Located on the north side of Russell Farm Road, the Lower Alewive Historic District consists of four farms and over two hundred acres. All of the farms are oriented to the south towards Emmons Road with three of the four farms extending northerly to the Kennebunk River. The four farmhouses are similarly constructed: a rectangular main block, two stories high, and a long ell extending from the east end. All of the farms have at least one barn as well. Historically, northwest Kennebunk was settled in the 1750s and became known as Alewive. Separate communities known as Upper Alewive and Lower Alewive soon developed. Upper Alewive remained largely self-sufficient, but Lower Alewive, located closer to Kennebunk proper, did not develop a separate commercial center and remained largely agricultural. In the district, the James Smith and John Walker farms are testaments to the area's rich farmland as both built large Federal-style farmhouses in the early 1800s. Both Smith and Walker originally purchased lots of 50 acres and added more land to their farms in the nineteenth century. The district continues to represent the rural agricultural landscape of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Maine.
Year Listed: 1994
For More Information: https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail?assetID=6b71428d-f6bd-4c4d-949a-974240d4cfa7