NRHP Reference # 74000162 Added to NRHP 13 November 1974 | Area 111 ha | |
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Location SR 231, Gloucester Hill Rd., and Cobbs Bridge Rd., New Gloucester, Maine Architectural style Federal, Mixed (More Than 2 Styles From Different Periods) Address New Gloucester, ME 04260, USA | ||
The New Gloucester Historic District encompasses the rural village center of New Gloucester, Maine. The village is one of the few in Maine's inland areas to be settled in the second half of the 18th century, and has a significant concentration of 18th-century residences. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
Description and history
The town of New Gloucester is located in northern Cumberland County, northwest of the coastal communities of Freeport and Brunswick. It was chartered in 1735, and first settled in 1742. When King George's War broke out in 1744, it was abandoned because of Native American attacks, and was not resettled until 1753. Its first wood frame house, built in 1761 by Isaac Parsons, still stands in the village center. The town was incorporated in 1794, and has always been a predominantly rural agricultural community.
The town center is a rural, dispersed village, centered at the junction Maine State Route 231 with Gloucester Hill Road and Cobbs Bridge Road. SR 231 roughly follows the first major route to the coast, joining the village to Yarmouth in 1756. Stretched along these roads are a significant number of wood frame houses, many of them built before 1810 and exhibiting Georgian or Federal styling. Also included are a 1782 tavern, the town's first cemetery, and the site of a blockhouse (now marked by a reduced-size replica) built following the town's resettlement in 1753. Public buildings in the district are generally of later construction, including the 1838 Greek Revival Congregational Church (built on the site of the town's first church), and its town hall, library, and first high school, all built around the turn of the 20th century.