Maine Memory Network

George Tate built a house commensurate with his economic and political station. Designed in the Georgian style with a unique indented gambrel roof, the two-and-one-half-story house was strategically positioned on a hill overlooking the Fore and Stroudwater rivers.

Its imposing size distinguished it from more modest dwellings in the neighborhood. The building’s narrow lot in townhouse style mimicked domestic practice in London.

The choice of a central chimney, however, made it more conservative, as it was less expensive to build than a house with a central hall and two or four chimney stacks.

Inside the house, the high-posted rooms featured distinctive architectural elements. The best rooms were decorated with paneled wainscoting and carved pilasters. A carved bofat or corner cupboard in the parlor held fine English silver and Chinese porcelain tablewares.

A black line painted above the ceiling cornices gives an illusion of added height to the rooms. This decorative element is often associated with buildings around the Baltic Sea, a region familiar to George Tate. Eight fireplaces helped warm rooms on three floors and a large kitchen hearth provided ample space for cooking and domestic chores.

The Tates are known to have had an elegant garden on terraces facing the Stroudwater River. All of these elements served to reinforce Captain Tate’s position in Falmouth as a true Englishman.

Within the home, the Tates observed rituals that reinforced their social standing. For example, tea drinking in colonial America was a principal form of entertainment for people of wealth and status.

Tea, imported from China, was an expensive commodity, not affordable to all.

Chinese export porcelain tea wares, documented to the Tate family, reveal that they indulged in the refined social ritual of tea drinking.

Mary Tate may have entertained her closest friends in her best chamber or parlor chamber. Some of these friends included members of the Preble, Waldo, and Moody families.

This cup and saucer, decorated with a brown glaze known as Batavian type, descended in the Tate family. Shards from tea wares with the same decoration were recovered archaeologically at Tate House in the 1950s.

Merchant-class families, such as the Tates, owned slaves or hired domestic servants to cook and conduct general household chores.

A black woman named Bette is documented in court records as a family servant. She likely resided on the third floor, accessible from the kitchen by a spacious back staircase.

The large kitchen gave Bette access to a beehive bake oven, cooking hearth, and an impressive collection of kitchenware. With the help of servants, the Tates would have entertained friends and important guests, such as visiting mast ship captains, in their elegant home.