This house in Walnut Hill village dates from ca. 1770. There is a strong oral tradition that it was originally built near the present Congregational Church—an early area of settlement—and moved here when Elbridge Drinkwater bought this land lot in 1803.

It is referred to as the “Old Drinkwater Tavern” in an 1910 account. The house is of a much earlier style than those surrounding it; its distinctive gambrel roof was rare and may be indicative of the original owner’s prosperity.

The house stayed in the Hicks family until bought by Nellie Leighton, longtime North Yarmouth town historian and schoolteacher, whose father, Lester Smith, owned the store and house across the road.

The barn collapsed suddenly in the summer of 1979, leaving only the foundation.