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 Much of this neighborhood dates from the construction of the Portsmouth Manufacturing Company cotton mill about 1830. On Main Street, many historic double houses and boarding houses built for workers still contain homes and apartments today. They are clustered around the Quamphegan Hotel, now a private home, which long ago welcomed travelers, whether arriving by land across the bridge or by river at Quamphegan Landing.
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1. c. 1830 Ebenezer Hanson House - 15 Sewall Road |
 On the map of 1872 this house seems to be owned by pharmacist and ink manufacturer Ebenezer S. Hanson (1825-1905), whose family owned several properties, including a drug store in Central Square. On the c. 1865 map it seems to be owned by a J. Frost. Today it contains Roaring Brook Consultants. |
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2. Gilpatrick House - 110 Main Street |
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A memoir of the 1830s says, “On the brow of the hill just above Colcord's store, Gilpatric and Davis carried on an extensive tinware manufactory; they employed several men as peddlers who penetrated York County far and near, exchanging their wares for either cash, old iron, rags, sheepskins, old pewter, brass, and lead. In fact, almost anything was accepted in those days in the way of trade.” Throughout most of the years of operation of the Portsmouth Manufacturing Company cotton mill, a property at this location is said to have belonged to Ira (or Abraham) Gilpatrick (1802-1878), tin manufacturer. Gilpatrick and his partner Richard Davis (1801-1895) also had property and homes at Liberty and Vine Streets. |
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3. c. 1830 House -- 97 Main Street |
 On the maps of 1865 and 1872 this house appears to be owned by non-residents such as the Nealleys or the Plumers, thus likely rented to someone working at the textile mill. |
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4. c. 1850 Double House - 96 Main Street |
 This could have been a duplex rental property for the textile mills or tin shop. It may be the building marked Ferguson and Nason on the map of c. 1865; a B. Nason – possibly merchant Benjamin Nason (1788-1875) -- and the family of merchant Timothy Ferguson, a partner of the Jewetts, owned adjacent property. |
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5. c. 1850 Double House - 88-90 Main Street |
 On the c. 1865 and 1872 maps it seems to have belonged to a B. Nason. Perhaps it was a duplex rental property for textile mill or tin shop workers. It is not known whether it could have been and owned by merchant Benjamin Nason (1788-1875), who lived on Portland Street and ran a store in the Odd Fellows Block. |
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6. mid-1800s Nealley Boarding House - 89 Main Street |
 On the c. 1865 and 1872 maps it seems to be owned by members of the Nealley family, entrepreneurs from central New Hampshire who came to South Berwick soon after the construction of the cotton mill. On the map of c. 1865 it seems to be owned by Benjamin and George K. Nealley, and in 1872 by George and brother John B. Nealley, South Berwick's state senator who lived at 169 Main Street. |
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7. Mid 1800s Benjamin M. Nealley Double House - 72-74 Main Street |
 On the map of c. 1865, this house appears to be owned by Benjamin N. Nealley, overseer of the 1830 Portsmouth Manufacturing Company cotton mill card room, and is one of several double houses associated with the mill and likely built around the time of its construction. A member of the central New Hampshire Nealley family of merchants and mill technicians who arrived in South Berwick in the early 1800s, Benjamin M. Nealley married Abigail Pray in 1836. |
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8. c. 1850 Chief John T. Driscoll House - 69 Main Street |
 On the c. 1865 and 1872 maps it may have been occupied by a Mrs. Chadbourne. Descendants of John Thomas Driscoll (d. 1941) say this was the home of the Driscoll family. Driscoll was the South Berwick chief of police and in the 1910s and 1920s owned a drug store and lunch counter in the John Frost Store at Main and Paul Streets. Driscoll's aunt, Hannah Driscoll, may have been a housekeeper in family of Sarah Orne Jewett and mentioned in Jewett's 1909 will. |
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9. Mid-1800s Double House - 68-70 Main Street |
 On the map of c. 1865, this house appears to be owned by a G. Goodwin, and is one of several double houses associated with the mill and likely built around the time of its construction. |
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10. & 11. c. 1800 John Henry Plumer House - 62 Main Street & c. 1830 Deacon John Plumer Bakery - 54 Main Street |
 
On maps of c. 1865 and 1872, the house at 62 Main appears to be owned by John Henry Plumer (b. 1829), who married Nancy Butler in 1850 and may have had a livery stable across Main Street in 1872. John Henry likely was related to Deacon John Plumer (1800-1873), whose bakery and home were in the house next door at 54 Main during the early years of the Portsmouth Manufacturing Company cotton mill. Deacon Plumer's father may have been a John Plumer born in 1765, and is remembered in history for “almost innumerable pots of beans and loaves of brown bread ... taken out of the side door in the basement of his house, next north of the [Nealley] tavern, Sunday mornings. Good bread, jumbles, turnovers and doughnuts grew under his hand.” Plumer was deacon of the First Parish (Congregational, now Federated) Church. Reverend John Lord, the historian, said of Deacon Plumer: “He was a pillar of the church – frugal, but generous in large matters; a liberal contributor to [Berwick] Academy, and to all public charities, a man of foresight, who would have made a capital abbot of a medieval monastery – for his piety -- his asceticism, his abilities, and love of power.” |
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12. c. 1830 Quamphegan Hotel/Nealley Tavern - 48 Main Street |
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Throughout much of the 19 th century this house, located on the Portland to Boston turnpike, was known as the Quamphegan Hotel. Eben Nealley (1807-1888) was remembered as tavern-keeper in a memoir about the early years of the Portsmouth Manufacturing Company cotton mill. He may have built the inn as part of the network of properties owned and developed by his entrepreneurial family who came from central New Hampshire early in the century. A large sign featuring Nealley's horse, Black Hawk, adorned the tavern. A 19 th century photo shows a front porch. Nealley was mentioned in accounts of the arson incident at the Methodist Church across Park Street, and was still listed as owner of the property on the maps of c. 1865 and 1872. During a flood that threatened the dam at the Landing bridge, he served suppers to volunteers hauling sandbags. |
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13. c. 1850 Nealley - Maddox Store – Main Street |
 On a South Berwick map of c. 1865 map this was Nealley's Store, and is believed to have been operated by Andrew J. Nealley (1815-1887) a member of the entrepreneurial Nealley family who arrived in South Berwick from central New Hampshire at the time of the rise of the Portsmouth Company cotton mill. In the 20 th century the store was operated by the Maddox family, who owned other South Berwick grocery stores. |
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Tour South Berwick Village 
