New Gloucester's significance is evident in this historic district. It was one of the few well-established inland Maine communities during the late eighteenth century. The large variety of Federal-style two-story dwellings demonstrates the town's early prosperity, found mostly through agricultural pursuits. Thirty-one properties are listed in this district and twenty of them pre-date 1820. The land that became New Gloucester was granted to sixty citizens from Gloucester, Massachusetts, in 1735. Both the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War hindered the town's growth, but the first frame house, a one-and-a-half gambrel roofed dwelling that still stands today, was built by Isaac Parsons in 1761. New Gloucester was incorporated in 1794 and the town shared shire duties with Portland for Cumberland County during the late eighteenth century until 1805. For over 200 years it remained a farming community that became a distinctive and enduring statement of rural Maine.
Year Listed: 1974
For more information: https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail?assetID=9f3ab1b4-c7e5-4d3d-86c3-cf868e72ea66