This beautiful Federal Style home was built in 1792, by Judge
Silas Lee. Judge Lee built this house so he could see the river but
when the Wiscasset Library was built he
moved into the Lee Tucker Castle so he
could see the river again. He was the Chief Justice at the Court of
Common Pleas. He went to Harvard University. In 1807, he sold the
house to General David Payson. In 1831, General Payson sold the house
to Samuel Emerson Smith. Samuel Smith was once the Govenor of Maine.
In 1957, two wings burned but the main house was not harmed. Today
the house is owned by Samuel Smith's relatives.
The house is of interest to architects because of the portico,
pilasters, and ornamental detail. Because of this, it is one of the
houses featured in Richardson Wright's "Great Georgian Houses of
America."
There is a ghost story about this house that the people of Wiscasset still tell. The lady of the house could always smell roses in the music room. She would see an old lady. A friend was visiting and she saw an old lady looking out of the window. The owner left the door open and when she came back the door was locked and her friend said the old lady would not let her in. Some people say they still see the "old lady in the window." What do you think?
There is a romantic story about this house too. A man wanted to marry the woman in this house. Her dad did not want her to marry him. So one night the man climbed a tree, got her out of the window, and took her across the river on a ferry. They got married a short while later.
The house was a dancing school, a tavern, and the first house on High Street.