Sturgis Library, Barnstable

Built in 1644 for the Reverend John Lothrop, founder of Barnstable, this house on the Old King's Highway holds a claim few buildings anywhere can match: it is the oldest structure in the United States housing a public library. The front room — beamed ceiling, wide pumpkin-colored floorboards — served as a place of public worship under Lothrop, making it also the oldest standing American structure where religious services were regularly held. In 1863, William Sturgis, born in this house, willed it and an endowment for a village library. It opened in 1867.