Cape Cod Cupola was established in 1939, when John A. Bernier, who was a custodian at Roosevelt Junior High School in New Bedford for 37 years, and his wife started making small copper weathervanes in the basement of their home to make extra money to help care for their son with cerebral palsy.

At first, the Berniers traded the weathervanes for eggs, which was a common barter arrangement back then. Then they placed ads for their products in the New York Times and their sales really started to take off. A catalog of several basic shapes formed the core of their work, but many custom designs were done, too, such as catboat-shaped weathervanes, modeled after the small sailboats seen so often on Buzzards Bay.

The Berniers moved to their present location at Wilber Avenue and State Road (Route 6) in 1950, when nothing stood on the site. Their son, John E., stepped up to run the company when John A. died in 1974.

Brian Chabot signed on the Cape Cod Cupola in 1977 and manages the business, and M. Shirley Bernier, John E.'s wife, works in the office. The company continues to make vanes from lightweight rolled copper after buying, selling, and then discontinuing a disappointing line of aluminum vanes. "Copper is still traditional here. Other companies get into alloys." said Chabot. However, the cross arms on today's vanes are made of bronze and the vertical rods are steel.

The company started selling small basic models of cupolas in 1944. It took about six years for them to catch on, and in 1951 sales "blossomed," said Chabot. Ten styles where in stock until 1990 when windowed cupolas were introduced. Now about 100 styles and sizes account for 50 percent of sales.