The Conway House is an historic house and museum in Rockport and

Camden, Maine Camden is a resort town in Knox County, Maine. The population was 5,232 at the 2020 census. The population of the town more than triples during the summer months, due to tourists and summer residents. Camden is a summer colony in the Mid-Coas ...

. Probably built in the 1770s, it is one of the oldest surviving buildings in Knox County. It was added to 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 1969.

Description

The Conway House stands near the southern border of Camden and the northern border of Rockport, on the northwest side of

United States Route 1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, making i ...

between it and Conway Road. Its access road is on US 1. The house is a -story Cape style wood-frame structure, four bays wide, with a central chimney. It was apparently built on the foundation of an older house, possibly dating to the early 18th century. The timber framing of the house is rough, with tree bark evident on some of its beams, and axe and adze markings on the beams and some trim elements.

History

Conway House was built around 1770 by Robert Thorndike, the first White settler in Camden. Thorndike's son Robert Jr. was born in the house in 1773, who was one of the first White children born in the area. He bought the lot for $65 and lived in the home until 1825, when Frederick Conway bought the home. It stayed in the Conway family until 1916. It was the home of

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

quartermaster Quartermaster is a military term, the meaning of which depends on the country and service. In land armies, a quartermaster is generally a relatively senior soldier who supervises stores or barracks and distributes supplies and provisions. In m ...

William Conway William, Bill, or Billy Conway may refer to: * William Conway (Arkansas judge) (1805–1852), Justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court * William Conway (cardinal) (1913–1977), Irish cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church * William Conway (Irish rep ...

. By 1961, the property was in rundown condition and was purchased by Ambrose Cramer and donated to the Camden-Rockport Historical Society, who subsequently restored and furnished the building with 18th and early 19th century items. It was opened to the public as a museum in 1962. The Camden Garden Club landscaped the property and restored the plants common to the area prior to 1860.Camden-Rockport Historical Society

Conway Homestead & Cramer Museum

Today the Camden-Rockport Historical Society operates the museum as the Conway Homestead & Cramer Museum. The property includes the Conway House, the Cramer Museum with displays from the Society's collections of local historic artifacts, a barn with a display of carriages, sleighs and tools, a

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

shop, a

maple sugaring Maple syrup is a syrup made from the sap of maple trees. In cold climates, these trees store starch in their trunks and roots before winter; the starch is then converted to sugar that rises in the sap in late winter and early spring. Maple tr ...

house, and an education center.

References

External links

Camden-Rockport Historical Society
- official site {{National Register of Historic Places Buildings and structures in Camden, Maine Rockport, Maine Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine Houses in Knox County, Maine Museums in Knox County, Maine Houses completed in 1770 History museums in Maine Historic house museums in Maine National Register of Historic Places in Knox County, Maine 1770 establishments in the Province of Massachusetts Bay