Designed in 1948 by architects Nathaniel Saltonstall and Oliver P. Morton, this remarkable property sits amid the rolling hills overlooking Wellfleet Harbor. It first opened as the Mayo Hill Colony Club, a private enclave and gallery for artists and their patrons. Each Bauhaus-inspired cottage was conceived with elegant functionality in mind and furnished with works by leading modernist designers of the era.

In 1963, Loris and Eleanor Stefani acquired the cottages and reimagined them as a public retreat, renaming it The Colony. From the beginning, they infused the property with their own creative vision, incorporating Loris’s artwork and cultivating a distinctive artistic atmosphere. Their stewardship, continued by their son Jeffrey and his wife Mihae since 2019, shaped The Colony into a cherished summer destinations.

Over the years many guests have visited and enjoyed this beautiful property and its charming cottages including Paul Newman, Faye Dunaway, Lionel and Diana Trilling, Bernard Malamud, William Shirer, and Margaret Mahler, among many others. Artists, writers, scholars, and generations of returning visitors have all found inspiration here, drawn by the same sense of calm, and creativity.

And now a new chapter begins with Bards On The Bay.