National Register

Hezekiah Chase House // c.1820

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In 1782, Stephen Chase (1740-1821) settled in present-day Unity, Maine, and built the first frame house there to establish a community. After Stephen’s death, his son, Hezekiah Chase (1774-1848) built this brick, Federal period home for his family, moving his father’s wood-frame house and adding it onto the rear, which remains there to this day. Hezekiah was a judge and was involved in town affairs ever since it was established. The bricks were made locally and were of fine quality. Hezekiah’s son George C. Chase (1844-1919) was raised here. He attended Bates College in its second class, and eventually became a professor of English there. In 1894 he became the second president of Bates College and oversaw a period of significant growth at the college. Chase became known as “The Great Builder” at the college. The old Chase House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places both for its architectural merit and its history and significance to the town and region.

Laura Richards House // 1810

Buildings of New England1 Comment

This stunning Federal style house in Gardiner, Maine, was built about 1810 by Ebenezer Byram, who had purchased the land from Robert Hallowell Gardiner, a descendant of Dr. Sylvester Gardiner, the “founder” of the town. Dr. Gardiner was a resourceful Boston druggist, who was one of the principal owners of the Kennebec Purchase, known as the Plymouth Company, who purchased land on the west side of the Kennebec River in Maine. Dr. Sylvester Gardiner had been attracted to the Gardiner area for a number of reasons, primarily because of the depth of the water of the river to the point of Gardiner as the head of navigation for ships here. This house overlooking that river was purchased in 1878, by Henry and Laura E. Richards. Laura Richards (1850-1943) was the daughter of Samuel Gridley Howe, an abolitionist and the founder of the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts School for the Blind. Her mother, Julia Ward Howe wrote the words to The Battle Hymn of the Republic, a tune that I am sure most of you have heard of, but never knew the name. Henry and Laura moved to Gardiner in 1876 after suffering financial reverses in Boston, where Henry worked at his family’s paper mill, and it was about that time that Laura Richards began her writing career. At this house in Gardiner, Laura wrote more than 90 books including biographies (including one on her mother), poetry, and several children’s books. Even more impressive, Laura was awarded one of the first four ever Pulitzer Prize in 1917 for her biography on her mother, years before women were even afforded the right to vote!

Lewis-Zukowski Farm // 1781

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On the rural back roads of Suffield, CT, it is amazing how many historic farmhouses you can stumble upon. This is the Lewis-Zukowski Farmhouse, built in 1781, as one of the earliest brick homes built in this part of the state. When Hezekiah Lewis (?-1805) built his house in 1781, he was a farmer of modest prosperity. By the time of his death in 1805, he was somewhat wealthier, perhaps because of his second marriage in 1794 to widow Ruth Phelps, as his 91-acre farm. His estate indicates he was a traditional farmer of the period: he had a yoke of oxen, 2 horses, 2 cows, and 2 pigs, suggesting that he was primarily raising sustenance for his family, not products for market. Michael Zukowski arrived in Suffield in 1888 with his family as an immigrant from Poland. Zukowski worked on a farm in town for $8.00 a month plus board for local tobacco farmer Calvin Spencer. He had saved enough by 1905 to pay Hiram Knox (then the owner of the former Lewis Farm) $2,800 in cash, purchasing the property. Zukowski worked the farm until the 1920s, when his son took it over and he moved to another farm nearby. The house remained in the family one more generation until it was sold out of the family. It remains as an architecturally and culturally significant farm in Suffield.

The Arcade // 1870

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Prior to 1866 the area now called Oak Bluffs was largely undeveloped with the exception of the famed Methodist meeting camp at Wesleyan Grove that had been established in 1835. By the 1860s the meeting camp was attracting large numbers of middle class visitors from Boston and surrounding towns who came for summer retreats; in 1868 approximately 600 tent and cottage lots were being leased in the Methodist compound. The Land & Wharf Company catalyzed this success into profit, by developing a more commercial presence on Circuit Avenue and developed housing on large lots to the east.

The first major structure built by the Land & Wharf Company was the Arcade Building. In it, they established their office from which they directed development of the resort. The central open arcade provided access to the campground from the heart of Oak Bluffs’ commercial area. The Arcade was designed by Boston carpenter/architect/inventor Samuel Pratt (1824-1920) who was also responsible for many of the cottages in Oak Bluffs. The Arcade remains a historically significant and well-preserved commercial building in town. My bad photo doesn’t do it justice! 😦