Frost Family
1791 Schoolhouse-Frost-Cheney House - 77-79 Main Street
Thought to be the 1791 House when it stood on Main Street
The original Berwick Academy schoolhouse, built on today's campus in 1791, is known to have been moved to Quamphegan Landing during the 1800s where it served as a private home. This building or another one on the site may have been the early 19th century residence of the family of George Washington Frost (Frosst), who grew up in the neighborhood and wrote a memoir.
About 1858, after their marriage, William Gooch Cheney (1836-1895) and Elizabeth “Lizzie” Sargent Cheney, are believed to have lived here. The next year they had a son Jotham, and Elizabeth’s 19 year old sister Sarah Sargent lived with them and worked in the Portsmouth Manufacturing Company cotton mill. Cheney worked as a laborer, according to census records of 1860, and was quite poor, with a personal estate valued at $50.
The 1791 House was transported back to Berwick Academy about 1965, where it remains today.