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Survey of
Historic Sites and Buildings

	LADY PEPPERRELL HOUSE Maine
Location: Maine 103, Kittery Point, York County; near Portsmouth, N.H.

Ownership and Administration (1961). Privately owned.

Significance. The home built at Kittery Point by the widow of Sir William Pepperrell is a notable example of northern colonial architecture in the closing years of British rule. Its owner, Mary Pepperrell, was the daughter of Grove Hirst, wealthy Boston merchant, and a grand daughter of Judge Samuel Sewall, of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Her husband commanded American land forces at the siege and capture of Louisburg, off Nova Scotia, in 1745. For his services in this major victory over the forces of New France, Pepperrell was commissioned a colonel with authority to raise and command a regiment of regulars in the British line, and was given the title of baronet—the first native-born American to receive this honor. By successful business ventures, he amassed a fortune estimated at a quarter of a million pounds and was known as one of the wealthiest men in the Colonies. Sir William died in 1759, and about 1760 his widow built the great Georgian house in which she lived for 30 years and which today bears her name.

The Lady Pepperrell House, Kittery Point, Maine, was built in 1760 by the widow of Sir William Pepperrell, successful merchant and commander of the victorious expedition against Louisburg. (National Park Service)

Present Appearance (1961). The house is a two-story frame structure with hip roof and two pairs of end chimneys, its whole appearance being one of simplicity. Walls are clapboard, and the plain facade is distinguished only by the projecting pavilion of smooth white boards that give a masonry effect. Ionic pilasters, two stories high, frame the door. The window trips, caps, and sills project well forward of the wall line, to provide space for inside shutters. The piazzas at either end are later additions.

The spacious center hall provides access to handsomely furnished rooms featuring great fireplaces and fine woodwork. On the first floor are the living room to the left of the hall, and the drawing room to the right. Behind the living room is the dining room, from which a kitchen ell extends. A large chamber is situated in the rear of the drawing room. On the second floor are five chambers, the smallest of which is located over the kitchen.

The furnishings point up the dignity of the interior design and construction. Chippendale, Hepplewhite, Sheraton, and Duncan Phyfe furniture, with fine glass, china, mirrors, and paintings, do much to preserve the stately atmosphere that surrounded Lady Mary Pepperrell, who weathered the storms of revolution and, to the day of her death, demanded the deference due her title. [12]