Note: This article contains spoilers for episode five of Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette.
When Carolyn Bessette first visited the Kennedy family compound, she was, by one account, nervous. Added onto the normal pressures of meeting her then boyfriend’s famous family, she was joining a rarefied group: guests of the Kennedys, granted entry into their summer sanctuary and the ultimate symbol of Camelot.
“Her friend MJ Bettenhausen said she was anxious, and tried to dress and act as she thought a Kennedy should, or at least a guest of the Kennedys should,” writes author Elizabeth Beller in Once Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy.
In episode five of Love Story, viewers see Bessette’s first visit to the compound in Hyannis Port, where she gets a taste of the Kennedy way: political quizzing at the dinner table, breakfast sign-up sheets, and strict rules of decorum (such as how to properly address John’s aunt, Ethel Kennedy). According to J. Randy Taraborrelli’s book The Kennedy Heirs, which was excerpted in People, these details are all based in fact.
John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier stroll across the lawn of his family’s home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, after announcing their engagement in June 1953.Photo: Getty Images
Members of the Kennedy family chat during gathering at the Kennedy compound in 1980.Photo: Bettmann/Getty Images
In the episode, Bessette meets a number of Kennedy cousins, just as Bessette-Kennedy did in real life at various family events. Among them, in the dinner party scene: Joseph P. Kennedy II, the oldest son of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy; his brothers, Michael LeMoyne Kennedy and Bobby (otherwise known as RFK Jr., the current health secretary); and Kara Kennedy, the daughter of Senator Ted Kennedy.
So what is the story behind the compound itself? Read on for a glimpse at the history of the Cape Cod haven where generations of Kennedys have gathered to spend time together, celebrate, and seek comfort in times of grief.
