A Revolutionary War officer’s Hampden home has been added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Gabriel Johonnot’s home at 588 Kennebec Road was entered into the register on June 23, according to the Maine Historic Preservation Commission.
It was one of two historic properties in the state added to the register this month, the other being the Araxine Wilkins Sawyer Memorial on Sawyer Road in Greene.
Johonnot was born in 1748, the youngest son of Zachariah and Elizabeth Johonnot, in Boston. He was a descendant of a Huguenot settler. Johonnot went on to enroll in the Boston Latin School in 1754.
He rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel during the Revolutionary War, serving in the 14th Continental Regiment beginning in 1776.
After the war, Johonnot settled in Hampden, where he became a merchant. He died there on Oct. 9, 1820. He is buried in the Old Burying Ground off Route 1A in Hampden.
His home on Kennebec Road, built between 1804-11, is of the Federal style constructed out of bricks. It’s a two-story, five-bay house.
It features a facade laid in Flemish bond, a style of brickwork that features an alternating pattern of bricks laid lengthwise followed by bricks laid with their shorter ends exposed.
Inside it features a fanlight over the center entry and four end-wall chimneys.
“The building is a good example of a subdued Federal style residence of brick construction, which is uncommon in this location during this time period and is even more noteworthy for the Flemish bond construction. The period of significance is the approximate construction date of the house,” the Maine Historic Preservation Commission noted.
Although the Col. Gabriel Johonnot House’s windows have been replaced and it now has a metal roof, the commission noted the house retains “good integrity to convey its significance.”
