Historic New England: Nickels-Sortwell House

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Black, white, and light blue striped header image reading Historic New England: Nickels-Sortwell House

For stop five on my trip through Maine, I went back to Wiscasset to visit another Historic New England (HNE) property and National Historic Landmark. Built by shipping investor William Nickels and his wife Jane in 1807, Nickels-Sortwell House is a federal-style mansion with a ridiculous number of windows. Like many owners of grand houses in Maine and New Hampshire, the Nickels family was a victim to President Thomas Jefferson’s disastrous Embargo of 1807 and the subsequent War of 1812. Both William and Jane had died by 1815, so the debt saddled children rented out the house. This started a tradition of renting at Nickels-Sortwell House, which continues to this day. The back portion of the house can be rented through Vacasa if you have the budget for it.

A white, three-story, Federal-style house with an American flag suspended from a pole on the balcony. A black and blue sign reading Nickels-Sortwell House 1807 with the Historic New England logo on the lower right corner Side view of a three-story Federal-style house seen through the trees. Three-quarters view of the house as seen from below. A stone wall topped with a white picket fence surround the house.

The first renters were the Turner family. Mother Mary Turner managed an upscale tavern on the first floor while raising nine children. During this period, the house was first called Turner’s Tavern and later Mansion House. After a few changes in ownership, the property was renamed again to Belle Haven Inn. Upon staying at the inn, the wealthy Sortwell family enjoyed their time so much that Alvin Foye Sortwell, Sr. bought the place and turned it back into a family residence. The close-knit and loving family, along with their well-treated servants, had fond memories of the house that they wanted to share with the community and even the country. Cynthia Sortwell Castleman, the granddaughter of Alvin, worked for Life Magazine, so one family Thanksgiving was turned into a news story. As older members passed away and the family grew more distant, Frances Augusta Sortwell bequeathed the building and its contents to HNE, which opened as a museum in 1958.

Embroidered floral fire screen A shiny metal decorative doorknocker in the the shape of a tower attached to a whitewashed door. Engraved words on the knocker read STOURTON TOWER AD 879 ALFRED THE GREAT A quatrefoil shaped wooden table with three matching chairs The face of a grandfather clock with a sailing ship design above the numbers and hands. Small decorative clock with a wooden case and a painted reverse glass panel underneath the face. White and blueish-gray floral wallpaper Large red chest with ornate metal hinges and a matching metal handle. A rounded wall with two rows of hooks A long wooden table with several matching chairs on a closed patio with floor-to-ceiling windows A gray easy chair with an embroidered patch featuring flowers, butterflies, a French horn, and a bicycle Portrait of a man above a fireplace. A wooden chair with floral upholstry is on the left, while the embroidered firescreen is on the right. The room is decorated with yellow damask wallpaper A white porcelain clawfoot tub against a beadboard wall next to a simple sink

The Nickels family spared no expenses on bonus features for the house. In the years before electricity, daylight was at a premium. A conical skylight and lunette windows, so called for their half-moon shape, brought much needed light to the space. The Sortwell family also left their mark with the creation of the Sunken Garden next door to their house. Now maintained by the Garden Club of Wiscasset, it was first created in the remaining cellar of a burned house by the mother-daughter team of Gertrude Winship Dailey Sortwell and Frances Sortwell. The family donated the garden to the town in 1958, the same year that the house opened as a museum.

Stone steps down into a sunken garden A spiral staircase turning counterclockwise and circling around a conical skylight. A white sign reading The Sunken Garden OPEN TO THE PUBLIC GIFT FROM THE SORTWELL FAMILY 1958 A conical skylight bringing light to an otherwise dark room An entryway featuring a lunette window over a narrow front door and an hexagonal lantern hung from the ceiling The hexagonal lantern from the opposite side with the spiral staircase in the background A view out a window on the second floor. Sheer curtains frame the window. A yellow-green house with purple shutters is outside. Lunette window casting a light onto the darkened floor A view of the spiral staircase from the front door. The floral wallpaper plasters the wall behind the staircase, and the hexagonal lantern hangs from the ceiling.

Like many HNE properties, tours run on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from Historic New England’s open house in June through mid October with tours on the half-hour at 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. If you arrive early and there are no tours in progress, the tour guide will happily take you in. This was the most flexible tour experience I have taken at HNE properties. Tickets are standard HNE pricing: $15 for adults, $13 for seniors, $7 for students, and $0 for HNE members (like me!). The house is not accessible by wheelchair, and the stairs might be too steep for people with low mobility. Nickels-Sortwell House does not have an online virtual tour at this time.


Abby Epplett’s Rating System

Experience: 8/10

Accessibility: 7/10



Location: 121 Main St, Wiscasset, ME 04578, USA