Southern Maine Coast Region

Hodgson House

 31 Agamenticus Rd, South Berwick 

Built ca. 1800, Georgian

The Hodgson House, is a two-story Georgian style building with a small pediment above the central entry and sidelights. The home may have been built originally, as a commercial structure with an entrance facing Portland Street and was converted into a residential structure in the mid-19th century when the Greek Revival elements were added. The earliest recorded resident of the home was Robert Hodgson. 

It is a contributing structure to the South Berwick Village Historic District.  View the district's National Register listing .

Thomas Jewett House

 151 Portland St, South Berwick 

Built ca. 1795, Federal

The Thomas Jewett House is a Federal style home and considered South Berwick's best example of a connected complex. The home was built for Thomas Jewett, brother and business partner of Captain Theodore F. Jewett. Thomas lived at this house until his death in 1864 at which point the house was passed to his nephew and son-in-law Elisha Jewett. In 1979 the home was renamed the Grant House after it was reconfigured into apartments for the elderly.

It is a contributing structure to the South Berwick Village Historic District.  View the district's National Register listing .

Joseph Murphy House

 123 Portland St, South Berwick 

Built ca. 1795, Georgian/Federal Transitional

The Joseph Murphy house is a Georgian/Federal house with a carved wood fan, a heavily molded cornice and pilasters. The presence of the fan and the pitch of the roof suggest that it was built as a transitional Georgian into Federal style.

The first recognized inhabitant of the home was Joseph Murphy, a local cabinetmaker, who purchased the home in 1818. Murphy had a successful shop for in South Berwick (at the site of the current Odd Fellows hall) for over 20 years before moving back to his hometown of Lyman. 

It is a contributing structure to the South Berwick Village Historic District.  View the district's National Register listing .

Nason-Walker Barn

 99 Portland St, South Berwick 

Built ca. 1798

This post-and-beam two story, three bay, hipped-roofed barn was a part of the estate originally built at this location by merchant Bartholomew Nason in the last years of the eighteenth century.

Nason was a merchant who owned a store with his son Benjamin at The Comer starting c. 1800. The son continued to operate the store for fifty years, as well as operating a sawmill, owning interest in several ships that sailed from Portsmouth, and directing the South Berwick National Bank.

Benjamin Nason had an important role in the formation of South Berwick in the nineteenth century, from the construction of the First Church of Berwick in 1826 (which is now the First Federated Church, to taking part in the committee for the construction of Schoolhouse No. 5 at Agamenticus Road in 1842.

It is a contributing structure to the South Berwick Village Historic District.  View the district's National Register listing .

William Burleigh House

 79 Portland St, South Berwick 

Built ca. 1820-27, Federal/Greek Revival Transitional

Located on the north side of Main Street, is this large, transitional Federal/Greek Revival style residence. Based on the building's stylistic details and massing, it is likely that it was originally built as a two room-deep Federal style house, with the rear row of rooms added later.

Born in Northwood, New Hampshire, William Burleigh moved to South Berwick to open a legal practice in 1815. Following his marriage to Deborah Currier in 1817, Burleigh inherited a substantial amount of land from his wife's brother Micajah.

Burleigh later served as a representative to the 18th and 19th Congresses following the creation of the First Congressional District in Maine in 1823. He was elected to a 3rd term, but died before being able to follow through. One of Burleigh's sons, John holmes Burleigh, went on to also be a representative for the Congressional District like his father.

It is a contributing structure to the South Berwick Village Historic District.  View the district's National Register listing .

Raynes House

 96 Portland St, South Berwick 

Built ca. 1810, Federal

The Raynes House is a Federal style for the Raynes Family. The Raynes family, headed by Francis and Harriet Raynes, owned much of the land along southeast Portland Street for the majority of the 19th century. Following Francis death in 1860, his son Charles sold much of his family's land. Olive Raynes, Francis and Harriet's daughter, opened her own school on the homestead's property in the 1850s for the elite of North Berwick (including Sarah Orne Jewett).

It is a contributing structure to the South Berwick Village Historic District.  View the district's National Register listing .

Wentworth-Hart-Butler House

 329 Main St, South Berwick 

Built ca. 1820, Federal

The Wentworth-Hart-Butler House is a two story, Federal style residence with rear ells and an end chimney. The home's original residents are unknown but by a 1856 map of Berwick indicates that the home was owned by M & S Wentworth, Mary Ann Wentworth and Simon Hart. Mary Ann was a Free Will Baptist preacher. By 1872, the home was owned by George W. Butler, the clerk of the Free Will Baptist church and the owner of Butler Store.

It is a contributing structure to the South Berwick Village Historic District.  View the district's National Register listing .

John Noble Goodwin House

 297 Main St, South Berwick 

Built ca. 1810-20, Federal

The John Noble Goodwin House is a two story, Federal style house with a large, central chimney. The home is believed to have been built for John Noble Goodwin, a lawyer and Congressman. Goodwin served state attorney and in 1860 he was elected to Congress. During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln appointed him the first governor of the territory of Arizona. 

It is a contributing structure to the South Berwick Village Historic District.  View the district's National Register listing .

