Located on the western shore of Keuka Lake at the intersection of Routes 35 and 37, the Waterford Historic District consists of eighteenth-, nineteenth-, and twentieth-century buildings. The district encompasses the governmental and commercial center of Waterford, but also includes many residential and religious buildings. The Town of Waterford was first surveyed in 1775 and the first European-American settler to arrive in this area (known as "The Flats" for its even topography among several hills) was Eli Longley in 1793.

The How Houses are three architecturally and historically significant buildings that were built by members of the How family. They are three-story Federal-style brick homes located in close proximity to one another. All are side gabled with symmetrical facades with interior end chimneys. Characteristic of the style, the entries are framed by either sidelight windows or pilasters and topped by fanlight windows. Both the John and Joseph How Houses have recessed arched entries. Daniel How was a hatter who came to Portland in 1795 from Methuen, Massachusetts.

Portland's Eastern Cemetery is unique among the "Present at Statehood" series because it offers a different context in which to consider the social history, architecture, and design found across Maine. The Eastern Cemetery was chartered in 1668 on a plot of land at the base of Munjoy Hill, sloping about 30 feet downward toward the harbor. It is filled with over 4,000 gravestones of varying shapes, sizes, and carvings.

Built after Lincoln County was set off from York County in 1760, the Pownalborough Courthouse is a large three-story, clapboard-sided structure with a shallow hipped roof. The east and west elevations are identical, both symmetrical with a central entry. Reflecting the Georgian style that was popular at the time, the doors of the otherwise fairly plain building are framed by pilasters supporting an entablature and projecting cornice. The third floor windows are smaller than those on the lower floors and are placed just below the overhanging eaves.

A Cape form (a side-gabled house with a central chimney around which interior rooms are located), the Salome Sellers House is located on Sunset Road. The original part of the house is the small side wing, which dates to the late eighteenth-century, while the Cape part of the house was built later. The dwelling retains original double-hung windows with small panes of glass and a central door surmounted by a four-pane transom. The post-and-beam structure sits on a fieldstone foundation, and is clapboard sided with a cedar-shingled roof.

This one-and-a-half-story brick cape dwelling sits on a granite foundation with a gabled roof and two chimneys. The front facade is symmetrical with a central entrance flanked by sidelights. The Harper Family House also features a brick wing that is flush with the facade of the main block adding another entrance and two more windows. The house was built for Samuel Harper-a veteran of the Revolutionary War. Harper relocated from Brentwood, New Hampshire in 1787 with his wife Sarah and their seven children.

Originally built in Portland, the Thomas Skelton House was slated for demolition to enlarge a parking lot, but was moved to Falmouth in 1971. Skelton was a housewright who soon after construction was completed sold the dwelling to a Portland mariner, John Rackleff. Afterward, it changed hands and appearance numerous times. The structure was originally one-and-a-half stories high, but another floor was added roughly ten years later, c.1810.

The Harpswell Meetinghouse, located on State Route 123, is a two-story building with a side-gabled roof and numerous multi-paned windows. Sheathed in clapboard siding, the structure is rectangular, but nearly square, with an exterior stair-hall. Building began in the late 1750s but was not completed until the mid-1770s. Elisha Eaton, the son of the first meeting house parish pastor of the same name, was likely the original builder. After his death in 1764, the elder Eaton's son Samuel took over duties as pastor.

The Elisha Purington House is a two-story structure with a gable roof and central chimney. The dwelling is sheathed with clapboard siding and has small paned windows. The central six panel door is framed by molded architrave trim and capped by a transom, and entablature. This structure is a well-preserved example of mid-eighteenth-century rural Maine architecture. The builder was Elisha Purington. Originally from New Hampshire, Purington is considered one of the finest colonial New England clockmakers. He also earned a reputation as a gunsmith and blacksmith.

The Matthew Cottrill House, with its symmetrical front facade and central entry flanked by two sets of windows, is a good example of the Federal style. Its rounded portico with deep entablature supported by fluted columns is notable. The door is topped by a wide elliptical fanlight and sidelights. Its early date is partially demonstrated by the raised granite foundation, often referred to a water table, and more typically seen with the earlier Georgian style. The rear ell is thought to have been associated with the Chapman family, thought to be the first European settlers in Damariscotta.