Built ca: 1762-3 by Samuel Winslow

A large Colonial home in the North Deering neighborhood

You cannot always trust the deeds

Faithful readers know I place a high value on the finding the term “buildings thereon” or it’s equivalent in the text of the deeds and noting when It starts appearing as a marker for the likely build date. There are other factors of course, but this methodology is a generally accepted practice and has served me well. Usually…

Here on Summit Street, that practice was not enough. For, when Samuel Winslow sold our subject to George Hussey in 1819, me made no mention of any buildings. so, case closed right? George Hussey built it around 1820 right? No. Other documentary evidence supports a date of 1762-63. Those include mention in Greater Portland Landmark’s 2010 publication, “Deering: A Social and Architectural History” which gives the earlier date and the builder as Samuel Winslow.
Then there is this map, a detail of which is below, of Falmouth ca: 1804 which shows Samuel’s house on a turn of the old road, near the Friends Meeting House which Samuel, like his forefathers, belonged to. Lastly is an in-depth article from the February 17, 1967 Portland Evening Express on our subject and also gives the 1763 date. This is more than enough evidence in my opinion.

Samuel & Ruth Winslow married in Berwick in 1762. They lived with other members of the Quaker colony where the Meeting House had been built in the 1750s, on land given by Samuel’s ancestors, by the Presumpscot at Blackstrap while their new home was built. Local lore has it that Ruth insisted on moving in with their newborn first child before the house was completed as she feared sleeping by the river. Ruth had lost family members, including a younger sister, in raids by the natives during the 7 Years’ War. Samuel & Ruth had 12 children. At least one, Sarah, died in childhood. They farmed over 100 acres that stretched to the Presumpscot River. Samuel also ran a saw mill on the river. In 1803, the front parlor was used as a schoolroom for local children. The teacher was a widow named Mrs. Neal.

1914 map

It is appropriate that the highest elevation in the city is on Summit Street. When George Hussey purchased the land from Samuel Winslow in 1819, it was in Westbrook. Interestingly, George Hussey petitioned the state legislature set off his land into Falmouth at nearly the same time that James Meader tried and succeeded, if only briefly, in getting his property on what is now Allen Avenue moved to Falmouth as well. It would seem that George Hussey’s attempt was tabled and not acted on further. His property is never shown as being in Falmouth in any maps I have seen and all deeds reference Westbrook or Deering.

It is a strikingly beautiful house. The main block is 38′ x 28′ and is 2 stories with a 3rd in the garret. The ell is 18′ x 16′ with 78′ of utility barn frontage from there plus the attached 42′ x 66′ full barn. That barn was originally across the street along with another large barn. The details are limited and are of a Colonial nature.

George Hussey was born, probably in Falmouth, in 1797. Beyond that, we don’t have any information on his parents or early years. He married Jane Purvis of Gray around the same time he purchased our subject. The fact that George & Jane named their first born Henrietta Winslow, along with other factors, leads me to believe that George was a member of the Winslow family in some way. George Hussey died in 1876 and Jane in 1885. They were buried in the family ground across the road from the farm house by the barns.

George & Jane Hussey had 10 children. 3 died in infancy and one, William P, died in the Civil War. Of most interest to us were Henrietta & Jennie, born in 1821 & 1834 respectively. It was they who inherited our subject from their parents. Jennie married John Grush, a native of Roxbury MA, in 1861. John died at Cold Harbor, Virginia in 1864 at the age of 30. They had no children. Henrietta married George Carter in 1873.

397 Summit Street on the 1857 Chace map. Library of Congress

397 Summit Street on the 1914 Richardson

George W Carter was a Civil War veteran originally from Scarborough. He was 7 years younger than Henrietta. They adopted a son, Charles, in the late 1870s when he was in his teens. George W Carter died in May of 1897. Henrietta died in 1916. Jennie Hussey Grush, who had lived here her entire life, died in 1918.

Tradition has it that the front door is painted red when the mortgage is paid off.

After Jennie Hussey Grush died in 1919, 397 Summit Street passed to Charles Carter. He had married Alice Hall of West Falmouth in 1887. In 1892, Alice gave birth to Harold Leroy Carter. He married Ida Nelson, who had grown up on a farm in New Gloucester, in 1917. The Carters continued to farm here although the acreage decreased over time as new houses were built. In 1946 much of the farm land was sold to a sand & gravel merchant named Philip Hamlin. Included in the sale was a 50′ right-of-way that ran next to the barn. Today’s Carter Street.

In January of 1962, Harold and Ida Carter sold 397 Summit Street to Roger & Margaret Bowker. Harold died the following month. Ida moved to Auburn where she died in 1968. Roger Bowker was an insurance agent. The Bowker’s owned the property when the article appeared the the Evening Express in 1967. In 1981, they sold our subject to Gregory & Patricia Johnson. They sold it to Karole Johnson & Stephen Malenfant in 1994. Stephen Malentfant died in October of 2012. Karole Johnson sold 397 to the current owners, an architect and an artist, in 2018.

397 Summit Street is listed as a single family home. The condition is very good.

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