Mid-Coast Region
Visiting Bath, Phippsburg, Georgetown, and Woolwich
Tour Highlights
This tour shares early houses and other structures in the western Mid-Coast region, journeying through Bath, Phippsburg, Georgetown, and Woolwich.
Be sure to check out what's happening downtown in Bath !
Get Started
- This tour starts at 57 Whiskeag Road in Bath. The tour route is approximately 50 miles and will take about 2 hours.
- 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.
- 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.
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1
Governor William King House
Built ca. 1812, Gothic Revival
The Governor William King House is named for William King, the father of Maine statehood. He was the first elected governor of the new state of Maine in 1820. King's two-story, granite block home in Bath, also known as the "Stone House", was built in 1812 and represents one of the earliest known examples of Gothic revival architecture in New England. This can be seen in the large, pointed lancet windows on the main facade. The interior of the building includes well-preserved Federal period woodwork.
William King (1768-1852) was one of Bath's leading businessmen and merchants of the early 19th century, with banking, shipbuilding, and overseas trade businesses. He was a leader of the Massachusetts militia (Maine then being a part of that state) during the War of 1812. He was an instrumental figure in promoting Maine's statehood, and in the drafting of its constitution, and, as mentioned, was elected its first governor in 1820.
He acquired a large tract of land of 100 acres in this area in 1809-13, on which he planted an orchard and he had this house built about 1812 as a summer retreat; his principal residence was more centrally located in Bath.
2
McCobb-Hill-Minott House
Built ca. 1744, Georgian
The McCobb-Hill-Minott House is a roughly square, hipped-roof Georgian style dwelling with a square cupola (which is possibly a later addition) that was built by Isaac Packard in 1774 for James McCobb, a major landowner and local political leader during the American Revolution.
The house has two principal facades, with center entrances framed by Doric pilasters and gabled pediments and significant details such as a denticulated cornice and quoins. The building is significant as an early coastal dwelling representing the wealth and stability achieved by only a few at this time, during the latter half of the 18th century.
McCobb was born in Ireland in 1731, and following success in lumber and commerce, he bought a large tract of land including more than 1,000 acres in the area. The house was built for McCobb and his second wife. His third wife, who survived his decease, and her son, Mark Langdon Hill, continued to reside in the house for the rest of his life, and Hill married one of McCobb's daughters from an earlier marriage.
In partnership with Thomas McCobb, a son of the elder McCobb by his second wife, Hill was an early major shipbuilder in the area, launching eight ships that plied the West Indies trade. He also appointed the first local postmaster in 1801, and served as a Judge, served on a commission to settle land disputes with the Penobscot peoples, and served as U.S. Representative, being one of Maine's first congressman when statehood was achieved. His support of the Missouri Compromise, through which Maine gained statehood, was unpopular, and his political fortunes declined as a result.
Note that it was Hill's marriage and inheritance of this house, that prompted Thomas McCobb, who expected to receive the house on McCobb's death, to build the Spite House, an even grander structure designed to overshadow this house. The Spite House was moved by boat to Rockport in the early 20th century. Learn more about Spite House .
The house is now an inn. Learn more about The 1774 Inn .
3
Benjamin Riggs House
Built ca. 1790, Georgian/Federal transitional
The Benjamin Riggs House is the oldest house in Georgetown and a good example of transitional Georgian-Federal architecture. The house clearly show Riggs' economic success.
Riggs was a merchant and ship builder who had this house built along with storehouses and a large general store (1820) at the nearby wharf (Derektor Robinhood Marina). He also served in the Massachusetts (pre-statehood) and Maine legislatures.
The interior of the two-story, hipped roof house is especially significant for its use of Georgian details such as the stairway in the front hall which includes turned newel posts and balusters as well as a beautiful handrail. Similarities can be drawn between this stairway and that of the 1755 Tate House in Portland.
This area of Georgetown, known as Robinhood, was formerly known as Riggsville. The Benjamin Riggs was the progenitor of Riggs decedents who built a village of eight houses along with the Robinhood Free Meetinghouse, in the immediate area.
