In a time before women could vote or receive a formal education, one local woman defied societal norms and boundaries of gender to become one of the most prolific and successful of Brunswick’s residents. And her legacy is still present today.

Narcissa Stone was an educated woman of means and prominence in a time when women were not formally educated or even had a right to vote. Courtesy of Maine Historical Society

Narcissa Stone was born to Capt. Daniel Stone and his wife Nancy Hinkley in August 1801. Although nine more children would follow, this first born would grow to become legendary.

Having retired from a military career, Capt. Daniel Stone returned to Brunswick to live in the home where he was raised, at the corner of Maine and Mason streets. The home had once served as a tavern run by Daniel’s father Benjamin.

Capt. Stone had opened a store, began purchasing property and worked to build his wealth and prominence. He also moved his young family into a new home, one built by Samuel Melcher, on top of the hill on Water Street.

The home was nestled on a vast “estate known as Woodlawn,” over land once called “Fish-House Hill,” where Brunswick Founder Thomas Purchase settled in 1628. It consisted of marsh and meadow and a considerable portion of Federal Street.

The house overlooked the Androscoggin River where a number of sawmills, gristmills, boat builders, fishermen and cotton mills all drew power and bounty from the rushing waters of the Androscoggin.

Unlike the vast majority of women of her day, Narcissa received a formal education and worked with her father to learn storekeeping, the value of hard work and the workings of business.

In 1828, Narcissa’s mother died just three years after Captain Stone passed, and Narcissa was left to raise her five surviving siblings, manage Woodlawn and oversee her father’s varied interests.

By all accounts, Narcissa increased her wealth and pursued business aggressively. In July of 1867, she publicly cautioned, “I have a list of persons … who have been taking sand from [my] lots. They will save themselves trouble, by calling on me, and paying for same!”

Narcissa “became a real estate developer,” selling land on Maine, Water, Federal, Pleasant, Centre and Mill streets. She also sold properties in Canton, Buckfield, Livermore and Manchester, New Hampshire.

The Stone House on Narcissa’s Hill in the early 20th century. Courtesy of Maine Historical Society

Narcissa also engaged in manufacturing with prominent businessmen and “she interested herself in every matter affecting the progress of the town.”

By 1834, Narcissa invested in the The Brunswick Company alongside prominent local names such as Dunlap, Dunning, Everett, Humphreys, Pennell, Pike, Lincoln and McKeen. These incorporators purchased a site alongside the Androscoggin River, at the falls, on 13.5 acres once inhabited by Fort George and later by Fort Andross.

Their textile manufactory cost over $190,000 and commanded a sprawling footprint, which stood five stories tall. The property included a blacksmith’s shop, two three-story dwelling houses with “one store, a counting room, a stone-picker house and a cotton store.”

Narcissa also converted a horse stable into a steam mill to produce lumber and grind grain. Although The Brunswick Company would eventually fail, Narcissa’s contributed investment still stands today as the Cabot Mill.

Her generous philanthropy aided in building the “Baptist church vestry” in the “education of a colored man” and to the needs of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.

By 1877, Narcissa had no children and she never married. Except for her younger brother Daniel, the entire Stone family had died off, and by early November, Narcissa had “suffered a paralysis,” a stroke from which she would not recover.

On the 18th of November in her 76th year, Miss Narcissa Stone died in the family home, upon a place that was popularly known as “Narcissa’s Hill.”

Two days later, “one of the largest private funerals ever attended in this village” was held in her home. That afternoon, mourners followed the funeral cortege as her body was conveyed along Federal Street to the Pine Grove Cemetery where Narcissa was laid to rest alongside her family.

Narcissa’s death was considered a great sadness for the people of Brunswick. She was “thoroughly informed … with great thought .. always kindly … and eminently practical … a more intelligent and clear-headed woman never lived.” Her death was described by the Brunswick Telegraph as “a public loss.”

At the time of her passing, Narcissa’s wealth was estimated at over $60,000; nearly $2.5 million in today’s money.

In recent years, the Stone House has been a hotel and restaurant formerly known as the Captain Daniel Stone Inn, but most remember it as the home of Narcissa Stone at the top of “Narcissa’s Hill.”

Today, Narcissa Stone is remembered as a capable and successful woman whose great accomplishments and lasting legacies contribute to Brunswick’s great history and the more legendary of our Stories from Maine.

Lori-Suzanne Dell is a Brunswick author and historian. She has published four books and runs the “Stories from Maine” Facebook page.

Popularly known today as Fort Andross, and as the Cabot Mill, this manufactory was built in 1834 as The Brunswick Company. Courtesy of The Bradley Inn