The Mitchell garrison was an important building in what was, at the time,
North Yarmouth
North Yarmouth, officially the Town of North Yarmouth, is a town in Cumberland County, Maine. The population was 4,072 at the 2020 United States Census. It is part of the Portland– South Portland–Biddeford Metropolitan Statistical Area. ...
,
Province of Massachusetts Bay.
Built in 1728, on the town's lot number 91, it stood at the rear of today's Holy Cross Cemetery on a bluff around immediately above the
Royal River. It was used as a
blockhouse
A blockhouse is a small fortification, usually consisting of one or more rooms with loopholes, allowing its defenders to fire in various directions. It is usually an isolated fort in the form of a single building, serving as a defensive stro ...
, within a
stockade
A stockade is an enclosure of palisades and tall walls, made of logs placed side by side vertically, with the tops sharpened as a defensive wall.
Etymology
''Stockade'' is derived from the French word ''estocade''. The French word was derived ...
, during the
Indian wars. A tunnel was built from the home's cellar to the river. The dirt path that looks like it leads to the water is actually the town's original
stage road
A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...
, formerly lined with elm trees. As North Yarmouth's stagecoach travel increased in popularity, the stockade was removed and the home was enlarged to accommodate overnight guests. The original structure was made of clapboard; the extension, added on the northern side, was clad with shingles.
The home's first owner was
Jacob Mitchell (–1744), a
dean and a founder of the nearby
, which stood between 1729 and 1836. His son, Jacob III, also became a deacon there. Mitchell's family lived in the house between around 1729 and 1799, when one of Mitchell's sons, David, owned it.
The building later became the home of the Whitcombs, whose name is preserved on a street off
Princes Point Road
Princes Point Road is a prominent street in Yarmouth, Maine, United States. It runs for about from Lafayette Street ( State Route 88) in the north to Sunset Point Road in the south. It was one of the first streets laid out in the town''Anci ...
. It was demolished about 1900, and the farm land was purchased in 1916 to be replaced by the cemetery.
[''Ancient North Yarmouth and Yarmouth, Maine 1636-1936: A History'', William Hutchinson Rowe (1937)] The cemeteries occupy what was the northern end of today's Smith Street.
Annual Report Town of Yarmouth 2007
– The University of Maine
The University of Maine (UMaine or UMO) is a public land-grant research university in Orono, Maine. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the flagship university of the University of Maine System. It is classified ...
File:Mitchell_garrison_1.jpg, The building shortly before its destruction in the early 20th century
File:Holy_Cross_Cemetery,_Yarmouth,_Maine.jpg, The land on which the home stood, viewed in 2024
File:Stage_road,_Yarmouth,_Maine.jpg, The old stage road
A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...
leading down to the Royal River
See also
* Historical buildings and structures of Yarmouth, Maine The historical buildings and structures of Yarmouth, Maine, represent a variety of building styles and usages, largely based on its past as home to almost sixty mills over a period of roughly 250 years. These mills include that of grain, lumber, pul ...
References
{{reflist
Residential buildings in Yarmouth, Maine
Houses completed in 1728
Blockhouses