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The House at King's Dock
by Blanche Sefton Lutz
with the assistance of Judy Barrington
The house at 1463 Washington Street at the area known as King's Dock, owned by the Estate of Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Rittall, is one of the oldest houses in Maine, dating to the 18th century, anywhere from 1731, 1754, 1758, and/or 1783, as stated in Owen's History of Bath. Some uncertainty surrounds the history of this old house resulting from the inability to arrive at an exact construction date. In the history room of the Patten Free Library, researchers can find several articles written about the architecture and history of this house, which together with the History of Bath by Henry Wilson Owen, help to clear up some of this uncertainty.
Captain Simeon Turner bought a farm from the Heath heirs in 1783 and there built a house at the foot of Harward Street at the north side of the old royal spar dock at the site of Turner's shipyard. (Henry Wilson Owen, History of Bath, p. 93; Patten Library Historical File #6) Owen notes that Turner sold this building to John Peterson in 1797. (Owen, p. 93) Therefore, the date of construction must span the 14 years between 1783 when Turner bought the land and 1797 when he sold a house on this land to John Peterson. Peterson allowed his son, Captain Levi Peterson, to occupy the house when the elder Peterson built another house, the "other" Peterson House which afterward became the Old Couples' Home. (Ibid.) Capt. Levi was a man to be remembered as much for his physical build as for his sea skills: Levi weighed more than 400 lbs. Capt. John Patten, the noted Bath shipbuilder and cofounder of the Library, shipped off as Capt. Levi's mate and later married one of Levi's daughters. ("One of the Oldest," attributed to Mark Hennesey*)
In discussing which house is the oldest in Bath, Owen notes that "as an appendage of the old Peterson house at Harward's dock, what may be an even older structure" exists. (p. 96) This appendage is the ell. Owen goes on: "but the ell bears evidence of having been a separate and older structure, which might have been the Tarp cabin which stood on the same site in 1731." (Ibid.) Owen also wrote that John Tarp became a resident of Bath about 1731 and was recorded to have first occupied a house at the present site of the "old Peterson house" and to have later lived near where the Stone House stands. (p. 71) According to one article, the Rittalls were "about convinced that Tarp's one-room cabin, later the trading post, was the first building on the site and that Simeon Turner made it part of the 'old Peterson house' when he built." ("One of the Oldest") The Rittalls have used the ell as a storage shed and all-purpose room. (Patten Library Historical File #6)
An SPI survey of the house describes the architecture as a "Georgian type" which features the requisite quoining, prominent roof lines, and general robust classical orientation. "Quoining" refers to the practice of using stone blocks at the corners of a building for structural reinforcement. Later quoins became purely decorative. The quoins in this house are of wooden construction added at a later date by an owner in the 1930s. (According to James Stilphen, Bath artist and historian.) The windows are generally cornice headed, some with elongated 9 over 6 panes and others, 6 over 6. Windows can provide a clue to the dating of a house if they are original. Because of the limitations of early glass-making techniques, panes were often small; therefore, the rule of thumb is the more panes of glass in each sash,the earlier the date of the house. However, this house, as is often the case in long-occupied older houses, has some of the older mixed with the newer windows.
The front doorway features rather robust, fluted pilasters. The side doorway is pedimented and features transom lights. The roof of this classic cape is more broadly pitched in the manner of early 18th-century capes seen farther south in New England. There is a rear ell as well as a free-standing outbuilding. The house features a large central chimney. An article by Joel Goldberg noted that the house has been remodeled since its construction and that one of the owners, Henry Douglas Bacon, added the dormer windows and the porch in the early 1930s. Bacon operated the Bath Marine Construction Company on the adjacent land. ("One of the Oldest")
Judy Barrington theorizes that the house is composed of three parts, each added at a different date by different owners. She speculates that the first and earliest is the ell or Tarp cabin built in 1731. In 1754/58, she has Heath building a small half cape onto the ell with Turner expanding the house to a full cape in 1783. Finally in the 1930s, Bacon added the dormers, porch, and quoinings or rustication. Judy bases this theory on research into the files, maps, and Owen's history.
Goldberg describes the interior of the house as having been built "something like a ship. The interior walls are not plumb; they were built at a slant, so that the ceiling expanse is smaller than that of the floor. The doorways are at a similar slant, reminding one of the doorway of a ship." Other descriptions of the interior mention "ship knees" in the framing and hand-hewn fireplace panels carrying the mark of the ax. Ship knee construction is "the use of shaped timbers, or knees, to strengthen the joining of ceiling or roof with wall." ("One of the Oldest") The single chimney served four fireplaces in the main house. Bedroom hearths are of old bricks, the outer layer consisting of large square ones. Apparently, one of these had been cemented over, but Mrs. Rittall carefully removed the cement. The paneled front door is as broad as that of a church. (Ibid)
The Rittall house is interesting for more reasons than its architecture and early construction date. The house stands on a site of Revolutionary War significance. Indeed, it is Bath's only site of a Revolutionary War incident.
Before the Revolutionary War, the cove at the foot of Harward Street was called King's Dock because royal carpenters worked there building masts for the Royal Navy under the supervision of Edward Parry, the King's agent. News of the events of April 19, 1775, at Lexington and Concord took about ten days to reach Bath. When Bath heard the news of the Concord fight, the men of the Second Parish resolved to stand by their Boston Brethren in resisting the encroachments of the king and further voted to eject any of His Majesty's officers or agents within their own boundaries. (Owen, p. 113) This vote related to two of the King's ships then lying in the river and the gang of carpenters at the King's dock. The men were particularly interested in ejecting Edward Parry, the King's agent. (Ibid.)
Owen then records that Dummer Sewall was chosen a committee of one to wait upon the agent, with whom Sewall was personally friendly, to announce the decision of the parish and stop further work at the dock. As a precaution, in case of resistance, it was determined that Mr. Sewall should be supported by an armed body of citizens. It is uncertain if the citizens assembled as a militia, as minutemen, or as a civil posse. (Ibid.)
Aparently, these men went down to the dock with Sewall, who had the group of armed men take "a concealed post in the brush at a point whence the place where the English were working could be commanded." Sewall himself approached the dock, "stepped upon a mast and proclaimed: 'In the name of the people of America, I command you not to strike another blow.'" (Ibid.) Again, according to Owen: "Whether it was the convincing manner in which the proclamation was made, or a glimpse of the muskets in the fringe of the brush, the men at once dropped their tools, betook themselves to their boats, and rowed away to rejoin the ships which forthwith departed the river." (pp. 113-114)
Thus ended Bath's only revolutionary incident. As Goldberg noted, "this incident, though lacking in violence, was one of the significant precursors of the American Revolution. On the lawn of the Rittalls' home is a plaque, placed there in 1903 by the Daughters of the American Revolution, which commemorates this event." (One of the Oldest")
The house at 1463 Washington Street is interesting for many reasons. This article is just the beginning of ongoing research and speculation. The house is architecturally significant because of its early date, even if it has been updated over years of occupancy. And the site itself holds archaeological interest for its former use as a trading post, shipyard, site for the manufacture of masts for the King's Navy, and as the site of Bath's only revolutionary incident. This is certainly a Bath treasure and should be preserved as such.
*It is difficult to cite sources correctly in this article because the files in the History Room of the Patten Free Library contain published material for which there is no exact attribution or identification.
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