Sarah Orne Jewett House

 5 Portland St, South Berwick 

Built ca. 1774, Georgian

Located at the junction of Portland and Main Streets, at the center of the historic district, this well known, frame, five bay, two-and-a-half story Georgian style residence is filled with classically-inspired ornamentation.

John Haggens, one of the two wealthiest businessmen in Berwick during the late-eighteenth century, constructed this architecturally-distinguished house amid his substantial land holdings located on Main and Portland Streets. The three Greek Revival style pedimented dormers facing the street were added by the Jewett family in the nineteenth-century.

In addition to its architectural distinction this home is significant for its association with the writer Sarah Orne Jewett (1849-1909). Jewett was born in the house, and lived there during the later part of her life, with her older sister and their mother, but lived next door in the Eastman House between 1854-1887. She wrote most of her short stories and sketches here.

After Jewett died in 1909, followed by her sister in 1930, the house passed to their nephew, Dr. Theodore Eastman. Upon his death, Dr. Eastman donated it to the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (now known as Historic New England), who currently operate it as a museum.  View the museum's website .

Located to the north of the main house and parallel to Portland Street is a two-story barn and stable with small shed-roofed addition. This clapboarded barn, minimally ornamented in the Federal style, was built by Theodore F. Jewett as a stable and carriage bam for the family’s horses, and was also used to store merchandise he imported from the East Indies.

It is a contributing structure to the South Berwick Village Historic District.  View the district's National Register listing .

 View the site's National Register listing .

Jewett Store

 10 Portland St, South Berwick 

Built ca. 1815, Vernacular

The Jewett Store was established by Thomas and Theodore Jewett and operated for nearly fifty years selling goods from the West Indies and general goods. The Jewett store was supplied with goods delivered from the ships the Jewetts built at their shipyard near Pipe Stave Landing. After the death of the Jewett brothers, the store was passed onto John B. Nealley and Addie Knox who likely made some modifications to the building. 

It is a contributing structure to the South Berwick Village Historic District.  View the district's National Register listing .

Parks Store

 233-235 Main St, South Berwick 

Built ca. 1810, Federal

The Parks Store, built ca. 1810, started its life as a Federal style two-story house with a side gable roof. However, by the 1820s, the building was converted into commercial spaces with retail on the first floor and offices on the second floor.

From the 1830s through at least the 1850s, the store was run by brothers Samuel and Thoms Boylston Parks and Job Harris, a brother-in-law. The Parks Store sold goods and wares from packet ships that sailed between Boston and Dover and instituted home delivery service and, possibly, mail service. While the Parks family, at one time, owned property all over South Berwick, by the 1870s the family had left the town.

In 1870, the store, which barely escaped the Fire of 1870, contained a grocery and dry goods business known as Stackpole & Co. In the late 19th century, the store had been converted into a post office, then a bakery and from the 1930s through 2004, the store was occupied by Flynn's News. 

It is a contributing structure to the South Berwick Village Historic District.  View the district's National Register listing .

Adams Store

 200 Main St, South Berwick 

Built ca. 1800, Federal

The Adams Store is a two-bay, wood frame, Federal style store with a granite foundation. The store may have originally been a larger structure owned by Winthrop P. Norton that was shortened in 1805 for the highway expansion. 

Sarah Norton took ownership of the store around 1815 and, with her sister Elsabeth, sold "small wares dear and necessary to every woman's heart). In 1849, the Nortons sold the store to Nathaniel Adams, a shoe dealer and veteran of the War of 1812. The Adams owned the store until the end of the 1880s. In the 1920s, this building contained an auto repair business. 

In the 1960s, it became the office of the P. Gagnon & Son heating oil company for over three decades. It later returned to its retail identity.

It is a contributing structure to the South Berwick Village Historic District.  View the district's National Register listing .

William Allen Tompson, Esq. House

 190 Main St, South Berwick 

Built ca. 1780, Georgian

The William Allen Tompson, Esq. House is a two-story wood framed house that is among the oldest houses in the South Berwick Village district. The Georgian-era house may have originally been owned by Winthrop B. Norton (who may have also owned the Adams Store and Frost Tavern). The home likely was moved in 1805 to make room for highway improvements.

The home was bought by William Allen Tompson, the preceptor of Berwick Academy, in 1815.  This appointment was short-lived, however, as two years after his appointment he was let go due to lack of funds. Tompson went on to join the ministry (his father was the first reverend of the First Parish Congregational church.

Over the years, the William Allen Tompson house has underwent several alterations and reconfigurations. The home was first remodeled by the Tompsons who remodeling covered up the original plaster ceilings and opened up a large center hall where the original chimney was. The removal of this massive chimney caused insufficient support of some inner structural members, resulting in the slight sag to the roof and cornice lines.

In addition, an original ell was removed in the 1940s and the interior was altered to serve as four apartments. to allow for the construction of the driveway, an early carriage house was demolished in 1970s.

It is a contributing structure to the South Berwick Village Historic District.  View the district's National Register listing .

Hersom House

 1 Academy St,   South   Berwick 

Built ca. 1805, Federal

The first house on Academy Street is a Federal style house that was the residence of Isaac Hersom during the late-nineteenth century. Hersom owned and operated a grain store in the village.

It is a contributing structure to the South Berwick Village Historic District.  View the district's National Register listing .