The House That Moved Tour

Everyone is invited to join an expedition to explore the story of a house that moved twice after it was first built by Ebenezer Gardner in Dennysville, Maine in the1830’s. The tour will begin at the Lincoln Library in Dennysville at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, August 20th, for an introduction to the topic, after which people will drive (please carpool) to the three sites.   Participants should bring their own chairs and a bag lunch to enjoy afterwards, while savoring the house’s new view overlooking Lincoln Cove in Perry, Maine.

Aaron Leeman Raymond Gardner purchased the house from his brother Ebenezer for his wife Abigail, where they raised a family while he operated a blacksmith’s shop in the village. After his death in 1891, his two sons, Edwin R. and Fred L., had their mother’s house, barn, carriage house and woodshed moved by oxen to a new location overlooking the A.L.R. Gardner Company Store on Water Street.

The house moved again when a Gardner family descendant acquired it with her husband and moved it to Perry. What happened next, and the story of its reconstruction, will be told during the tour as participants follow the house from its original to its current location, and evaluate the challenges of moving an old house.