The Baxter Summer Home is a historic house on

Mackworth Island Mackworth Island State Park is an approximately island in Falmouth, Maine, United States, adjacent to its border with Portland, Maine. In 1631, Sir Ferdinando Gorges gave the island to Arthur Mackworth, his deputy in Casco Bay, and the island ...

, in

Casco Bay Casco Bay is an inlet of the Gulf of Maine on the southern coast of Maine, New England, United States. Its easternmost approach is Cape Small and its westernmost approach is Two Lights in Cape Elizabeth. The city of Portland sits along its south ...

off the coast of

Falmouth, Maine Falmouth is a New England town, town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 12,444 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It is part of the Portland, Maine, Portland–South Portland, Maine, South Portland&ndas ...

. Now a centerpiece of the campus of the Governor Baxter School for the Deaf, the house was built in 1917–18 by James Phinney Baxter, and was given (along with the rest of the island) to the state by his son Percival, a two-term Governor of Maine best known for establishing Baxter State Park. The house was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1985.

Description and history

The former Baxter Summer Home is located near the center of Mackworth Island, a roughly circular island located just of the coast of Maine, and joined to it by a causeway. Most of the island is a state park, and open to the public. The house is located in a campus-like setting, surrounded by the dormitories and school facilities of the Governor Baxter School for the Deaf, an area not generally accessible to the public except by prior arrangement. The house is a 2½ story masonry structure, built out of dark red brick, with a green terracotta tile roof and a fieldstone foundation. An enclosed porch extends along the south side of the building, and there is a circular solarium on the north side. The main entrance faces east, and is flanked by sidelights, with a transom window above which has stained glass highlights in a sailing motif. The entry is sheltered by a portico supported by Ionic columns and Doric pilasters. Mackworth Island was purchased in 1885 by James Phinney Baxter, a six-time mayor of

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

and a leading historian and businessman of the period. He retained Portland architect Frederick Thompson to design this house, which was built in 1917–18, replacing an earlier wood-frame structure (since demolished). The property was inherited by his son Percival, who served two terms as Governor of Maine in the 1920s, and most notably gave the state most of the lands that make up Baxter State Park. In 1943 he donated the island to the state to provide a permanent home for the state School for the Deaf, which was renamed in his honor. The school moved onto the island in the 1950s.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine Renaissance Revival architecture in Maine Houses completed in 1917 Houses in Cumberland County, Maine Buildings and structures in Falmouth, Maine National Register of Historic Places in Cumberland County, Maine Baxter family

Description and history

See also

References