(lively music) - Nathaniel Chapman purchased the property here.

It was in November of 1753, the last of the wars.

It was started in 1754, and so that would be pretty dangerous coming up here with a family.

So we're really not sure.

There's not an exact date, you know, for him coming here.

This is why we say the house was built circa 1754.

- What is important about this house is that it is really reflective of life in MidCoast, Maine for the middle class in the 18th century.

- So here we have the fireplace that was original, changes have been made, but original to the house in the 1750s.

This is called a crane, and that would be directly over the fire.

And then we would have the oven here.

So this is how she would bake her biscuits or the things that required the hottest heat.

And then she would put in her arm.

She would hold her arm in there and if she could keep it in there for 30 seconds, it meant it was hot enough to start baking the biscuits.

If she couldn't keep it in there, it was too hot.

Imagine that.

That was her thermometer.

This is called a toe toaster.

And all she had to do was kick it with her toe, and it would turn around to cook the other side of the toast.

- It's important to keep the house as a historic site because this is the oldest house still standing in Damariscotta.

- In so many house museums, you know, we're always seeing the grandest house.

We're always seeing the most unusual houses.

And this was what I would call an aspirational house of 18th century family.

- So here we have Miriam Chapman, the lady of the house, and her husband, Nathaniel Chapman, who actually built this house.

And she is dressed in a long dress, oftentimes made from wool, and she would have sheared the sheep, washed the wool, carted the wool, which is something has to be done prior to spinning it because it has to be all straightened out and then it's taken off the wool cart and made into a roving.

And now she's going to spin it, and then it is turned into balls of yarn.

They had to put it on a loom.

And then after they made the cloth, they had to sew everything by hand.

And so how many outfits do you think you would have?

(Gigi laughs) - We're gonna go from the back kitchen, which would've been the workspace and the primary living space, into a front parlor where we have a much more civilized, much more elegant space that would've been used for entertaining or day-to-day use.

And now we're gonna go into the second parlor.

This is also in the front of the house.

And this reflects improvements that were made to the house probably say 1800 to about 1815 or so.

So this is a good example of American Federal architecture in a small house.

So we have a nice mantle based on classical design.

We have plaster on the ceiling.

We have plaster on the walls.

It's very civilized.

- After the Chapmans sold the house out of the family, Tilden Hall bought it in 1832.

- The Hall family, which is the other part of what the Chapman Hall House means.

- [Louise] And the Hall family stayed here until 1907.

- I think having a historic building like this to visit, touch, to experience, it helps us understand our own lives and also helps us understand where we came from.

- [Gigi] The Chapman-Hall House is a wonderful home.

- [Darryn] It's something that you can actually experience and feel yourself transported to a different time.

- [Jeffrey] To me, it's a unique structure that actually gives us a chance to tell the public what it was like and to remember, you know, our beginnings.

This is our history right here.

(lively music)