Abby Epplett, Historian

Besides visiting Historic New England’s Dole Little House , Museum of Old Newbury , and the Lower Green Area of Newbury , I also made several quick history stops while visiting the Newbury & Newburyport region, as I was unable to see these stops my previous trip to the area in September 2022 . Locations included a house and a memorial in the Upper Green Area of Newbury, along with historic buildings and one live horse in Downtown Newburyport.

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.

My second stop on my adventure in Maine was Hamilton House , located in South Berwick just down the road from Sarah Orne Jewett House Museum & Visitor Center . These Georgian style homes were built around the same time, with Hamilton House constructed around 1785 by wealthy privateer Jonathan Hamilton. He copied and enlarged the architectural features seen at Jewett House. Notable similarities include the layout of the houses, three-story buildings with four rooms on the main floor, a grand central staircase, and a wooden arch in the atrium, reminiscent of a ship’s hull. Hamilton House is more traditionally decorated than its counterpart across town, with Neoclassical wallpaper and white trim. The owner of this opulent manor paid double the taxes of the next best house in town. Due to the high price in upkeep and the economic downturn surrounding the Jefferson Embargo of 1807 and the War of 1812, the Hamilton family was forced to sell the house during the second generation....

For my third main stop on the third day of my three-day trip through the Portsmouth, New Hampshire area, I visited Rundlet-May House , a property of Historic New England (HNE) constructed in 1807. Like the Sayward-Wheeler House in nearby York, Maine, which I visited as stop two on the same day, a single family lived in the house throughout its time as a residence. The Rundlet-May House has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1976 .

Stop three on my two-day tour of Maine was Castle Tucker , a property of Historic New England in Wiscasset, Maine. This charming tourist town has a history as a busy port along the Sheepscot River stretching back to the early colonial era. Many residents in the 18 th and early 19 th century made their fortunes through the shipping industry’s Transatlantic trade routes.

I go to Portsmouth, NH so often that this is my fifth installment of quick history stops. The city is highly walkable with wide sidewalks, crosswalks with traffic lights, and streets lights. On this trip, I went back to the public gardens at Prescott Park, learned about historic buildings, took a rest on Four Tree Island, and even saw a very large boat pass under Memorial Bridge.

During my three-day trip of the Portsmouth, New Hampshire area, I visited Sayward-Wheeler House , a Historic New England (HNE) property in York, Maine. The house was owned by the Sayward-Wheeler family throughout its time as a private residence, from 1719 to 1977, and went through few updates.