Historic Homes
The Paul Wentworth House (1701)
Thanks to dedicated volunteers, a home once sited for demolition is now an incubator for creative talent
BY
J. Dennis Robinson
PHOTOGRAPHY
Photography by courtesy Historical American Buildings Survey L.C. Durette, Photographer Oct. 18, 1936

In 1936 Fred Blodgett moved out of Rollinsford, N.H. and took the oldest house in town with him. His ancestor Paul Wentworth built the house deep in the Piscataqua frontier around 1701. Fred dismantled the ancient saltbox, beam by beam, and rebuilt it in Massachusetts. He lived there to age 99, but the next owner planned to demolish the building. Rollinsford residents could have the house back, the new owner agreed, if they moved it within a year.

the Paul Wentworth House circa 1936
The Paul Wentworth House in 1936.
I lived briefly in downtown Rollinsford, a sleepy little ex-factory hamlet perched on the edge of the Salmon Falls River. So I wrote a few articles about “the house that wanted to come home” back in 2001. I confess I thought it was a hopeless cause in a town of 2,648 souls. The move alone would cost $40,000, the restoration another half million.

But never doubt Yankee ingenuity. Today Colonel Paul Wentworth’s handsome timber-frame is back. Grants, private funding, and a boatload of volunteers did the job. Miraculously, the rambling brick mill downtown has also been resurrected. What was, in my day, a sprawling factory for ghosts is now an incubator for creative talent, with 100 artist studios.

Check the Web site for public events, educational programs, and activities. The Paul Wentworth House is owned and operated by the Association for Rollinsford Culture and History (ARCH), www.paulwentworthhouse.org

Directions: From Front Street in Rollinsford at the Salmon Falls Mill, take Main Street up the hill. Turn right onto Church Street, quickly bear left on Jessie Doe Lane, after crossing the railroad tracks, then turn right onto Water Street and up the hill.