Parson Smith House

Entered in the National Register for Historic Places in 1973, the Parson Smith House (c. 1764) was home to Windham’s second settled minister, Rev. Peter Thatcher Smith. The building was completed in three stages, according to Parson Smith’s diary which records the building process and who worked on the house.

Located on the “main road” (today’s River Road) of the tiny settlement, the Parson Smith House was built on the highest point of land in the community. This property was also the location of the Province Fort where most of the Parson’s ministering took place!

After his death in 1826, there was an auction and the Andersons who lived next door purchased the property for their son Edward who had married the Parson’s daughter, Lucy.

Subsequently, the house was handed down for five generations, used as a summer home, and then willed to the Society for the Protection of New England Antiquities (now Historic New England) in 1953.

For 40 years, SPNEA opened the home as a museum with caretakers. In 1991 the home and its surrounding 124 acres was sold to private ownership, with protective covenants on the home and land so nothing could be altered or sold.

The historic center hall Georgian home has 8 fireplaces, raised paneled walls and original moldings, interior shutters and old wavy glass in the original 12/12 windows. There is a bell system for servants throughout the house. Some rooms were completed in the Federal and Greek Revival eras and the ell is a Victorian addition. The land is mostly wooded and has over 1,100 feet of frontage on the Presumpscot River. The town’s first cemetery is located on the property and Parson Smith and his family have a tomb there.