The 1807 Pumpkin House is pumpkin-colored no more.

According to the town’s website, Hartley Wood built the house. Its nickname refers to the squashy color. The house and the house of Wood's brother Abiel Wood had the only marble-faced fireplaces in town in the early 1800s. In the early 1900s, Frances Sortwell took an interest in the Federal house and several other houses and gardens, and worked with the owners to save them.

From 1925 to 1930, it was the summer home of author-playwright Sidney Howard, author and playwright, best known posthumously for the “Gone with the Wind” screenplay that won an Academy Award. In life, he was well-known for Broadway hits such as “The Silver Cord” and “The Late Christopher Bean."

New owner Leslie Roberts recently finished an exterior paint job, and the Federal building is now a French blue, close to a sky blue. The color was used in Federal houses, but usually in the interior. “The blue paint was generally more expensive,” Roberts said. “That’s why so many Federals are painted white.”

Wiscasset Historic Preservation Commission Chair John Reinhardt said exterior paint colors were deliberately omitted from consideration by the commission to get a certificate of appropriateness when the ordinance was framed. He said he likes the new paintwork, adding that in years past, many paint color choices were based on what cost the least. In addition to white, some, like the Pumpkin House, had a slightly different hue.

The color of the Pumpkin House likely came from yellow ochre, a common local mineral in Maine, which produces a brownish-yellowish pigment. Some ochre is more reddish, because it has a great deal of iron oxide in it.  Reinhardt said barns were often painted red because red paint derived from red ochre was easily found in Maine and was therefore inexpensive, and the rust in the mineral also killed fungi that might grow on the barn.

Roberts is also a member of the commission. She has been slowly making changes to her property, including the exterior paint job, painting trim and downspouts, and she received permission from the HPC to install wooden framed storm windows.

When she looked at the interior windows, though, she realized she was going to need to replace the windows. That will be a process, and a major expense. “They stick, and they don’t open,” she said. “We have water leaking in, and they’re just going to have to be changed.” In addition, she said, she will need to add insulation and a new roof. She also replaced the missing granite stairs and moved some brick from the door, which hadn’t opened in she didn’t know how long. It works now.

“People who love old houses are passionate about them. But it’s definitely a labor of love.” She spent most of the spring and summer working on the gardens, she said.

Roberts hopes to make changes to the commission's website to help people make informed choices about upgrading their historic homes, make it easier to read and get the documents and information people need to apply for a certificate of appropriateness; adding a series of photos of historic homes that have been updated; and sending postcards to realtors to help them better inform buyers, the house they are considering lies in the historic district.

As for the Pumpkin House, Roberts favors a new name, perhaps the Hartley Wood house. “If we just call it that long enough, maybe it will catch on,” she said.