George Lewis, Jr. House (1778)

George Lewis, Jr. (1747-1826) was a shipbuilder who erected the house at 628 Main Street in Portland in 1778. His shipyard was nearby, along the Connecticut River. As described in the History of Middlesex County (1884):

For more than a century and a half shipbuilding has been the chief industry of that part of Portland now called Gildersleeve, and it was for a time the most active business in the town. Early in the last century, George Lewis built vessels on the present site of the Gildersleeve yard. The first vessel built in Portland was launched here in October 1741.

Sylvester Gildersleeve purchased the Lewis yard from George Lewis, Jr.’s son, Abel Lewis, in 1838. In 1927, the house the residence of George Lewis’s granddaughter, Elizabeth H. Gildersleeve.