Take a walk on the dark side of Barnstable Village with a retired judge as host.

As a tourist haven and one of New England’s most picturesque areas, Cape Cod has always promoted its picture- postcard images of cozy cottages, butterfly-filled flower gardens and iconic seaside scenery.

Gregory Williams, on the other hand, has always been fond of depicting some of Cape Cod’s less hallowed images.

Williams hosts his first walking tour Aug. 12, with a second on Aug. 19

Williams, who retired in 2015 as a district court judge in Massachusetts, is a popular and well-known local speaker. He has made it one of his post-retirement callings to occasionally whisper in our ears that there’s an all-too-human, darker side to some of the histories and anecdotes that populate our Cape Cod heritage. Witness his many talks and programs about local murder and crime, often dating back to the early days of the settlers and traders from Europe, as they arrived to explore and then build up the New England colonies.

On Aug. 12, Williams will host his first walking tour through an atmospheric neighborhood of Barnstable Village, where he’ll meet participants to recount some dark tales concerning what he calls “Law and Crime in Barnstable Village,” stopping at each locale where the historical events took place. Participants will meet at 9 a.m. at Sturgis Library (3090 Route 6A) to begin the walk, which will be less than a mile in length.

Murder and mayhem along historic Old Kings Highway

Williams’ stories will span the years from the late 1700s all the way to the early 2000s. First up along the tree-shaded Old Kings Highway is the Olde Colonial Courthouse (c. 1760s), the second courthouse to be built in Barnstable. Williams will call upon the only known record of proceedings from that court, in 1791, which recount a crime concerning “concealment of a pregnancy,” a complex legal issue of that day.

The walk will pass by a plaque that marks the site of Barnstable’s very first courthouse, and continue on to the one-time Lothrop residence (1644) that’s now the Sturgis Library, connecting to some of Williams’ stories about the Lothrop family and its “cursed” Sturgis descendants. Then it’s on to Crocker Tavern and the unfortunate tale of Ann Freeman, a village shopkeeper loyal to Britain in the time of the Revolution, who became a victim of brutal torture inflicted by a group of what Williams calls “violent and nasty” Revolutionary War “patriots” who were intolerant of her freedom of speech when it conflicted with their own views.

Courthouse dramas in Barnstable County span more than 100 years

At the iconic 1830s Barnstable County Courthouse, Williams has tales to tell about infamous crimes, beginning with Charles Freeman, who murdered his own child in the late 1800s in a spate of religious fervor; and continuing all the way to the 1960s, when the trial of 20th century serial murderer Antone “Tony” Costa turned Truro into a sinister place for a time. Later came the infamous Cape Cod trial surrounding the murder of Christa Worthington in the early 2000s.

Across the street in the village, Williams shares another love-gone-wrong story from the 1920s, which ends in tragedy for yet another shopkeeper. The walk ends just up the street at the 1690 Old Jail in back of the Coast Guard Heritage Museum at Cobbs Hill.

How did it all begin, this idea of a retired judge dredging up old crimes?

Williams’ true crime stories about New England’s darker legacies and colorful characters have caught the interest of Cape Codders for nearly a decade, from his research into murder committed by a Mayflower passenger, to a whaleship mutiny, adventures clashing with pirates on the high seas and many more New England mysteries and sagas.

Not to be confused with other walks in Barnstable Village that relate to possible haunting presences in tavern or burial ground, Williams’ legal background has led him to revisit historical crimes and misdemeanors of the flesh-and-blood variety that have dotted our history, often illuminating political and social divisions every bit as rancorous as those we see today.

Williams is not exactly sure when or where his love for strange and macabre histories may have been born, but he remembers a few antecedents. “My grandmother loved the National Enquirer,” he said.

He also related that his mother took him to see his very first movie at the theater, in 1958. It was called “The Screaming Skull.” His reaction? “I loved it.”

If you go to 'Law and Crime in Barnstable Village: A Walking Tour

“Law and Crime in Barnstable Village: A Walking Tour,” led by Gregory Williams, will set off at 9 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 12, and again the following Saturday, Aug. 19, from Sturgis Library, 3090 Route 6A, Barnstable Village. The less-than-one-mile walk will end at the Old Jail on Cobbs Hill, and takes between 60 and 90 minutes. Registration is limited. Pre-registration is required at reference@sturgislibrary.org

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Retired judge explores, on foot, picture-perfect Cape Cod's dark side