GILEAD — It all began when Oliver Peabody and his brother, John, along with John and Samuel Bodwell purchased a tract of land, three miles wide and six miles long in the valley of the Androscoggin River, in 1772, by authority of the Legislature of Massachusetts. Maine was a part of Massachusetts at the time. This township was known as “Peabody’s Patent” and in 1804, it was incorporated as the Town of Gilead.

None of the original patentees ever settled there, but John Peabody’s son, Thomas, built a home on the South side of the Androscoggin. Thomas, born in 1768, married and moved to Peabody’s Patent. He planned and started to build the house that the family had known through the years as the Old Red House, and also known as the Peabody Tavern.

Unfortunately, he died while the house was being built. He left his widow and seven children. In 1827, his son, Thomas, was the proprietor of T. Peabody’s Inn for a number of years. The Post Office in Gilead was established in 1823, with Thomas as Postmaster. According to Peabody Genealogy, Thomas was Postmaster for Gilead for 30 years. The stagecoaches stopped at the inn and, of course, the Post Office was there.

At about the same time, Jonathan Peabody, a distant relative, settled on the North side of the river. In 1833, Asa Peabody, the son of Thomas, bought the Jonathan Peabody farm on the North side of the river and raised his family there. Asa’s son, William, bought the original Peabody homestead with the large house built in 1816 by Thomas Peabody, that is still standing today. The ell and barns are long gone now.

The land and buildings left the Peabody family when they were sold in 1956. Since then, the Red House has gone through a few owners and is now an antique shop. In 1976, the Peabody Tavern was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The history of the house and connection to the Peabody family certainly has earned a place on the historic register.

The Society was fortunate to have a descendant of the Peabody family, Joanne Peabody Stewart, who provided a lot of the information that is now in our archives.