Hurd-Newell House (Barr Harbor)

One of the most recognizable homes along Main Street is ironically a building that is hidden behind a wall. It is registered on the National Register as #57 and the description can be found on this post below the photos.

Currently called Scrooge & Marley, the Hurd-Newell House
Photo John M Poltrack - Feb 4, 2018

Front Entrance
Feb 4, 2018

Feb 4, 2018

Undated Glass Negative
Note the top of the rose bushes

This view shows a trellis and porch on the left side
This is visible in other street views looking down Main Street

View down Main prior to 1914 before the wall was built

National Register description below

Nearly hidden behind the vine-covered riverstone wall in front of its west facing facade, this is an extended frame center chimney 1 1/2 story house on a granite rubble foundation. The entrance, set in the middle
of the 5-bay facade, has a molded surround with five light transom over the six paneled door. The windows have 12/12 sash, molded surrounds and blinds. The enclosed small wing to the east was once an open porch with a balustrade railing; a portion of it remains to the north. On the north
was a covered porch with columns.

At the south end is a-single bay recessed ell with an exterior chimney which extends to a 19th century elongated lean-to wing on granite rubble of lesser height with an exterior chimney at the end. The wing has a 4-panel door and three windows containing 6/6 sash with blinds, all with flat board trim. Roofing is asphalt shingle throughout. The 5 1/2 foot riverstone wall extends from the library on the north to the corner of Academy Road on the south. It was built around existing trees (now removed) and includes several stone piers with arched wooden gates in-between.

This house was built by Nathaniel Kurd circa 1806, shortly after this stretch of road connecting the Turnpike and Old Country Road was opened. In the mid-19th century, the house belonged to Joseph Newell (c. 1780-
1862), the first landlord of the present 1808 House, the Tavern on theTurnpike (#8). After his death, the house passed to his daughter and son-in-law, Mary and Ephraim Fox (1814-1903), who remained here until about 1900.

The property was purchased about 1912 by James Cummings Barr (1898- 1942). Barr was a grandson of Dr. James Barr, whose daughter, Caroline Frances Barr (his aunt) was still living in the family house just to the
east on King Road (#33). James' sister, Elizabeth Keyser, lived in the next house on King Road (#30), and another sister, Laura Maria Barr, owned the Charles Barrett House (#70), and another sister, Caroline Barr
Wade,inherited the Barrett Mansion (#71) from her stepfather, George Robert Barrett. All were summer residents, living in the winter in the Boston area.

James Barr eventually purchased the land on either side of his house, relocating the William Hassall House (#18) to its present site on the Turnpike. The Barr family eventually owned all the property from the present 1808 House down Main Street and up Old Country Road through King Road (#30), except for the Library and the Corner Store. Barr owned the Homestead Inn, a large Federal house at the junction of Main Street and
Academy Road, which he planned to reopen as a Hotel, but it burned on Christmas Eve 1929. The site remains vacant and has been incorporated into the Harris-Barr House property (#33). Barr constructed the
riverstone wall along the street during World War I. Under the Barr ownership, their houses shared extensive, beautiful landscaping and perennial and rose gardens, linking all the Barr
properties in this area. During the intervening years, the houses passed into separate- ownership, and the landscaping has mostly disappeared.