First up is the Nickels-Sortwell House. The house was built by Captain Nickels in the early 1800s. Construction was completed in 1807, just before Thomas Jefferson placed an embargo on international trading and caused serious economic distress in the formerly wealthy seafaring town. Because of this regional depression, the Nickels were forced to sell the home in 1814. For about 70 years it was an inn, until a wealthy family from Cambridge, MA, the Sortwells, purchased the house in 1899 to serve as their summer home. The Sortwells took great pride in restoring the house to its original grandeur throughout the early 1900s. When the Sortwell's daughter, Frances, died in 1956, she deeded the house to Historic New England. The house is still furnished with the Sortwells' belongings, with the exception of one of the downstairs rooms, which has been reinterpreted to reflect how Captain Nickels would have used the space.
Front view of the Nickels-Sortwell House
The home is built in the high Federal style, with impressively ornate mouldings, especially on the first floor. As you work your way up to the third floor of the house, things become less and less fancy, because not as many people saw these floors. The siding on the front and water side of the house was done in a way to give the feeling of expensive masonry, but is, in fact, wood. On the inland facade and back of the house, the siding looks like the traditional clapboard. Also, the windows decrease in size as you go up in height to give the impression of grandeur, while having lower ceilings in the upper levels of the home. In the front hall, a grand curved staircase leads up the three levels of the home. Apparently, there was once a chandelier that hung in the stairwell. It was set up on a pulley system, so people could raise and lower the chandelier as they went up and down the stairs.
The other home we visited was Castle Tucker. Located nearby and also constructed around 1807, the Castle Tucker was commissioned by a judge, Silas Lee. He was very wealthy as well, however, had heavily invested in the local shipping industry, so was also financially devastated by Jefferson's Embargo. After he passed away in 1814, his wife sold the house. For about 35 years the house had various owners and entered into a state of disrepair. In 1858, it was under foreclosure (or the equivalent of that in 1858), when Richard Tucker, Jr. was informed by his father (who also lived in Wiscasset) that he would be stupid not to take advantage of the opportunity to buy this house. Richard Tucker Jr. was a retired, successful ship captain and had recently married Mollie, who was only 16 (he was 41).
Side view of Castle Tucker
When they first purchased the house, Richard Jr. dedicated himself to decorating it in the Victorian style and bought many furnishings from Boston. Richard Jr. continued traveling the world for extended periods of time, while Mollie was left at home to care for their children and take care of the home. She apparently often contemplated divorce. The family hit rough economic times during the depression in the 1890s and did many things to raise money to keep themselves afloat. Mollie raised pigeons in a back area of the house, which she then sold to nearby hotels as squab. They also rented out rooms in the house during the summertime. They would advertise in papers in Boston, specifically avoiding the fact that they had no indoor plumbing. Because of their financial difficulties, the house remains largely the way it had been when Richard Jr. and Mollie originally purchased it in 1858. One of their granddaughters, Jane Tucker, gifted the house to Historic New England in 1996. She continued to live there and give tours of her family's home until 2003.
Front view of Castle Tucker
In case you don't already know from reading my blog, I love, love, love old houses like this. I had always wanted to go into the Nickels-Sortwell House (Castle Tucker is on a side street and I didn't even know it was there) and was so excited to finally get the chance to see inside these homes. It is just so fascinating to imagine a life back then and to learn about when different modern-day necessities were added, such as plumbing and refrigerators. With your only source of heat being fireplaces and having 12 foot ceilings and a mansion. Of owning dozens of beautiful tea sets imported from all over the world and actually serving tea every day at 4 pm to friends and family, as Mrs. Sortwell did. Of having butlers and maids and cooks and nannies who all lived with you. I really enjoyed my step back into time.
It really interests me how the histories of these two houses start out so similarly, both being built in 1807 and being sold by their builders in 1814, only to go through various states of disrepair. I was so impressed by the world traveling they had done. Both homes had a relatively large amount of furnishings from Asian countries. They contained books in many languages and the Tuckers would actually translate books for extra money. Both have also now wound up in the hands of Historic New England. Yet they both have such different feels to them and both wound up there in very different ways.
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