The old house in the foreground was still at 26 Summer Street in Kennebunk when this first photograph was taken. You might recognize the Taylor Barry House in the background. The old colonial had originally been built on Main Street by Theodore Lyman in 1770 as a store.

Theodore Lyman worked for wealthy Shipbuilder Waldo Emerson. When Emerson died in 1774, followed shortly thereafter by his wife, he left his considerable fortune to his only child, 13-year-old Sarah Emerson. Theodore Lyman married Sarah the heiress in 1776. He moved to the Emerson house at the Landing and no longer had any use for his store on Main Street. It was moved to 26 Summer Street and converted into a home.

Among the people who resided in the traveling house was the Blaisdell family. Jacob Blaisdell was a forgeman at the ironworks on the Mousam River. His son Jotham, who was born in this old house and who grew up to be a sea captain, was the subject of the very interesting book about Kennebunk’s maritime history, Fifty Years of Fortitude by Kendrick Price Daggett.

Hartley Lord, who ran the Boston fishing net business connected to his brother’s Twine Mill in West Kennebunk, owned a gentleman’s farm behind the old house on Summer Street. In September of 1884, he started to build a large house on the farm for his family. It was almost done in the spring of 1885, but it didn’t show to its best advantage with the old converted house in front of it. On March 23 and 24, 1885, the old house built by Theodore Lyman was again hauled along Summer Street and Main Street to its final destination on Water Street by yokes of oxen attached to a rope and blocks.

Diarist Andrew Walker declared The Hartley Lord Mansion to be the most elegant home in York County. See the second photograph. Much has been written about the architectural details of the Hartley Lord Mansion that still stands at 26 Summer Street.

I’m not sure if the 1770 store-turned-house built by Theodore Lyman still stands on Water Street though I did notice one candidate. Do you know?