Benjamin C. Wilder House facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Benjamin C. Wilder House
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 Location in Maine
Location in the United States
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| Location | 1267 Main Street, Washburn, Maine |
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| Built | 1852 |
| NRHP reference No. | 87000946 |
| Added to NRHP | June 12, 1987 |
The Benjamin C. Wilder House is a very old and special home located at 1267 Main Street in Washburn, Maine. It was built around 1852. This house is a great example of how homes looked in the middle of the 1800s in northern Aroostook County.
The house was built when many people first started settling in this area. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987. Today, the local Salmon Brook Historical Society owns the house. They run it as a historic house museum, where you can learn about life long ago.
What Does the Wilder House Look Like?
The Wilder House is in the middle of Washburn village. It sits a bit back from Main Street, next to the town common. It is a one-and-a-half-story house made of wood. It has five sections across the front and is one room deep.
The roof slopes down on the sides. The outside walls are covered with clapboard siding. The foundation is made of granite and concrete blocks. The front of the house faces south. There is a porch that goes all the way across the front and wraps around to the west side.
This porch has columns that look like old Greek or Roman styles. The main front door is simple, just like the windows. A single window sticks out from the roof. At the back of the house, there is a kitchen area. This part also has windows sticking out from its roof. There is also a porch on the east side of the kitchen.
Inside the house, the walls are still the original plaster. The stairs leading up to the attic are also original. This means the house looks much like it did when it was first built!
The History of the Benjamin Wilder House
For a long time, people did not settle much in northern Aroostook County. This was because of arguments about the border with New Brunswick, a nearby Canadian province. There was even a time in the 1830s when it seemed like there might be a war, called the Aroostook War.
These border problems were finally solved in 1842 with the Webster-Ashburton Treaty. After that, people started moving into the area more quickly. Washburn was likely settled soon after this treaty. Isaac Wilder was one of the first people to settle there.
His nephew, Benjamin Wilder, probably built this house around 1852. This was the same year Benjamin got married. Benjamin Wilder was a merchant, which means he bought and sold goods. He was also a farmer in the community.
Benjamin Wilder's family sold the house in 1920 to the Jardine family. Later, the Jardine family sold it to the Salmon Brook Historical Society. The Society now uses the house to show what life was like in the mid-1800s. They also have the Aroostook Agricultural Museum in a barn nearby.
See also
