Sippican Historical Society

In 1998, the Sippican Historical Society commissioned an architectural survey of Marion’s historic homes and buildings. The survey was funded one-half by the Sippican Historical Society and one-half by the Massachusetts Historical Commission. Due to the limits of funding, not all of the historic buildings were surveyed, but over 100 were catalogued and photographed. The results of the survey are in digital form on the Massachusetts Historical Commission’s website and in four binders in the Sippican Historical Society’s office (and at the Marion Town Clerk’s office).

Marion (Old Rochester) is one of the oldest towns in the United States, and the Sippican Historical Society maintains an extensive collection of documentation on its historic buildings. The Sippican Historical Society will preview one building a week so that the residents of Marion can understand more about its unique historical architecture.

This installment features 2 Lewis Street.  Water Street may have begun as a Native American trail.  Known as Harbor Lane at the turn of the century, it developed into an elite summer enclave in the late 19th and early 20th century.  Built in the 1890s, the one-and-one-half story, Shingle-style cottage called Point Rock Cottage at 2 Lewis Street overlooks Sippican Harbor.  It is situated at the intersection of Lewis and Water Streets.  David W. Lewis, a building-materials magnate, resided here until the early 1910s.  His company, located in Boston, sold “Akron Sewer Pipe and Land Tile, Fire Brick, Chimney Tops, Chimney Flue Linings and F.O. Norton’s Rosindale and Portland Cements.”