The old farmhouse at 5 Mitchell Street in Eastport resonates with charm. It helps that it has a peaceful if windswept location atop what was once known as Grady's Hill overlooking Passamaquoddy Bay. However, its charm is also found in the memories of those who lived there over the years and are kept alive by those still living and those whose voices were captured in oral history interviews. The new owners, Will Lopez and Meg Colbert, are full of enthusiasm for their new home and eager to learn more about its history.
     "Keeping the character of the house is important," says Colbert. She sees their role as stewards shepherding the house through some needed repairs to get it into shape so that it will continue long into the future. The couple live in New York City, where they work for a company that provides storage solutions for museums and other holders of artworks. Like so many others, the pandemic showed them that much of the work they do consulting with clients could be done remotely. In the fall of 2020 they took a few trips to Maine to see if it could become their future home base.
     The draw to Eastport was strong, with its robust arts community. "We are so impressed with this town. The house was the icing on the cake," says Colbert. Lopez adds that, unlike many places, the people in Eastport are genuine and kind. They came to look at a small cape, but on a whim they decided to look at the Mitchell Street house. Colbert knew the house was for them almost immediately.
     There's some work to do to get it into shape for year round living, with contractor Adam Newell of Downeast Builders guiding the process. The couple purchased the house in December, and already Newell has replaced a good portion of foundation brickwork and begun to tackle some other structural repairs. It was during the process of removing some clapboards that the history of the house began to come alive.

A history rich in connections
     Given their age, older homes Downeast generally have rich histories, but they aren't always easy to unearth. Luckily, enough of the 5 Mitchell Street property's history was documented to create a path into the past, even if there are still some missing steps.
     Marty Howbert, a neighbor on Mitchell Street, owned the property for about 25 years until she sold it a few years ago. She had heard that the house had been made of two smaller houses that were moved to the location either from Perry or Eastport, a practice that was fairly common well into the 1920s. When Newell removed the siding, it was clear that this was the case, with one section post-and-beam and the other stick built. "You can clearly see that it was two buildings put together," he says.
     "The house does not appear on the detailed 1835 map of Eastport in our collections. So it would appear that the house was built between 1835 and 1855," explains Hugh French, executive director of the Tides Institute & Museum of Art. He points to a detail from an 1855 map of Eastport that shows the house as owned and occupied by J.O. Grady. Local historian Wayne Wilcox remembers hearing many years ago from John Pike Grady that before the house was there the site was used for the stables belonging to Fort Sullivan and that there was a wagon trail that went up behind where some houses are currently located and then back around to the fort's barracks. The fort was built in 1808 on what was known as Clark's Hill, on the other side of Adams Street from the Mitchell Street location. Mitchell Street was once named South Clark Street.
     French shares a charming excerpt from the April 3, 1890, edition of the Eastport Sentinel, with the caption "A walk up North End." "Along our walk are found many houses of modern build including some very pretty ones, and one who wishes to learn how the recent large additions to the population are being housed will need to examine the cross streets leading up hill from Water Street and especially the plateau known as Cooper Hill, from the southern edge of which Mr. Grady's neat cottage has a wide outlook over the landscape."
     In notes from an interview with John Pike Grady taken February 10, 1981, French relays, "John said that there was a set of wooden steps which went from Adams Street to the tar or asphalt walkway which led to the house on Grady's Hill." The steps began about 10 feet from the edge of the road, went up an incline for 10-12 steps, then met a landing before continuing onward. When told of the steps, Lopez notes that there is still a path that follows their trajectory. From a 1921 Sanborn Insurance map, French points to the addition of pencil marks drawing in the driveway to the Grady house from South Clark -- now Mitchell -- Street as well as the steps near the house going down to Adams Street and that the drawing of the steps match exactly John Pike Grady's description. "John recalls cherry and apple trees by the house as well as two horse chestnut trees." There is still one gnarled and windswept horse chestnut on the property, along with a few apple trees.
     Eastport resident Heidi Holley remembers the house from when she was a little girl visiting her grandparents Clifton and Pauline Thompson. That was in the 1960s, and as a realtor today she had shown the house when it went on the market. It brought back memories of running up and down the stairs and hallways and playing games with her siblings. Even some of the linoleum was still present from those youthful days. Holley's mother, Barbara Camick, laughs remembering those days. "My four little ones used to hide on me. I could never find them -- there were all those little rooms" upstairs. She remembers the house fondly. "It was a nice older home, homey and comfortable."
     Camick's sister, Toby Urquhart, explains that her parents purchased the home from Ray and Margaret Cook in the early 1960s. "It was a grand old house with fireplaces, a pantry, many hideaway spots. Beautiful high ceilings, five bedrooms, kitchen, dining rooms, two living rooms and a sun porch. An old barn was also on the property along with cherry trees, a chestnut tree and a huge yard." Urquhart adds, "The rooms were all wallpapered with many slanted ceilings and had back stairs. ... There use to be old, falling down steps that led to Adams Street. They were unsafe, and we were told not to use them. However, it was a fun neighborhood to grow up in with so many kids to play with. I still have these friends today with the best memories."
     The dentist Dr. Robert Betts and his family bought the house from the Thompson family in the early 1970s. Eastport resident Allan Sutherland remembers visiting his boyhood friend David Betts. The two youngsters went to play in the barn, where to their delight was an interior in disarray. Rummaging around they discovered a pile of old photographs of two women, who turned out to be Drs. Eliza Grady and Ruth Tustin, who had lived in the house for a number of years back at the turn of the century.
     In an interview conducted by French in 1980 with Eastport resident and elder Lucy Kilby, who lived at the base of Adams Street, she identified where Drs. Eliza Grady and Ruth Tustin lived. "You go up this hill and go to your right on Mitchell Street. At one time, I think they lived in the second house, in on this little alley. ... And that house is still up there. And you can get the most beautiful view of all over the harbor, both north and south." Grady was part of a prominent Eastport family involved in the fishing industry.
     Kilby remembered as a child around 1905 or so being taken with a group of children on picnics to Dog Island by Grady and Tustin. "They were good to us children," she said. "That was unusual that, as a woman, she was a doctor." It was a bit of a shock to people at the time, Kilby added. The two doctors had a practice downtown, and Kilby remembered seeing them as they would walk by on their way to work. They were also good friends with the local artist Dougal Anderson and encouraged him to continue with his art.
     "It's a major puzzle," learning about and repairing a home like this, admits Newell. He loves it. Someday he hopes to work on a house that has ties to the Underground Railroad. "That's special," he says. "They risked pretty much everything to help." Sitting in the sun and looking at the old house at 5 Mitchell Street, he adds, "Anyone can tear a house like this down," but repairing it to last well into the future takes a special outlook. "It's hard to find a homeowner who sees potential in an old house." He adds, "Everyone has stories," and learning them is part of the fun.
     For more information about Eastport's history, art and culture, visit the collections section of the Tides Institute & Museum of Art website at www.tidesinstitute.org and the Border Historical Society at eastportmaineborderhistoricalsociety.org/.