Lady Pepperrell House
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Lady Pepperrell House | |
 | |
   | |
| Location | Kittery Point, Maine |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 43°4′53″N 70°43′0″W / 43.08139°N 70.71667°W |
| Area | less than one acre |
| Built | 1760 |
| Architectural style | Georgian |
| NRHP reference No. | 66000094 [1] |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | October 15, 1966 |
| Designated NHL | October 9, 1960[2] |
The Lady Pepperrell House is an American historic house in Kittery Point, Maine. It stands on State Route 103, opposite the First Congregational Church and Parsonage. Built in 1760 by Mary Pepperrell, widow of Sir William Pepperrell, the house is one of the finest examples of Georgian architecture in New England. Sir William was the only colonial American to be honored with a baronetcy, awarded by King George II for his leadership of the 1745 expedition against the French Fortress Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island. The house was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960, but remains in private ownership, subject to preservation restrictions held by Historic New England.
Lady Pepperrell was born Mary Hirst in 1704 to a merchant in Boston, Massachusetts. She married Captain William Pepperrell, a merchant and major landowner in what is now southern Maine (but was then part of Massachusetts), in 1723, and settled into his family home in Kittery Point. William Pepperrell was appointed by Governor William Shirley to lead the 1745 expedition against Fortress Louisbourg, and was awarded a baronetcy by King George II for his success in that endeavour.[3] When Sir William died in 1759, he was one of the wealthiest men in Massachusetts.[4]
In 1760 Lady Pepperrell commissioned the construction of this house, hiring English craftsmen to ensure the high Georgian style then popular. She made the house her home until her death in 1789, after which it went through a succession of owners. In 1942 the house was given to the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (now Historic New England), which restored the house and operated it as a museum. In 1985, the organisation sold the house into private hands, retaining preservation and conservation easements to limit alterations to its historic fabric.[3] It remains in private hands, but is open to the public several times a year.[5]
The house was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.[2][1]
