The Spencer House
One of the most stately homes in Frelighsburg
Click to expand photos...
FRELIGHSBURG, ROBERT PELLETIER, 2009/10/07.
Nestled at the foot of the 2,336-foot Mount Pinnacle in the
Eastern extremity of the Township of Saint-Armand, Frelighsburg celebrated the
200th year of its founding in 2006. The narrow strip of land (four
miles wide and twenty two miles long) is bounded by Missisquoi Bay to the west
and Vermont to the south. Originally part of the Seigneury of Sieur Rene
Nicolas Levasseur, Saint-Armand was bought in 1790 by William Dunn after the
fall of New France to the British.
Blessed by a mild microclimate and the fast-flowing Pike River, the
eastern extremity of the Township was conducive to agriculture and the building
of water-powered machinery.
[1] The Spencer House detail. Photo: Robert Pelletier.
The area was settled in about 1790 by John S. Gibson. He
sold out in 1791 to a certain Owens, who built the first sawmill. This was in
turn sold in 1796 to Messrs. Conroy and Youmans, who also built a grist mill,
an axe and saw factory, and a textile factory. The area became known as
“Conroy’s Mills.” It was also referred to as “Slab
City,” owing to the many slab fences and rather rough housing.
Loyalists of Dutch and German descent began pouring in from
New York State after the Revolution.
Around 1800, “a man of some means,” Dr. Abram Freligh,
arrived from Clinton (Dutchess County, New York) with his wife, 12 children,
servants and twenty one teams to haul his many possessions. Some accounts state
that he brought his slaves with him, while other accounts claim that he freed
his slaves before moving to Canada. He immediately bought the saw, grist and
fulling mills and the settlement received its new name: Frelighsburg. His son
Richard would build a second sawmill in 1839, which stands to this day.
[2] The Spencer House today. Photo: Robert Pelletier.
The 19th century brought steady commercial
development to Frelighsburg. The first store was built in 1801 and would be
followed by a forge, cooperage, foundry, customs house, telegraph station, an
Academy, three churches and a newspaper, “The Missisquoi Standard.”
In 1866, the Irish Fenians invaded from Vermont, plundering Frelighsburg and
abusing the populace before fleeing back into Vermont. A second and final
Fenian Raid in 1870 was beaten back by local militias (the “Red
Sashes”) and British troops at the Battle of Eccles Hill. Rail links to
Sheldon, VT and Farnham, QC arrived in 1891 with the Central Vermont Company.
Today, Frelighsburg is home to many apple orchards and its picturesque scenery
has rendered it a prime tourist destination.
One of the most stately homes in Frelighsburg is the Spencer
House which sits on the site of one of the town’s first stores, built in
the very early1800s by Griffin Reynolds. In the 1850s, William S. Baker arrived
from Mansonville, QC, and built a fine stone house on the site and a tannery
nearby. Built of native stone, it is an eclectic mix of the Greek Revival
(prominent pedimented portico, columns, and attention to symmetry) and Gothic
Revival styles (pointed arches on some windows, diagonally-built clusters of
chimneys)
Baker spent so much on the project that he was soon bankrupt
and George Ayer became the owner sometime between 1864-8. Baker moved to
Stanbridge East and set up a successful tannery. In 1868, the house was sold to
Elijah E. Spencer (1846-1919). It became a hotel under the charge of Jas. Boyd
and took on the name of the “Spencer House.” By 1873, a bar room
was installed in the basement, and in the 1880s, it was converted to a tenement
house with three families living within.
[3] The Spencer
House circa 1907. Courtesy of the Missisquoi Historical Society.
In 1891, the house was decorated and Mr. And Mrs. Spencer
moved in for the remainder of their lives. Born in Frelighsburg and educated in
Poughkeepsie, NY, Elijah Spencer became member of the Legislative Assembly
representing Missisquoi County (1881-92), and for a time, president of the
Missisquoi and Rouville Fire Insurance Company of Frelighsburg, which still
exists and currently employs 80 people. He became Vice President of the
Missisquoi Historical Society after its founding in 1899. Spencers occupied the
house until the mid-1960s. It is now a private residence.