[Moving the Spite House]

Can DescriptionsAmateur footage taken in 1925 that documents the moving of a Federal style house from Phippsburg, Maine to another location in mid-coast Maine. Each sequence of the 85 mile move by land and water is captured. Begins with footage of the exterior of the house and its surroundings in Phippsburg, and workers begin digging around the foundation of the house with shovels. The house is then propped up with a system of jacks and stacks of large wooden beams. A wire cable system involving pulleys is then attached to the house, trees are chopped down, tracks are dug in the ground, and the house is slowly pulled forward by a team of workhorses. The house is pulled to the coast and slowly moved onto a barge with the aid of a fuel-powered motor. The barge is towed at sea by two tugboats and then slid back onto shore again using a pulley system and workhorses. Workers then lower the house onto its new foundation with jacks and the Dodge family visits and survey the new property. Also includes footage of the Ferdinando Gorges on the Kennebec River, a steam ferry operated by the Maine Central Railroad and named for the proprietor of Maine. - RN // The Spite House was built at Phippsburg Center on the Kennebec River in 1806 by Captain Thomas McCobb to irritate his stepmother, who had gained control of the old family mansion in Phippsburg while he was at sea. In 1925 the Spite House was bought by Mr. and Mrs. Donald D. Dodge (parents of Charles Dodge) and moved by water to another location in mid-coast Maine.