Yarmouthville and the Meetinghouse Walking Tour
Take a tour “around the block” in Yarmouthville and learn about the history and architecture of the neighborhood. The houses on this walking tour are privately owned; please be respectful!
1. Andy’s Handy Store, 367 Main Street: According to local historian Alan Hall, “Since 1807, when a nail mill occupied the site, more than 30 different businesses or owners have set up shop on the corner of East Elm Street.” Foster’s Pottery, one of several potteries in this area of Yarmouth and a long-standing occupant of this corner, gave way to new businesses around 1891. The pottery was torn down and a new building constructed, which became the Storer Brothers’ hardware store in 1906. The small shop to the right of the pottery housed Griffin’s hardware and stove shop and later Freeland Knight’s bakery. The two small shop buildings hosted a number of businesses in the early decades of the 20th century, including several variety stores, forming an anchor for business in the Upper Village. Leland “Handy” Anderson’s market arrived on the corner in 1935, first occupying the small storefront shown below and later expanding into the Storer Brothers’ lot. Although the business changed hands several times during the 20th century, the name remained the same and continues to be used today.
2. Capt. Samuel Drinkwater House, 3 West Main Street: Capt. Samuel Drinkwater built his house at the corner of West Main and East Elm in 1803. Drinkwater had six brothers, all of whom were local sea captains. Historian William H. Rowe relates an amusing family story about the Drinkwater brothers that begins when all of the seafaring Drinkwaters fortuitously end up sailing into Boston Harbor on the same day. Rowe relates: “The officer in command hearing that so many vessels under the command of men of the same name had entered the harbor, feared that some mischief might be brewing and went up to the city to investigate. Here he was astonished to find that the report was true and furthermore that the men were brothers. He invited them all to have supper with him and entertained them all so sumptuously that the event was long held in memory by the family.”
During the War of 1812, Samuel Drinkwater served as pilot on the American brig “Enterprise,” which captured the British ship “Boxer” in a battle off the Maine coast on September 5, 1813. Maine Historical Society holds the painting pictured below, which shows painter James Osborne’s rendering of the famous maritime battle. As related on Maine Memory Network: “The Boxer’s commander, Captain Samuel Blyth, 29 years of age, was killed in the opening exchange of cannon fire. On the Enterprise, Captain William Burrows, age 28, was mortally wounded a short time later. Burrows would not consent to being carried below until the end of the engagement, after which he accepted the British surrender.”
The house was later owned by Capt. Samuel Drinkwater’s brother Capt. Joseph Drinkwater, who gave the house to his granddaughter Martha. Martha was married to another local seafarer, Capt. Sylvanus Prince. Despite being well over 200 years old, the house is a well-preserved example of a simple center hall house that retains its large center chimney.
3. Latchstring Park, corner of West Main Street and West Elm Street: Home to a tavern and stagecoach stop then a gas station and park, this corner has seen great changes over the years.
Early in the 19th century, Jeremiah Mitchell’s tavern served as a locally important stagecoach stop. Before the bridge over the Presumpscot River was built between Portland and Falmouth, the route along today’s West Elm Street was a direct route into Portland. The tavern complex included a large barn at the back of the property that could accommodate travelers’ horses. With the arrival of the railroads in Yarmouth in the late 1840s, the stagecoach lines struggled to maintain relevance and, as a result, business at the tavern slowed. In its last years, the business briefly operated as a temperance house (an alcohol-free tavern) and then became a private residence. Long known as the Dunn House, it fell into disrepair and was torn down in 1957.
Norton’s Texaco Station occupied the corner of Main and West Elm Street between 1959 and 1972, around the time the photo above was taken. It replaced the center-chimney colonial home that had served as Mitchell’s Tavern and later the Dunn House. From 1973-1978, the station appeared in the Maine Business Register as Morin’s Texaco.
Latchstring Park was created and dedicated in 1991 to honor recipients of the Town’s Latchstring Award, which is awarded annually to a local resident who has “contributed their time, efforts and concern for an extended and exemplary period for the benefit of the citizens of Yarmouth.” The name of the award is derived from the Town motto: Our Latchstring Always Out. According to the Town’s website, this is “intended as an acknowledgment of those citizens whose examples of citizenship and leadership keep Yarmouth a warm and welcoming community of caring individuals.”
4. Rev. Thomas Green House, 40 Church Street: Rev. Thomas Green was the first pastor of the newly incorporated Baptist Religious Society in the 1790s. Local historian William H. Rowe writes that the church was organized on January 18, 1797 at a meeting in Green’s home where seven members formed the body of the church and voted to receive Rev. Green as pastor. Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, Green came to Yarmouth from Danvers, Massachusetts, where he was also the first pastor of that town’s Baptist Church. In addition to his ministerial work, Green was a trained physician. According to Rowe, Green “practiced medicine during the week and preached to universal satisfaction on Sunday” for thirteen years after his arrival in Yarmouth. By 1810, Green was in poor health and increasingly unable to tend to his duties, though Rowe reports that Green was “sometimes carried in his chair to the meeting-house and sitting preached.” At these times, apparently, “the people ‘thought his presence alone was a good part of a good sermon.'” Green died in 1814 and Rev. Sylvanus Boardman of Livermore took over as pastor.
5. The Old Meetinghouse, 25 Hillside Street: Built in 1796, the Meeting House on the Hill was sold shortly thereafter to the Baptist Religious Society, which had formed from a group that began meeting in Oliver Byram’s nearby barn. Originally, it was a simple design, having an entrance under the tower, topped by a small steeple. There were two rows of five small-paned windows on each side, box pews, galleries, and a canopied pulpit with stairs leading up to it. The Meeting House was likely built by local men who lived in the immediate area at a cost of about $6,790. Money to pay for the building was raised by the sale of pews which became the deeded property of the owners.
In the 1820s and ’30s, the building underwent significant alterations that brought its appearance much closer to what we see today. A larger porch was built along with a new tower, belfry, and conical spire. Later, interior renovations included eliminating the small early windows and replacing them with larger windows. Additionally, the old pulpit, galleries, and box pews were removed and the present slip pews installed. The shallow barrel vaulted barrel ceiling was installed and the floor was raised at the rear to provide better visibility.
In 1889, the building ceased to be used as a church, as the Baptists had built their present church, designed by noted Portland architect John Calvin Stevens, on Main Street. The Meeting House bell was moved to the new church. Since that time the building has been used for various purposes. George and Ellen Hammond purchased it in 1890 and renovated it for use as the town’s library and antiquarian society. It continued in this use, as “Memorial Hall,” until about 1910, after which it was used for town meetings. During World War II, local volunteers used the belfry as a lookout for enemy aircraft. The Meeting House was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and is currently owned by the Town of Yarmouth with maintenance and preservation overseen by the Village Improvement Society. The Town and VIS received an award in 2004 from Maine Preservation in recognition of their collaborative efforts to preserve history.
