"This old house, situated on Whipple’s Cove, so called, was built for a garrison house at a very early date, though the precise year is not known. Until recently altered, it was a fine specimen of the architecture of such houses—with the upper story projecting over the lower, so that the doors and windows could be protected from the Indians, and with very small, strongly defended windows. It was probably built by the inhabitants of the little hamlet in the neighborhood. Later it became the residence of Robert Cutt 2d. The first Robert Cutt, a brother of John and Richard, lived at first in the Great House, and then removed to Kittery to carry his business of shipbuilding, which was very extensive. His widow married Francis Champernowne. His son Robert, who lived in this house, had four daughters, one of whom married William Whipple, Den. William Whipple, her son, born here in 1730, became Gen. Whipple, the signer of the Declaration of Independence. When he married his cousin, Catherine Moffatt, he went to live at the house of her father on Market street."

Excerpted from The Portsmouth Guide Book, 1896, by Sarah Haven Foster.

Inscription reads, "Front of Gerrish house."