Major Reuben Colburn House

Significant dates

Colburn House State Historic Site
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district Contributing property


Colburn House Location in Maine
Location	33 Arnold Road, Pittston, Maine
Coordinates	44°11′52″N 69°45′16″W / 44.19778°N 69.75444°W / 44.19778; -69.75444
Area	6 acres (2.4 ha)
Built	1765 (1765)
Architect	Reuben Colburn
Architectural style	Federal, Georgian
Part of	Arnold Trail to Quebec (ID69000018)
NRHP reference No.	04000741
Added to NRHP	July 28, 2004
Designated CP	October 1, 1969

The Major Reuben Colburn House is a historic house museum and state historic site on Arnold Road in Pittston, Maine. Built in 1765, it was the home of Reuben Colburn, a patriot and shipbuilder, from 1765 to 1818. The house, one of the first to be built in the area, is most notable as one of the staging area's for Benedict Arnold's 1775 Quebec expedition. It is operated by the state as the Colburn House State Historic Site,^[1] and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.^[2]

Description

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The Colburn House stands on a rise overlooking the Kennebec River to the west. It is set south of the First Congregational Church of Pittston, on the west side of Arnold Road, an old alignment of Maine State Route 27, which runs just to the east. The house is a 2+1⁄2-story timber-frame structure, with a side gable roof, central brick chimney, and clapboard siding. The front facade is five bays wide, with slightly irregular spacing of windows, and a comparatively elaborate front door surround consisting of flanking sidelight windows and pilasters supporting a corniced entablature.^[2]

History

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Reuben Colburn and his family settled in Gardinerston (then part of Massachusetts) in 1761. In 1763, he was granted 250 acres (100 ha) of land and built a saw mill, brick yard, boat yard, and grist mill on the shores of the Kennebec River. In 1765, he built his two-story home on "an eminence which gradually slopes down to the shore." Colburn was later described as "one of our earliest 'kings of industry.'"^[3]

Colburn assisted George Washington and Benedict Arnold in the planning and provisioning of Arnold's 1775 military expedition through the northern wilderness of Maine to Quebec City. This site was one of the last outposts of support and supply for the expedition.^[1] The house passed out of the Colburn family in 1953, after which it underwent some restorative work under private ownership. It was acquired by the state in 1971, and has been operated as a historic site since.^[2]

References

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^ ^a ^b "Colburn House State Historic Site". Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
^ ^a ^b ^c Christi A. Mitchell, Architectural Historian (April 15, 2004). "Colburn House State Historic Site". NRHP Nomination Form. National Park Service. Retrieved April 27, 2016.
^ Emma Huntington Nason (1908). Old Colonial Houses in Maine Built Prior to 1776. Augusta, Me.: National Society of the Colonial Dames of America. p. 91. Retrieved December 11, 2015.

External links

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Colburn House State Historic Site Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry
The Major Reuben Colburn House - 1765 Arnold Expedition Historical Society

Protected areas of Maine

Federal

National Parks and Historic Sites	Acadia National Park Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument Saint Croix Island International Historic Site
National Wildlife Refuges	Aroostook Carlton Pond Waterfowl Production Area Cross Island Franklin Island Maine Coastal Islands Moosehorn Petit Manan Pond Island Rachel Carson Seal Island Sunkhaze Meadows Umbagog
National Forests	White Mountain
National Cemeteries	Acadia National Cemetery Togus National Cemetery
National Trails	Appalachian Trail
National Estuarine Research Reserves	Wells
National wild and scenic rivers	Allagash Wilderness Waterway York River

State

State Parks	Allagash Wilderness Waterway Androscoggin Riverlands Aroostook Baxter Birch Point Bradbury Mountain Camden Hills Cobscook Bay Crescent Beach Damariscotta Lake Ferry Beach Fort Point Grafton Notch Holbrook Island Sanctuary Lake St. George Lamoine Lily Bay Mackworth Island Moose Point Mount Blue Mount Kineo State Park Owls Head Light State Park Peacock Beach Peaks-Kenny Penobscot River Corridor Popham Beach Quoddy Head Range Ponds Rangeley Lake Reid Roque Bluffs Shackford Head Sebago Lake Swans Falls Campground Swan Lake Two Lights Vaughan Woods Warren Island Wolfe's Neck Woods
State Historic Sites	Bible Point Colburn House Colonial Pemaquid Eagle Island Fort Baldwin Fort Edgecomb Fort Halifax Fort Kent Fort Knox (Penobscot Narrows Observatory) Fort McClary Fort O'Brien John Paul Jones Katahdin Iron Works Mayall Mills Whaleback Shell Midden
State Forests	Durham

Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry

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v t e Kennebec River Watershed
Tributaries	Abagadasset River Carrabassett River Dead River East Branch Eastern River East Branch Moose River East Branch Sebasticook River Eastern River Lemon Stream Little River Moose River Moxie Falls North Branch Dead River Roach River Sandy River Sebasticook River South Branch Dead River South Branch Moose River South Branch Sandy River West Branch Carrabassett River West Branch Eastern River West Branch Moose River
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Landmarks	Mount Abraham Arnold Trail Augusta Memorial Bridge Bath Iron Works Bigelow Preserve Mount Bigelow Carlton Bridge Crocker Mountain Fort Halifax Harris Station Dam International Railway of Maine Kennebec Central Railroad Maine Kennebec Bridge Major Reuben Colburn House Pearl Harbor Remembrance Bridge Mount Redington Sagadahoc Bridge Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad Somerset and Kennebec Railroad Somerset Railroad Spaulding Mountain Sugarloaf Mountain Togus