Mid-Coast Region

Visiting Thomaston, Union, Lincolnville, Belfast, and Searsport

Tour Highlights

This tour shares pre-statehood homes and a few other structures of the coast along the West Penobscot Bay, following it northward from Thomaston to Searsport.

Be sure to check out what's happening downtown in  Belfast !

Getting Started

This tour starts at 30 High St in Thomaston. The tour route is approximately 50 miles and will take roughly 2 to 3 hours, depending on if you choose to walk for a portion.

    Each tour stop on the map's address is linked to Google Maps so you can swiftly navigate from location-to-location if you choose Google for mapping. You can also use the address in your car's navigation system.

Be safe and aware of your surroundings whilst driving.

  1. Many properties on the tour are private places; be respectful of private property and remain on the public way at all times.

Click  here  to access a printable version of this tour.

Except as otherwise noted in the tour, the source for information about the properties has been gathered from each one’s National Register of Historic Places nomination.

1

Henry Knox Mansion ("Montpelier")

Built ca. 1793-95; reconstructed 1919-31, Federal

Montpelier is a 1929 reconstruction of the original Montpelier, which was built in 1794, but later fell into disrepair and was eventually demolished for the construction of the Thomaston Railroad in 1871.

This museum provides insight into the later life experience of Henry Knox. Knox served for five years as Secretary of War under George Washington in Philadelphia, and then retired to Maine to become a gentleman farmer, modeling himself on his friends, George Washington (Mount Vernon), and Thomas Jefferson (Monticello) and to provide his wife a luxurious home. On land inherited from his wife's maternal grandfather, they built the grand estate and named the house Montpelier in honor of France’s support during the Revolutionary War. The regionally renown housewright Ebenezer Alden worked on the original Montpelier's construction.

2

Joseph and Hannah Maxcy Homestead

Built ca. 1802, Federal

The Joseph and Hannah Maxcy Homestead is a two-story, Federal style, gabled roof house with a series of connected ells. The house was built in 1802 for Joseph Maxcy, who had moved to the area in 1788 from Attleboro, Massachusetts, as part of a second wave of settlement in the town. 

The main entrance is on the south-facing facade, and features Doric pilasters flanking the door, and a half-round transom window and gabled pediment above. This treatment closely resembles Plate 40 of William Pain's 1794 plan book, The Practical House Carpenter.

The builder was Ebenezer Alden, whose most famous area work was General Henry Knox's Montpelier mansion in Thomaston (destroyed and since reconstructed as a museum). It is probable that Alden used the same carving tools for this house as he did for Montpelier and his own house, built in 1797. Both houses have similar stylistic touches.

The interior of the house as virtually intact period woodwork, include fine carvings in all of the downstairs rooms, and slightly less ornate finishes in the upstairs bedrooms. Alden created complex period moldings around the windows, doors, and fireplace. In addition to the extraordinary woodwork found inside the Macy home, it is also significant for its deep expression of the Federal style in a rural setting in Mid-Coast Maine.

3

The Common

First listed in records ca. 1790, deeded ca. 1809

The Common is the town common of the town of Union. Laid out about 1790 and acquired by the town in 1809, it is the oldest public town common in the state of Maine. The Common can be understood as a "small historic district consisting of a grassy park-like site, sotted with cultural features including two monuments and one structure."

The town common of Union is significant for retaining its original configuration over the decades, plus it is Maine's oldest acquired town common. It is the site of the town's various war and veterans memorials, and also has a bandstand. 

4

Ebenezer Alden House

Built ca. 1797, Colonial/Federal Transitional

The Ebenezer Alden House is a transitional piece of architecture, blending part Colonial and part Federal styles with high quality and lots of decorative detail. The two-and-a-half story wood and brick frame structure has three main facades and is very high style which stands out for the period as it was very much a frontier at the time.

Ebenezer Alden was a regionally well-known housewright and master woodcutter and appears to have used a plan book to build his house. The house's design appears to be based in part on plans from plate 40 of William Pain's Practical House Carpenter, published in London in 1794. Other design elements may have been derived from Alden's work on Montpelier, the mansion of General Henry Knox in nearby Thomaston. 

