LB2007.1.111439

LB2007.1.111439

Entry Gate To Large House Chenery Residence The Chenery House was begun in 1803 by John Milliken but sold before its completion to Judge William Crosby. Mr. Crosby was born in Billerica, Mass one of his earliest recollections being of the Battle of Lexington. "I distinctly remember," he said "the chatter of horses hooves in full race in the night before the battle, by my father's house and the outcry: 'Turn out, turn out, the regulars are coming." He was graduated from Harvard and later studied law. Lured by the glowing accounts of "Down East", he mounted his little horse Robin and started out, with Bangor as his objective point. He found, however, that Bangor existed only on paper and sorely disappointed, set his face homeward, by way of Belfast. What he saw of Belfast pleased him and the following year he took up residence in Belfast, becoming a man of prominence in the community and holding many positions of honor and trust. His very able son William George Crosby, later became governor of the state. This house was moved some rods from its original site, in 1888, to make room for the Crosby Inn. During the intervening twelve years it was owned and occupied by her son, Horace Chenery, Esq., who added to it and improved the grounds by means of landscape architecture In 1900, Mrs. Anne Crosby Chenery, former Governor Crosby's daughter, bought the Inn property from the Belfast Hotel Company, had the ruins of the Crosby home, which had been annexed to the Crosby Inn and damaged by the 1896 fire at the inn, cleared away and restored the home to its original location and condition as much as was possible. The Chenery house , after many changes and owners, no longer stands. It was replaced by the Belfast Shopping Plaza when Richard Sampson purchased the old home. The Dr. Nahum P. Monroe house, later called the Clay house, came down to make room for the parking lot. The entrance is on Franklin Street just behind the Post Office.