Institution description
Castle Tucker: Castle Tucker was built in 1807 by one of Wiscasset’s most prominent citizens, Judge Silas Lee. In 1858, Captain Richard Tucker Jr., scion of a prominent local shipping family, bought the house for his new and growing family. The Tuckers updated and redecorated to reflect the fashions and styles of their time. Very little was changed in the house after 1900, including a kitchen with four generations of kitchen technology still in place where it was used. Preserved by three generations of Tucker women, Castle Tucker is a historic house museum shown as the family left it in 1997 when they gave it to Historic New England.
Nickels-Sortwell House: Located on Wiscasset's Main Street, this is one of New England's finest examples of high Federal-style architecture. Built by successful ship owner Captain William Nickels in 1807, the house epitomizes the brief period when shipbuilding and the maritime trade brought wealth and sophisticated tastes to this coastal Maine village. After years of use as a hotel, the house was purchased by Cambridge industrialist Alvin Sortwell and turned into a family summer home, lovingly restored in the Colonial Revival style. Nickels-Sortwell House tells the story of Wiscasset's heyday and its revival as a summer getaway for cultured city dwellers and tourists.