It is said that General Knox was dining at this house in 1806 when he swallowed a chicken bone, leading to infection and his eventual death. The house remained in the hands of Alden's descendants until 1965.

5

Lermond Mill

Built ca. 1803 with additions in 1825, Vernacular

The Lermond Mill, also known as Morgan's Mill, is comprised of two vernacular, wood frame structures, one dating from 1803 and the other from 1825, both of timber frame construction with gable roofs and joined by a single-story shed. A granite lined mill pond is also present.

The industrial history of the site dates to 1795, when John Lermond arrived in Union. He built the dam that created Lermond Pond, and established a water-powered pit saw mill on the site. In 1803 he built the older of the two building sections of the present mill, and began operating a grist mill. The other main building section was added in 1825, and housed a woodworking operation, in which chairs, caskets, and barrel staves were produced.

In 1871 the larger building was converted to textile making, and in 1897 the complex was used as a granite stone finishing operation. In 1928 the main waterwheel was replaced by a turbine. Mill operations ended in 1972, but were restarted in 1978. The mill has since been used to produce electricity, and for the grinding of grain. It is one of the state's oldest operational water-powered mills.

6

George Ulmer House

Built ca. 1799, Federal

The George Ulmer House is a two-story Federal style wood house. The main entrance is at the center of the south-facing facade, sheltered by a hip-roofed porch that extends across the two flanking bays. A secondary entrance is located in a projecting vestibule on the west side. The interior retains original plaster and woodwork, including a high quality central hall staircase. 

Built in 1799, and site on a rise with views down the river to Penobscot Bay, it was the largest and most elaborate house in the area at the time. 

The house was built in 1799 for George Ulmer, who was then one of the wealthiest men in Hancock County (the area was separated to form Waldo County in 1827). Ulmer was politically well connected, serving as land agent for Henry Knox, and was able to leverage connections to financiers in Boston, Massachusetts to build a small lumber-driven empire on land he acquired from Knox at a discount in exchange for his services.

Ulmer used the power he held as land agent (Knox was in the 1790s the area's largest landowner) to his own benefit, but was also seen with disfavor by the area's smaller landholders, who took offense at his and Knox's business practices. In several instances acts of vandalism against his business premises resulted in direct financial losses, and his first mansion, built in 1796, was destroyed by fire whose origin is uncertain.

Ulmer's finances began to collapse when his mills were destroyed by spring flooding in 1807, with the replacement mills also destroyed the following December. Ulmer lost his house, to foreclosure in 1812.Ulmer's house was converted into two family not long after he lost it, and remained that way until 1999, when a new owner reintegrated the two sides. It is unclear whether differences in the styling of some of the upstairs rooms are the result of changes made by later owners, or if they were left unfinished by Ulmer due to his growing financial problems.

7

First Church of Belfast

Built ca. 1818, Federal

The First Church of Belfast is a two-story Federal style structure with a gable roof built by Samuel French, hewing to the "Design for a Meetinghouse" plan by the well-known architect Asher Benjamin, which was published in his 1798 publication, "The Country Builder's Assistant." 

The congregation was formed in 1796 and the church was built in 1818; it is one of the earliest church buildings in Belfast. The cost of the Church, paid for by the price of pews at auction (which ranged from $90 to 201), totaled over $6,000.

The open belfry sports a Revere bell (1820), a belfry clock by Timothy Chase and Phineas P. Quimby (1836), and organ (1848).

In 1868 the church was remodeled at a cost of $2,000, including removing the original box pews, installing heating and gas lighting, column replacements, the addition of shutters, door and window changes, and more. The building is significant to local history and is a an example of the skill of Maine's early craftsmen and is an important illustration of the evolution of worship spaces from the early New England meetinghouse to modern-day churches. The First Church continues to exist as an iconic landmark in Belfast and still holds services today. 

