January 16, 2025January 16, 2025
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Keeping up with the Greeks in the Kennebunks

Before you read today’s THROWBACK, look at the 4 pictures and take a guess where these columned Greek Revival houses stand in the Kennebunks today and in what order they were built.

Master builder Beniah Littlefield built Nathaniel L Thompson’s house at Summer Street in 1842. Shipbuilder N.L. Thompson was a trendsetter. Not only did he set a new standard in opulent home design in the Kennebunks, but he was the first to publicly celebrate Christmas here with a Christmas tree laden with gifts for his children in 1852. Kennebunk diarist, Andrew Walker was at first quite taken aback by such a frivolous (or should I say Paganish) display on a holy day.

Horace Porter had Master builder Beniah Littlefield build him a columned Greek Revival house on Main Street Kennebunk in 1848 that was a pretty good match for the one his step-brother N.L. Thompson had had the same builder erect for him six years earlier. The Horace Porter house is now occupied by the offices of Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, and Wells Water District.

The next columned Greek Revival house built in the Kennebunks that I found was The Nott House, aka “White Columns”, built on Maine Street in Kennebunkport. I wondered if joiner Beniah Littlefield was involved. Though Andrew Walker made note of its construction by Captain Eliphelet Perkins as his son Charles Perkins’s wedding gift in 1853, he did not share the name of the builder. The Nott House remained in the Perkins/Nott family until 1983 when it was donated to the Kennebunkport Historical Society.

Beniah Littlefield was occupied during 1852 and 1853 in building the new courthouse in Alfred and repairing the damaged bridge that spanned the Kennebunk River between Lower Village and Dock Square.

The fourth columned beauty was built long after Beniah Littlefield had hung up his hammer for good. It was built on Pier Road in Cape Porpoise as a summer cottage for Rev. John Edwin Lacount in 1911, not a time typically associated with new Greek Revival style homes.

Did I miss any of our columned Greek Revivals? Did you guess the correct order?

Master builder Beniah Littlefield built Nathaniel L Thompson’s house at Summer Street in 1842. Shipbuilder N.L. Thompson was a trendsetter.
Horace Porter had Master builder Beniah Littlefield build him the 2nd columned Greek Revival house on Main Street Kennebunk in 1848 that was a pretty good match for the one his step-brother N.L. Thompson had had the same builder erect for him six years earlier. The Horace Porter house is now occupied by the offices of Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, and Wells Water District.
The third columned Greek Revival house built in the Kennebunks that I found was The Nott House, aka “White Columns”, built on Maine Street in Kennebunkport. I wondered if joiner Beniah Littlefield was involved.
The fourth columned beauty was built long after Beniah Littlefield had hung up his hammer for good. It was built on Pier Road in Cape Porpoise as a summer cottage for Rev. John Edwin Lacount in 1911, not a time typically associated with new Greek Revival style homes.

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