Comprised of York Corner, York Village, and York Harbor, the York Historic District represents the town's evolution as a colonial trading center to a nineteenth-century tourist destination. The first European settlers arrived in York c.1630 and the village was centered on the northern bank of the York River. The town was incorporated in 1652, making it the second oldest town in Maine after Kittery. Like other towns, York experienced Native American attacks throughout the seventeenth century and was destroyed in the Raid on York in 1692.

Located nearly two miles north of Route 25 in rural Porter, the Old Meeting House is a two-story frame building that sits on a granite foundation. This structure, referred to as a church and a meetinghouse, served dual purposes over time - as religious sanctuary for congregations as well as for municipal purpose as a place for the townspeople to gather and make decisions for the future. The side-gabled roofed building is sheathed in clapboard siding and has a door on each end of the front faade. The interior is open with a three-sided gallery and original box pews.

Built in the Federal style with a Colonial-era ell, the Lord Mansion is one of the many impressive homes along Summer Street. The hip-roofed ell is the oldest part of the house and was built by Jonathan Banks c.1760. It is two stories with clapboard siding and connects to a large barn through a smaller side ell. Jonas Clark, a local judge, bought the property in 1789 and built the main Federal-style structure. It is two stories tall with a flat roof, set back from the road. The symmetrical facade is faced in flush sheathing while the other elevations are clapboard sided.

Located near the Medomak River, the Old German Church is a unique early church building with intact interior woodwork and graining. The two-story frame building sits on stone underpinnings and is sheathed in clapboard siding. It has one entry which is centered on the southern end. Inside, the lower floor has box pews and a raised polygonal pulpit with a sounding board above. The second-story gallery, which also contains box pews, is supported by pillars and wraps around the interior on three sides. German immigrants began settling the area during the 1750s.

The Levi Sargent House is a one-and-a-half story cape built with hewn logs and is a good example of nineteenth-century domestic log construction. Unfortunately, the house has lost many original features, including its original entryway and clapboard siding. A long ell extends to the rear of the dwelling. The ell is wood framed using mortise and tenon components. Sargent was a farmer and Methodist minister. His father, Daniel, moved to the area in the 1790s. They acquired two tracts of land totaling 109 acres. Soon after marrying Deliverance Sawyer, Levi built this home.

The Major Reuben Colburn House has undergone several changes since its construction in 1765 but retains its overall original form. It is a two-story side-gabled clapboard sided structure with a large center chimney. The facade is symmetrical except for the second floor window above the entry door which is placed slightly to the left (west) side. The door is framed by sidelights, wood pilasters, and a wide entablature. The cornice is modest with returns on the side elevations. There is second entry door on the east elevation.

The Tappan-Viles House remains one of Augusta's most architecturally-impressive houses. Located just north of the Maine State House, the two-story house includes elements of its original Federal-style design as well as Italianate- and Colonial Revival-style elements that were added in c. 1865 and c. 1915, respectively. The house is named in part for Reverend Dr. Benjamin Tappan, who built it five years after becoming pastor of the South Parish Congregational Church, and for Blaine S.

The Ansel Blossom House is the oldest surviving building in Monmouth. It is an intact example of an early Federal-style cape form. It is a simple, one-story side-gabled building sheathed in clapboards with a center chimney. The windows are placed closed to the eaves and are made up of multiple small panes. They are asymmetrically arranged on the facade. The central entry door is unadorned, topped simply by a five-light transom. The house's south elevation is connected to a two-story structure added in 1894. Ansel Blossom was the son of Captain James Blossom.

Ezekiel Merrill built this large house just east of the Ellis River for his family of nine. Merrill and his family were a part of a group of Revolutionary War veterans from Massachusetts who chose to settle in the area due to its fertile intervale (a low-lying area near a river). After purchasing four lots in 1788, Merrill brought his family here in canoes. As the first European-American settlers to arrive, the area was essentially a frontier, and the family initially resided in a log house.

The Lincolnville Center Meeting House is located on Route 173 in the village of Linconlville Center. The two-story building features a gable-front roof and has a central entry. The building is largely unadorned, except at the front entry which is flanked by pilasters and topped with a projecting cornice. A molded fan is placed above the paneled wooden double doors. The interior is largely unchanged and contains wooden pew boxes and a balcony that wraps along three sides of the building. Interestingly, the meeting house's pulpit is located at the front of the building instead of the rear.