It is a contributing structure to the Belfast Historic District.  View the district's National Regster listing .

8

Johnson-Pratt House

Built ca. 1812 with alterations in 1830, Federal with Greek Revival detailing

The Johnson-Pratt house was originally built in the Federal style, the fluted ionic columns that form an elaborate portico were added around 1830.

The house was built by Ralph Cross Johnson, the son of Reverend Alfred Johnson who was a graduate of Dartmouth College and one of the founders of Bowdoin College. Johnson built this house just as the War of 1812 was beginning. He and his brother, Judge Alfred Johnson, were active in all manner of Belfast's businesses and politics. Ralph was a talented businessman and owned several cargo ships. He became the first mayor of Belfast in 1853. Ralph was also a member of the first Maine Legislature in 1820 and served again in 1826-1828, and 1837. He was instrumental in forming the county of Waldo and even proposed the name. 

Alfred Johnson's granddaughter, Louise, married Belfast native Admiral William V. Pratt, who served as U.S. Chief of Naval Operations from 1930-1933. The family used the house as a summer retreat well into the 20th century.

It is a contributing structure to the Primrose Hill Historic District. Primrose Hill became the fashionable neighborhood for Belfast's movers and shakers with the first structures being built as Belfast emerged as a bustling seaport.  View the district's National Register listing .

9

Benjamin Field House

Built ca. 1809, Federal

The Benjamin Field House is a particularly fine example of rural Federal architecture and features a hipped roof and two large, centrally located chimneys.

The house was built by Bohan P. Field using timbers cut on the property. Bohan Field, a graduate of Dartmouth College in 1795, worked in New Hampshire, and in North Yarmouth, Maine before moving to Belfast in 1799. He was Belfast's first lawyer and, when Waldo County was formed in 1827, he was appointed by Governor Lincoln to be chief justice of the Court of Sessions for the county, which was a surprise to him, as they were political opponents. The house remained in the Field family for 170 years. 

The following tribute to his memory is from the pen of Hon. Mr. Williamson, of Belfast. Speaking of Mr. Field as a magistrate and referee, in which capacity he was often employed, he says: "No man entered on the investigation of the rights of parties freer from passion and prejudice, and no man exercised a sounder judgment. Hence his decisions were uniformly correct and satisfactory. Such was his known integrity of character and singleness of purpose, that he received a thousand unsought tokens of public favor and confidence. Few men ever died more highly esteemed by all who knew him."

It is a contributing structure to the Primrose Hill Historic District.  View the district's National Register listing .

10

Black Horse Tavern

Built ca. 1795, Federal Cape

The Black Horse Tavern is a Cape Cod style frame house with a gable roof and retains much of its original interior, including wainscotting and large fireplaces. The original sign, featuring a painted horse, which hung outside the tavern still exists as well.

The house was built by Jerome Stephenson, a veteran of the American Revolutionary War who moved to Belfast in 1784. Stephenson was prominent in local civic affairs, serving as selectman in 1785. Although he built the house for his family, he converted it into a tavern in 1800, a role it fulfilled for both his son and grandson as well, until about 1852 . It was the first tavern on the east side of the river in Belfast.

11

College Club Inn

Built ca. 1800 with early 20th century alterations, Cape

The College Club Inn is a one-and-a-half story Cape style house that was originally built as a residential house but transitioned into a traveler's accommodation in the early 20th century. The interior of the Cape has Greek Revival styling and is organized in a typical Federal period central hall plan.

Built about 1800, it was acquired in 1902 by George and Rose Pettee for use as a summer house. A number of the enlargements and alterations were made during their ownership, and the property was opened as a tea room and inn by their daughter Frances in 1917 and called the "College Club T House." Still under the Pettees' ownership, it operated under several variants of the "College Club" name through 1953.

Although this practice of converting older buildings for use in the tourist trade was quite common in Maine, there are relatively few well-preserved examples, of which this is one. The building is historically significant as it highlights the adaptive reuse of older buildings being repurposed for the tourist trade.