughter of its last owner, Captain Warren N. Bourne, donated the house to the Falmouth Historical Society. It had been empty for three years during the depression and now serves as a museum.

Descendants of Falmouth’s old families donated furniture, accessories and paintings from the pre-revolutionary period to the post-civil war era that reflect Falmouth’s history.