Kennedy compound seen as 'Holy Grail'

HYANNIS PORT -- More than 300 political activists cast aside their gathering national convention in Boston yesterday to visit what one dubbed the ''Holy Grail" of Democratic politics, the Kennedy compound on Cape Cod.

Most of them donors, but some elected officials such as Representative John Olver of Amherst, the invited guests dined on steamers and lobster, received the greetings of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, and marveled up close at sights they had previously seen only in Life magazine or history books.

Behind them were the white clapboard waterfront homes previously owned by Robert F. Kennedy and used by President John F. Kennedy as the summer White House. Underneath the tent where they assembled was the turf made famous in Kennedy family football games. And before them were the sand dunes, beach, and views of Nantucket Sound that evoked images of the late president taking a walk, a sail, or paddling in a dinghy with his toddler son, John F. Kennedy Jr.

''My mother said to me, 'When you get off the bus, kiss the ground,' " said Missy Thorne of South Carolina, the sister-in-law of John F. Kerry's first wife, Julia Thorne.

Bob Sherman, a Boston lawyer, said, ''This is a part of history, and I think for anybody like me who grew up in Massachusetts and came of age in the presidency of John F. Kennedy, to have a chance to set foot at the compound is a chance to step into history." He labeled it the ''Holy Grail" for the Democratic faithful.

The thank you to party supporters was the last of three days worth of high-profile hobnobbing at the compound that left idling Town Cars on nearby streets. Many who attended the clambake had been donors to Kerry's presidential campaign or the Democratic National Committee.

All the events were closed to reporters.

On Friday, Kennedy hosted labor leaders for dinner. On Saturday, his guests included party donors and locals from the Hyannis Civic Association. After saying goodbye to his visitors yesterday, he boarded a helicopter to fly to Boston to begin a series of events that will underscore his presence at the party convention in his hometown.

First was an afternoon reception at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library for the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs.

This morning, the Democratic glitterati will gather in the footprint of the now-demolished Central Artery to dedicate its successor, the Rose F. Kennedy Greenway.

And tomorrow, the senior senator from Massachusetts takes center stage, delivering a valedictory of sorts to the party faithful before repairing to Symphony Hall for a star-studded tribute in honor of his 42-year career in the Senate.

It was Kennedy, after all, who pushed to bring the Democratic National Convention to Boston, a lobbying campaign that included an 11th-hour appeal to Terry McAuliffe, the party's chairman, in which the last-surviving Kennedy brother asked, ''What more does the Kennedy family have to do for the Democratic Party?"

His family will also be the focus of attention tonight, when there is a fund-raiser in Cambridge for the Robert F. Kennedy Foundation, and on Thursday, when his wife, Vicki Kennedy, is the honoree at a reception at the Top of the Hub.

Lance Pool, a Dallas attorney, said he and his wife, Jennifer, had a surreal feeling as they walked through the main house on 6 acres that are spread across three adjoining house lots. On the grand piano in the living room were photos of a family the couple knew, even though they had never met most of them in person.

''It was very intimate, classy," said Pool.

''It also was very family oriented. There were trikes and bikes and kids laughing."

Glen Johnson can be reached at johnson@globe.com.