The William Pepperrell House is a historic house at 94 Pepperrell Road (

Maine State Route 103 State Route 103 (SR 103) is a long state highway in extreme southern Maine. The route is signed east–west, but forms a half-loop, with most of its western segment running strongly southeast slightly inland of the Piscataqua River and ...

) in

Kittery Point, Maine Kittery Point is a census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Kittery, York County, Maine, United States. First settled in 1623, Kittery Point traces its history to the first seafarers who colonized the shore of what became Massachusetts Bay C ...

. Built about 1682 and later enlarged and restyled, it was at the time of its construction the grandest house in what is now the state of

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

. It is notable as the birthplace and home of Sir

William Pepperrell Sir William Pepperrell, 1st Baronet (27 June 1696 – 6 July 1759) was a merchant and soldier in colonial Massachusetts. He is widely remembered for organizing, financing, and leading the 1745 expedition that captured the French fortr ...

(1696-1759) a leading businessman of the period whose greatest claim to fame was leading the 1745 Siege of Louisbourg during

King George's War King George's War (1744–1748) is the name given to the military operations in North America that formed part of the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748). It was the third of the four French and Indian Wars. It took place primarily in t ...

. 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 1973.

Description and history

The Pepperrell House is located on the south side of Pepperrell Road, just east of Bellamy Lane, and faces south toward Pepperrell Cove on the

Piscataqua River The Piscataqua River (Abenaki: ''Pskehtekwis'') is a tidal river forming the boundary of the U.S. states of New Hampshire and Maine from its origin at the confluence of the Salmon Falls River and Cochecho River. The drainage basin of the river ...

. It is a -story wood-frame structure, with a gambrel roof and clapboard siding. Both front (water-facing) and rear (street-facing) facades are four bays wide, with an entrance in one of the central bays. The building corners are pilastered, and the entrances have flanking pilasters and are topped by gabled pediments. Above the street-facing entrance is a round-arch window. The house was built about 1682 for William Pepperrell (d. 1733), a fisherman who moved to the area in 1680 and married the daughter of John Bray, a local merchant and shipwright. Pepperrell joined his father-in-law in business, and by 1695 owned most of Kittery Point. By the early 18th century he was one of the wealthiest men in

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

. His son, also named William, was active in the family business, and joined the local militia, rising to command the entire militia of the Massachusetts

District of Maine The District of Maine was the governmental designation for what is now the U.S. state of Maine from October 25, 1780 to March 15, 1820, when it was admitted to the Union as the 23rd state. The district was a part of the Commonwealth of Massachuse ...

. When

broke out in 1744, Pepperrell was chosen to lead a colonial expedition to take the French

Fortress Louisbourg The Fortress of Louisbourg (french: Forteresse de Louisbourg) is a National Historic Site and the location of a one-quarter partial reconstruction of an 18th-century French fortress at Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Its two sie ...

on what is now

Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Island (french: link=no, île du Cap-Breton, formerly '; gd, Ceap Breatainn or '; mic, Unamaꞌki) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18. ...

. For leading the capture of this strategic fortification, Pepperrell was awarded a baronetcy by King

George II George II or 2 may refer to: People * George II of Antioch (seventh century AD) * George II of Armenia (late ninth century) * George II of Abkhazia (916–960) * Patriarch George II of Alexandria (1021–1051) * George II of Georgia (1072–1089) * ...

. Pepperrell's large landholdings were lost by his grandson, who remained Loyal during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

and fled to England, resulting in the confiscation of the estate by the state.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pepperrell, William, House Houses completed in 1683 Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine Houses in Kittery, Maine National Register of Historic Places in York County, Maine 1683 establishments in the Thirteen Colonies

Description and history

See also

References

External links