4
Heal Family House
Built ca. 1798, Federal
The Heal Family House, also known as the Washington Heal House, is an early Federal period farmhouse built by William Heal. It's a two-and-a-half-story, gabled roof house with a recessed two-story wing. The interior follows a typical center chimney plan. The house stands on the west side of the road, but is associated with a large former farm property, most of which is on the east side.
Once used for agriculture and dairy farming, most of this land, like much of Georgetown Island, has reverted to forest. Heal's son Washington may have operated a tidally powered mill on Robinhood Cove, the remnants of which are still visible. The Heal Family Cemetery is sited near the house to the southeast along the road.
5
Stone Schoolhouse, District 3
c. 1820 / Architectural Style: Irish Farmhouse
The Old Stone Schoolhouse, a small, one-story stone building with a steeply pitched gable roof. It is stylistically considered to be an "Irish Farmhouse" style structure. The exact construction date of the school is unknown. It is documented to exist in town records of 1821, in which the purchase of a stove was considered for the building.
Local history recounts that its construction was done by three Irish immigrant stonemasons living on Long Island, Bay Point, under the supervision of General Joseph Berry. Berry, the son of Lieutenant Thomas Berry, a Revolutionary soldier, was a relatively young man at the time of the building of the school. He later became a prominent ship owner and builder, and between 1857 and 1860 was Collector for the Port of Bath. He is said to have been the first sole owner of a ship to sail from this port. The appellation "General" was derived from a commission he held in the state Militia during the Aroostook War.
Local tradition holds that the appearance of the building is due to the Irish cottage tradition clung to by the workmen, however other similar structures dating later in other parts of Maine tend to belie this judgment. The Georgetown Historical Society maintains the school.
6
Lieutenant Hathorn House
Built ca. 1784, Federal
The Lt. Richard Hathorn House is one of the best preserved early Federal period houses in the Mid-Coast region. Built by a veteran of the American Revolution, the house consists of a two-and-a-half story wood frame dwelling with an ell.
As of 1980, except for modern plumbing and electrification, the exterior and interior of the house is virtually unchanged. The interior includes five fireplaces, one of which is a massive, seven-foot kitchen hearth with beehive oven, and fine wood paneling in many of its rooms. View images of the interior, including the giant hearth .
7
Robert Reed Homestead/ Robert P. Tristram Coffin House
Built ca. 1765, Colonial and Cape
The Robert Reed Homestead, also known as the Robert P. Tristram Coffin House, is one of the areas' oldest houses and is a distinct example of two period houses that have been joined together.
The main block, a two-and-a-half story frame structures was built by Robert Reed in 1765, and who had 12 children in less than 16 years! The secondary structure, a one-and-a-half story cape, has an unknown build date, but architectural evidence suggests that it is of similar vintage. The two structures have been joined since the 18th century.
In addition to its architectural significance, this house is associated with Robert P. Tristram Coffin, who owned this house in the 1930s. Coffin, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and author and professor at Bowdoin College, wrote about Maine and its people. Coffin is sometimes referred to as Maine's poet laureate. He made reference to this house in his writings.
In his book, Kennebec, Cradle of Americans, he wrote: "My house on Merrymeeting Bay, where I write these lines, is only one among many places waiting to flower again by the river that runs through the heart of Maine. A fireplace wide enough to take a family of twelve into its warm arms...a fireplace in every room, and cranes and S-hooks to hold porridge in them all. That is the kind of place a house ought to be. Bedrooms above, paneled in pine cut on the farm, golden brown and velvety with the sunshine and use of many years. Door latches made by hand and worn away by hands of many people who sprang from the loins of the maker. Eyehooks to hold the rug frames in the kitchen ceiling, and all the delicate wooden vitals of a hand loom stowed in the attic, waiting to be set up again and minister to a new family, each small reed and bobbin made by hand. A shad net hangs there too, high up so the mice cannot gnaw it, among the axe-hewn rafters that are pegged with wooden pins instead of nails. There are pantries with half doors and a sloping outside cellar door, waiting to lift up and let life in and out again. The walls of this house of mine are not merely paneled wood and plaster, they are the rhythms of life and love that went on inside them, they are the stuff of loyalties and fealties that could not be buried under six feet of cold earth in the little graveyard back of the grape arbor. The walls are alive, and they call out to the life of me and my children."
