The Colburn House stands on a rise overlooking the Kennebec River to the west. It is set south of the First Congregational Church of Pittston, on the west side of Arnold Road, an old alignment of Maine State Route 27, which runs just to the east. The house is a 2+1⁄2-story timber-frame structure, with a side gable roof, central brick chimney, and clapboard siding. The front facade is five bays wide, with slightly irregular spacing of windows, and a comparatively elaborate front door surround consisting of flanking sidelight windows and pilasters supporting a corniced entablature.[2]
History
Reuben Colburn and his family settled in Gardinerston (then part of Massachusetts) in 1761. In 1763, he was granted 250 acres (100 ha) of land and built a saw mill, brick yard, boat yard, and grist mill on the shores of the Kennebec River. In 1765, he built his two-story home on "an eminence which gradually slopes down to the shore." Colburn was later described as "one of our earliest 'kings of industry.'"[3]
Colburn assisted George Washington and Benedict Arnold in the planning and provisioning of Arnold's 1775 military expedition through the northern wilderness of Maine to Quebec City. This site was one of the last outposts of support and supply for the expedition.[1] The house passed out of the Colburn family in 1953, after which it underwent some restorative work under private ownership. It was acquired by the state in 1971, and has been operated as a historic site since.[2]
^ abcChristi A. Mitchell, Architectural Historian (April 15, 2004). "Colburn House State Historic Site". NRHP Nomination Form. National Park Service. Retrieved April 27, 2016.
