This federal style house is one of the earliest surviving houses in Harpswell. The initial portion was built around 1810 with later additions done in the 1840's and the late 19th century. It was taken apart at its original location on Harpswell Neck in the fall of 1990 and reassembled piece by piece on Wissman's Point on Great Island in the spring and summer of 1991.
Easement Acquired: 1990
Property Owner: Private
Easement Holder: HHLT
Easement Purpose
To restore and maintain, inside and out, the traditional lines, appearance, and structural stability, of the historic house.
Public Access: No
Other
A letter written in 1992 by the good souls who purchased the house from the Trust and restored it:
"The Dunning House - A Moving Story"
For nearly 200 years the little house had sat by the side of a shady lane facing Route 123 in South Harpswell. During the last 30 of those years it had been vacant and fast falling into a state of disrepair. Records show that the main part of the house was built in the Federal style by or for Waitstill Merryman around 1820, although a Massachusetts tax evaluation lists a "shell" on this property in 1784. It was essentially, and still is, a small hall-and-parlor house (one room on either side of a large center chimney with a pantry at the center back and an entry at the front). The kitchen ell, with later Greek Revival woodwork, was probably added in 1850 by Henry Orr.
In recent years the house was known as the Dunning House after the family that owned it during the last half of the 19th century and even more recently as the Dunning-Kellogg House after the latest owners, Jack and Annabelle Kellogg, who purchased the property which also included other houses. Realizing that something had to be done before the little old house deteriorated any further, they gave the structure to the Harpswell Historical Society hoping that the Society could find someone to move and repair it before the house became completely unrestorable.
The Harpswell Historical Society called in Greater Portland Landmarks who sent out members, Linda Griffin and Joyce Bibber to evaluate the property. Linda called her parents, Howard and Edna Carr, of Cornish, Maine and presented the idea of re-locating the house onto their lot at Wissman's Point on Great Island. The Carrs thought that was a wonderful idea and that is how the saga of the dismantling and re assembling of the Merrymann-Orr-Dunning-Kellogg house began.
After countless trips to Harpswell and many meetings and negotiations later, the team of Howard & Edna headed by their son, Jonathan, started the dismantling in October of 1990. The first step was to mark every piece of woodwork, floor boards, etc. with a series of letters such as "KMRD" (meaning Kitchen Middle Right Door) that hopefully would allow them to know what went where when the re assembling began. After this was done, Jon very carefully pried off each piece so that none of it was broken and all of it was able to be used again. The old plaster and cardboard ceiling in the kitchen was removed and discarded which revealed the structural beams. In observing the corner posts and upright beams, it was evident that every one around the perimeter of the house had been lengthened by about 12-18". This seemed to suggest that either the house had been a lot lower posted at one time or every beam had rotted at the bottom and a new piece had been spliced on. Also there must have been three doors at the back of the house, one out of each room, because of the way the sheathing boards were patched together. The roof of the house was composed of rafter beams pegged together at the peak and purlins laid across, two to the front and two at the back. These were each made from a complete small tree graduating from trunk to narrower top.
The clapboards wouldn't cooperate and kept splitting and snapping so they had to give up trying to salvage them even after Edna had dutifully marked every single one. The sheathing boards were also marked and then pried off. Although some of them were rotten, most of them were able to be re-used in the same spot later. The oldest ones were chamfered along the edges so that they fit without a crack which helped to keep out the cold. The roof boards were very wide, some 26" - and along every crack where two boards met the original builders had laid strips of birch bark as an effective cold and wind barrier.
After all the boards were taken off, the complete frame stood solidly pegged together--a skeleton against the sky, defying anyone to move it. But come down it must and Howard and Jon were able to dismantle the entire structure using just muscle power and ropes and braces where necessary. All that was left now was the huge mass of bricks composing the two fireplaces, bake oven and part of the center chimney, the top having fallen off years before. After making many measurements and diagrams this was taken down brick by brick and Edna stacked them in neat piles off to one side. (So much for manicures.)
Now came the job of putting everything in some sort of orderly stacks and covering them with plastic and blue tarps, tied down for the winter. The change from house to four blue tarp covered piles was accomplished in just one month.
In June, 1991 the Carrs began the task of trucking the pieces to their lot (about an 18 mile round trip) where a new foundation awaited the old beams. Jon made new sills & beams where necessary out of some extra old ones from a barn they had previously dismantled and piece by piece the house began to take a familiar shape. Again, using just manpower and ropes, Jon and his Dad managed to get the beams in place, the most difficult being the 30' long top front beam. This monster had to be lifted up and fitted down over 12 or more upright wall studs all at the same time and then pinned at either end. The comparable back top beam had been broken, so it went up in two pieces and a new section was spliced into the break. The roof rafters were raised one at a time and held with temporary braces while being pegged and the purloins laid across. Lifting each 14' long and mostly 26" wide roof board into place was also quite a job but finally accomplished. Plywood was put over these boards before shingling as the old boards were too worn to take any more nails, but their nice old patina and great width are visible from the inside open loft over the kitchen.
The whole assembling of the house was like putting together a giant jig-saw puzzle, which was a great satisfaction when the pieces fell into the right places and a major frustration when they didn't. All in all most of the original parts were able to be used in their exact places with the only new additions being to replace a few rotten beams, new "old style" 9 over 6 light windows, clapboards and shingles. The old kitchen ell was re-assembled at the back of the present house since the lot wasn't wide enough to accommodate it at the side where it was originally. It will be used as the master bedroom.
At this time the exterior of the house is practically finished, but the interior still needs a lot of work, the major job being the re-building of the fireplaces, bake oven and chimney. Jon plans to start on this soon and the rest of the finishing touches, rnostly plaster and paint, plus the niceties of a bathroom and running water will be accomplished this summer.
So now the little house sits happily facing the ocean on Great Island instead of Route 123 and we, the newest owners, hope it will remain contentedly there for another 200 years (at least)!
Howard & Edna Carr