I’d always heard that the oldest house in Maine was that place on the Smuttynose Beer labels, the Samuel Haley House on the Isle of Shoals. Turns out it was built about 1800, not good enough to be the oldest house in Ohio. So that got me wondering: what is the oldest house in the state?
That’s not an easy question to answer. Even limiting ourselves to structures that are still standing (no archeological digs allowed), there are a number of rival claimants to the title, almost all of them in southern York county, where our earliest incorporated towns are found. So I thought I’d open the question up to all of you.
Here’s a draft list based on homes documented in the National Park Service’s Historic American Buildings Survey, plus historic structures mentioned in the town of Kittery’s comprehensive plan and the websites of historical house museums. You’ll notice a few outstanding structures don’t make the cut, including the Old Gaol in York (1719), believed to be the oldest jail in the country, and Old Schoolhouse (1745).
If you know something about these homes — or if you know of other 17th century structures that you think should be on the list — write us at the paper or, better yet, the e-mail address at my website. I’ll put together an update in this space and, perhaps, we’ll finally have a satisfactory answer.
The first nominees (and their alleged construction dates) are:
Colin Woodard is the author of The Lobster Coast: Rebels, Rusticators and the Struggle for a Forgotten Frontier. He lives in Portland and can be reached via his website, colinwoodard.com