Welcome to Bowman House

Bowman House in Dresden, Maine, sits on the banks above the Kennebec River, an important eighteenth-century transportation and shipping corridor. PAGE 31 The Pink Parlor showcases furniture that is almost identical to that owned by Jonathan Bowman.

Historic New England’s newest museum property is Bowman House (1762) in Dresden, Maine. Built by Jonathan Bowman (1735-1804) overlooking the Kennebec River, this grand Georgian mansion was his oasis of eighteenthcentury Boston elegance on the rough Maine frontier. Born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, Bowman, a lawyer, was sent to Maine to look after the financial interests of his uncle Thomas Hancock, the richest merchant in pre-Revolutionary War Boston; and his cousin John, signer of the U.S. Declaration of

Independence. Bowman became a wealthy and powerful probate judge for Lincoln County in the Maine District of Massachusetts.

In 1965, designer, historic preservationist, and entrepreneur Bill Waters and his partner, Cyrus Pinkham, rescued the house from decades of dormancy. Bill meticulously restored the house, recreating Bowman’s world by gathering objects original to the house and family pieces collected during his fifty years of stewardship.

We invite you to visit the property this season, indoors as well as outside, where you can enjoy the forty-four acres of serene landscape with its woods

and rolling hills. Bowman House is open for public tours every Thursday from July through October on the hour beginning at 11:00 AM, with the last tour beginning at 3:00 PM. Tours must be booked in advance at my.historicnewengland.org. Private tours are available by appointment.

TOP LEFT The back door of the main hall opens onto the lawn and is the entrance that visitors first see as they drive down the lane to the house. ABOVE The hallways of Bowman House feature stunning original furniture, portraits of a prominent local family, and custom wallpaper made from an eighteenth-century neoclassical pattern. LEFT The Blue Bedroom contains the chest and chairs that Jonathan Bowman purchased in 1770 in Boston.