From collection Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Company Collection
Colcord House, Searsport, Me 7 Cook Photo
Image shows a young girl standing outside a Greek Revival era house on the east side of Searsport Bay, which is visible in the background. Typical of 19th century Maine domestic architecture, the barn or carriage house is connected to the back of the house. The child's dress suggests a 1920s date for the photograph. Relatively grand for its time, but befitting what would be a string of illustrious occupants, the house was built in 1815 by the Reverend Christopher Lawton, organizer and first minister of the Congregational Church (now the First Congregational Church of Searsport.) At the end of his ministry at the church in 1824, Lawton sold the property to Benjamin Colcord II, a Searsport sea captain who commanded 7 schooners, a brig and a bark. By 1850 the property included 23 acres, which Colcord farmed. In 1868 the house became home to another captain, William McGilvery. After his death his wife Harriet sold it to Charles Andrew Colcord in 1887, thus returning it to the to the Colcord family. Either he or Anna G. Lord, who bought the house in 1925, lived here at the time the photograph was taken. [n.f. Lin Calista, current owner]
