Lorenzo Dow Baker:The Banana King" and The Chequesset Inn

Wellfleet may be famous today for oysters, but in the late 1800s, one of its own made history with bananas. Captain Lorenzo Dow Baker, born here in 1840, was a daring sea captain who changed America’s fruit market forever.

In 1870, after a trip to Jamaica, Baker returned with a cargo of bananas—an exotic novelty in the U.S. at the time. The fruit sold out almost instantly, and Baker quickly turned this discovery into a thriving business. His ventures eventually led to the creation of the Boston Fruit Company, which later merged into the United Fruit Company—the giant banana enterprise that eventually evolved into the brand we know today as Chiquita Banana.

Known as “The Banana King,” Baker brought a taste of the tropics to American tables—and his success story remains one of Wellfleet’s most surprising connections to global trade.

Opened in 1902, The Chequesset Inn was one of Wellfleet’s grandest landmarks. Built by Lorenzo Dow Baker, the inn transformed the town’s waterfront into a destination for wealthy summer visitors from Boston and beyond.

Perched near the harbor, the Chequesset Inn was a striking shingle-style hotel with wide porches, elegant rooms, and sweeping views of Cape Cod Bay. It helped usher in a new era for Wellfleet—shifting from a small fishing and oystering community to a seasonal resort town. Guests arrived by train and steamboat, drawn to the quiet beauty, fresh seafood, and cool summer breezes.

The inn operated successfully for decades, but in 1934, a powerful ice storm severely damaged the pier and building. With the cost of repairs too great during the Depression, the Chequesset Inn was dismantled. Today, only remnants of its pier remain at low tide, a haunting reminder of the era when Wellfleet was home to one of Cape Cod’s most elegant seaside hotels.