This house was built about 1841 by Welcome B. Lewis (1810-1880), a ship carpenter who often worked at the George Greenman & Co. Shipyard. Originally sided with clapboards and painted white, the house was built in the Greek Revival style then prevalent in the U.S.
This section of Mystic was named Greenmanville after the three brothers who established their shipyard here in 1837. It was an industrial village from the 1840s to the 1890s. In addition to the shipyard, the brothers built a textile mill, rented houses to workers, managed nearby farms, and operated a store. The work schedule reflected the Greenmans’ Seventh Day Baptist faith, with the Sabbath observed on Saturday.
The Lewis House has been used as a dormitory for the Williams College-Mystic Seaport Maritime Studies Program, a semester-long undergraduate program in American maritime history, literature, marine policy, and science. It is now used as offices by Mystic Seaport Museum.
