If you are in the park square, you are just yards away from the Renwick House, which is found at 2 Main St. The large white Greek Italianate style house sits back from the road, next to the Belfast Hotel. It has three stories, three covered porches, and a belvedere on top. It is surrounded by large pine trees.
The house was built in 1840 by Robert Renwick, a Scottish immigrant, and his wife, Harriet. They were both staunch Methodists and Abolitionists, and the house was used as a stop on the Underground Railroad for many. There was once a tunnel that went from the basement of the house to the cistern room, and there are a few hiding places that have been found inside the home. A slave collar was once found buried in the basement with the remnants of some clothing.
After the death of the Renwicks, their son turned it into the Massasoit House, a hotel and bar that was rumored to be one of John L. Sullivan’s favorite places in the town. At the turn of the 20th century, it was purchased by Fred and Jennie Broadbent, and was used as a hotel/boarding house called the Park Hotel. During prohibition, it was a speakeasy, complete with a dumbwaiter in the closet of the tavern room that could drop the bottles of booze down into the basement, and all that would be seen was a rug on top of the dumbwaiter, looking as if it were sitting on the closet floor.
The hotel was left to Elva Lockwood, the Broadbent's daughter, who spent most of her life living in seclusion in the house after her husband was jailed for embezzlement from his place of employment. She used to let the neighborhood kids in to visit, played piano for them, and many games of hide and seek were played throughout the house.
This house is rumored to be haunted by multiple spirits. Candy Marino, the owner of the house in 1985, caught an EVP of a human heartbeat on a recorder left in one of the rooms. She said “The room rejects anything new being brought into it. If you try to bring in something new, the doors close, even though they were all hung straight.”
The current owners, Trisha and Rodney Jopson, have gotten a lot of activity in that same room, which is on the second floor of the house. They have heard reports from people seeing shadow figures moving in the windows, and even what sounded like a party going on inside once that was heard by two different people at different times. As soon as Rodney stepped on the porch to open the door, all went quiet. The sounds of boots walking across the floor and furniture being moved around have also been reported.
The house is currently being renovated and the plan is to turn it into a small living history museum, and Belfast community center, among other things, and the Jopsons are offering Ghost Hunts to anyone brave enough.
The Renwick House is recognized as one of the most notable historical places in the small town of Belfast. You can find The Renwick House page on Facebook to follow along and learn more about this gem.
-by Carley Burrows, read by Trisha Jopson