The Thomas Vose Homestead (Part 1)

July 28, 2026

In the heart of Robbinston, Maine, on the town road, there stands a shabby yet proud old building, locals affectionately refer to as “the brick house.” It sits on a knoll, high on the west bank of the St, Croix River with commanding views and the Passamaquoddy bay.

Built of red brick - two stories high - its four massive chimneys attest to its early beginnings. Well weathered plywood now covers the central front door and a semi-circle above it. Those that remember say that there was once a multi-colored fan with fifteen lights celebrating the 15 states that existed at the time. A five-bay façade, shallow hipped roof and overall symmetry, place the ancient structure securely in the Federal period.

This first truly American architectural style emerged just after the Revolutionary War partly in response to the prevailing Georgian style; inspired by the renaissance and named for the Monarchs the Patriots so vehemently despised. The new style first emerged in England thanks to the Neoclassical inventions of Robert and James Adams. The architect brothers were inspired by discoveries at Pompeii and Herculaneum.

The American version incorporated both Roman and Greek motifs now meant to celebrate democratic ideals while embodying simpler more delicate proportions with lighter more restrained ornamentation.

Local histories inform us that the Honorable Thomas Vose Esq. was responsible for the construction of the brick house in what was at that time largely virgin forest. The building’s austere almost rustic countenance seems to reflect to its wilderness beginnings.

Thomas was born in Milton, Massachusetts, on the 27th of September 1765 to Thomas Vose and Mary Tucker. He was a sixth generation descendent of Robert Vose, who arrived in Dorchester from Lancashire, England, about 1654. Notably, through his grandmother, Susannah Thatcher (his mother’s mother), he was directly descended from Royalty.

He grew up on his father’s farm at the foot of “brush hill,” a rural section of Milton, Massachusetts; on 100 acres, in a home, passed down from his grandfather to his father.

In 1775, when he was just 10 years old, his father, Thomas Sr., passed away. The family homestead would fall to the  boys who were all minors at the time. Thomas would eventually buy out his brother’s interests. Josuah and Elisha Vose moved to Boston with their mother, Mary and formed a partnership for the manufacture of hats. They had a large factory employing many apprentices and several stores in town. A third brother, Peter Thatcher Vose, left home at a young age and became a distinguished merchant in Augusta, Maine. Thomas would live in the family home until historic forces prompted a move to the untamed eastern lands of the “Passamaquoddy.”

He married Mehitable Hayden of Bridgewater, Massachusetts in April of 1789. Their first child, Mary, was born in March of the following year. Mehitable's father, Col. Josiah Hayden, commanded the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts Regiment at the Battle of Harlem Heights.

In 1891, in the Eastport Sentinel, Peter Ebenezer Vose tells the story of his grandfather’s move to Maine: My grandfather, Thomas Vose with his wife and little daughter, Mary Came from Milton, Mass., in 1790 and settled in Robbinston. At his old house he was a very near neighbor, on “Brush Hill” of “Gov Robbins” and through his influence was induced to settle in the new township. Mr. Vose occupied the Robbins place for ten years, the house being on the northern point of Mill Cove, while on the southern point opposite, lived Mr. Samuel Jones also from Milton. In 1799 Mr. Vose built him a large house where is now the village into which he moved in the fall of that year.

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