The Captain Greenfield Pote House is one of the earliest surviving homes in Freeport, but it was not actually built here. Captain Pote originally constructed his home around 1760 in Falmouth, a town further south along Casco Bay, which once included what is now the city of Portland. According to period sources, the captain returned from an extended voyage at sea to find that a complaint had been lodged against him for setting sail on the Sabbath, a forbidden practice. Pote was outraged and proclaimed that he would no longer pay taxes or reside in Falmouth. He purchased this farm on Wolfe’s Neck and moved his house here on a flat barge. Captain Pote is buried in the cemetery on the hill across the street from the house.
The building is an example of an eighteenth-century salt-box design, which is characterized by a two story front that slopes down to one story in the rear. Few survive in Maine, although there is another fine example in Freeport, Pettengill Farm, owned by the Freeport Historical Society. Both properties were salt water farms. The Pote House is owned by Wolfe’s Neck Farm, a non-profit foundation “dedicated to sustainable agriculture, environmental education, and community well-being through the enjoyment of our natural landscape.”