Editing Kittery Point, Maine (section)

==History==
Settled as early as 1623, the southern part of Kittery was once called Champernowne's after Sir Francis Champernowne, a prominent merchant adventurer and cousin of Sir [[Ferdinando Gorges]], the prime mover behind settlement north of the [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=pJDSvhHjyxMC&dq=champernowne+maine&pg=PA281 Sir Ferdinando Gorges and his Province of Maine, James Phinney Baxter, The Prince Society, Boston, 1890]</ref> Nicholas Shapleigh built the first house in the area, and Edward Godfrey established a [[trading post]] in 1632. Early professions included [[fishing|fishermen]], [[hunting|hunters]] and [[Trapping (Animal)|trappers]]. Others harvested the region's abundant [[timber]], which was shipped to England or the [[West Indies]]. The town of [[Kittery, Maine|Kittery]] was incorporated in 1652 when Maine became part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

The Pepperrells were a distinguished Kittery Point family who established [[fishery|fisheries]] to supply the [[London]] market. William Pepperrell Sr. had arrived from [[Devon]]shire as a lowly fisherman's apprentice at the [[Isles of Shoals]] in [[New Hampshire]]. He went on to build a mercantile empire, which his son [[Sir William Pepperrell]] inherited and expanded. Sir William became the first [[baronet]] in [[New England]] for commanding a [[militia]] which defeated the [[France|French]] in 1745 at the [[Siege of Louisbourg (1745)|Siege of Louisbourg]]. His [[gambrel]] mansion of 1733 remains a landmark at Pepperrell Cove on the [[Piscataqua River]]. In 1760, his widow built the [[Lady Pepperrell House]], a noted [[Georgian architecture|Georgian]] building formerly owned by [[Historic New England]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=GYaXW4pG6TsC&dq=william+pepperrell+tavistock+kittery&pg=PA1 ''The Life of Sir William Pepperrell, Bart.: The Only Native of New England Who Was Created a Baronet During Our Connection with the Mother Country'', Usher Parsons, Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1856]</ref>

Pepperrell himself built an elaborate wooden house called the Sparhawk Mansion at Kittery Point as a gift to his daughter on her marriage to Nathaniel Sparhawk in 1750.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=QElDN9iDyp4C&dq=pepperrell+sparhawk&pg=PA254 Will of Sir William Pepperrell, Collections of the Maine Historical Society, Portland, 1898]</ref> Crowned with an elegant [[cupola]], the house contained finely carved panelling in its 19 rooms. Sadly, over two centuries later, in 1967 the Sparhawk Mansion was demolished, just as preservation efforts in the area were emerging.<ref>[http://www.seacoastnh.com/Places-&-Events/Historic-Portsmouth/Sparhawk-Mansion-on-Death-Row/ Sparhawk Mansion on Death Row, seacoastnh.com]</ref> More fortunate is the [[Bray House (Kittery Point, Maine)|John Bray House]], built by a [[shipwright]] in 1662 and considered the oldest surviving house in Maine. Recently threatened with [[redevelopment]] because of its desirable view of Pepperrell Cove and [[Portsmouth Harbor]], the building has instead been [[building restoration|restored]]. Some speculate that the Bray House was the birthplace of the mother of Sir William Pepperrell, whose father William Pepperrell Sr. married John Bray's daughter Margery, but it is more likely that she was born in England.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=NMV8ijlqeA0C&dq=%22john+bray%22+%22william+pepperrell%22&pg=PA45 ''Old Kittery and Her Families'', Everett Schermerhorn Stackpole, Lewiston, Maine, 1903]</ref>

On land once owned by Sir William Pepperrell is a Portsmouth Harbor defense called [[Fort McClary]], built opposite [[Fort William and Mary|Fort Constitution]] in [[New Castle, New Hampshire]]. It is today Fort McClary State Historic Site and features a [[blockhouse]] dating from 1844. In 1969, it was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]]. Fort Foster, a later coastal defense, was built by the federal government on {{convert|92|acre|m2}} at Gerrish Island. Now owned by the town of Kittery, Fort Foster Park provides superb views of Portsmouth Harbor, [[Whaleback Lighthouse]] and the [[Isles of Shoals]], part of which belongs to Kittery. Near Seapoint Beach in the mid-20th century, the [[Newcomen Society of the United States|Newcomen Society]] built a cluster of [[Tudor architecture|Tudor]] cottages at what was then its summer retreat.