Arguably the cutest little store in Newmarket is the Murray Store, right on the town’s vibrant Main Street. The brick building is one of the earliest such structures on the street and is a great example of a narrow Federal style building with a lunette in the gable end. The structure was built before 1830 and was occupied by a Ms. Charlotte Murray as a millinery (women’s hat store). Main Street USA! What is your favorite Main Street in New England?
On Doe’s Neck (now Moody Point) in Newmarket, NH, a peninsula at the terminus of the Lamprey River where it meets the Great Bay, has long been a highly desired and contested piece of land. Towards the end of the 17th century, the land here was owned by the Doe Family, who built a Garrison House here. The house was used as a defensive structure to protect those living nearby from Native American attack. The Doe family resided here until after the Revolutionary War. The saltbox building was later altered with full-length porches by later owners, to take advantage of water views. By the Great Depression, the garrison house was suffering from severe neglect, but before it was demolished, it was documented as part of the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS).
In 1852, the Newmarket Manufacturing Company, who operated a massive mill complex along the Lamprey River in Newmarket, realized the need of adequate fire service to protect their investments and goods. They leased land on Main Street to the town and funded a new fire station, providing engines as well that could be pulled by horse to fires in town. The old station is a surviving landmark in town and retains much of its architectural integrity.
Perched high on a hill, next to the Stone Church (featured previously), the old Stone School in Newmarket is one of a handful of iconic stone buildings in the town. Built in 1841, its stonework executed by William and Robert Channel, local farmers and stonemasons, who likely got their skill from building stone walls on farms. The building was used continuously as a school until 1966, when it was given to the Newmarket Historical Society, which now operates it as a local history museum.
Next door to the Mathes Block (previously featured) this stone commercial building is one of many such buildings that make Newmarket so beautiful and unique. Stone was harvested from the shores of the Lamprey River nearby and the beautiful coloring made them perfect for buildings in town. This building was constructed in the 1830s for Benjamin Mathes, a developer and businessman in town. The structure was occupied by the town post office in the early years, and now houses a restaurant.
Erected in 1832, the iconic Stone Church building in Newmarket, NH, first served as a Universalist Meeting House before shifting to Unitarian twenty years later. In 1865, it was sold to the Roman Catholic Church, thus establishing the first Catholic Church in Newmarket, NH. In 1890, the congregation moved down to Main Street into a new church next to the town hall, and the Catholics then used the Stone Church as a school for teaching French to children, likely due to the influx of French-Canadian immigrants working at the mills in town at the time. After use as a church, the building was used as a roller-skating rink, playhouse, and VFW hall. In the 1950s, The Newmarket Heel Factory inhabited the building, a shoe manufacturing company. In 1968 the building was ravaged by a fire, and according to legend, the firefighters were reluctant to break the historic windows of the church to vent the fire. In 1970, the building was sold to two UNH students and another, who planned to open a coffee house, but quickly realized they couldn’t sell enough coffee to pay the bills. They decided to sell beer, but weren’t old enough to drink…legally. So one of the boy’s mom’s got the liquor license in her name. Since then, the Stone Church has been one of the most important cultural institutions in the state, providing arts and music space for local musicians and artists to gather and share ideas, over beer. What could be better?!
Right on Main Street in Newmarket, the Mathes Block is one of the best-preserved examples of a brick commercial building in town. The structure was seemingly built for Benjamin W. Mathes, who operated a grocery and dry goods store out of the storefronts. Above, he likely had offices or a dwelling for workers. The building stands out for the contrast of granite at the storefront with the brick elsewhere. The building is now home to The Riverworks, an aptly named restaurant/pub with great food.
Incorporated in 1727, Newmarket, New Hampshire, is one of six towns granted by Massachusetts in the last year of the reign of King George I (when it was a part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony). Newmarket started as a parish of nearby Exeter, and was granted full town privileges by the legislature in 1737. Newmarket was a center of the New England shipping trade with the West Indies and also saw financial success as a shipbuilding center for the Royal Navy. By the 19th century, the town thrived as a mill town with great water power from the Lamprey River. With the growth of industry and immigrant population increasing due to labor necessity, the town outgrew its older Town Hall. In 1847, the town purchased land adjacent to a prominent mill site on Main Street, and built this beautiful Greek Revival building. The building was updated in the late 19th century with a tower and additional detailing. A massive fire gutted the old building in 1987. Two years later, the building was demolished and town offices moved to a former school building. The site today is a surface parking lot.
The Yellow House in Bar Harbor is one of the most stunning summer cottages in town, and luckily for us, is an inn! The cottage sits on a sleepy road just off Main Street, just steps from the rugged Mount Desert Island coastline on one side and busy restaurants, shopping, and bars on the other side. The cottage appears to have been built in the late 19th century from deed research and was acquired by socialite Ms. Sarah Parker Torrey Linzee, of Boston by 1886. Sarah married Thomas Linzee, a treasurer of a mill in Lowell, in 1855 and engaged in upper-class society together in Boston until his death in 1863. His wealth went to Sarah, who within a year of his death, purchased a rowhouse in Boston’s newly established Back Bay neighborhood. Her sister, Susan and her husband John Revere (the grandson of the American Patriot Paul Revere), had a matching home built nextdoor in Boston. Like any good socialite, Sarah Linzee desired a summer cottage in desirable Bar Harbor, Maine, to escape the woes of city life for clean air and large parties. Sarah and her sister Susan purchased this cottage, painting it yellow, and the name “Yellow House” stuck. The home was purchased by Leonard Opdyke and remained in the family for generations. By the second half of the 20th century, it became an inn, a use it remains as to this day. The old cottage features the finest wrap-around porch I have seen, large rooms, and original detailing inside and out. For anyone thinking about visiting Acadia National Park, I HIGHLY recommend checking in here to get the true Bar Harbor vibe!
My favorite Georgian style house in Rochester, MA is the Delano-Clapp House set far off the street, behind a stone wall. The house was built in 1735 for Jonathan Delano, a weaver. Jonathan’s son, Jonathan, Jr., sold the house and land to Ebenezer Clapp, in 1755. The property remained in the Clapp Family for nearly 250 years, when it sold out of the family in 1990. This house is testament to the fact that you can find great architecture in every corner of New England!
Buildings of New England 