"The date of the building of this fine old mansion is uncertain, but it is said to have been the second house built on the Shore. The lower part is constructed throughout of solid square timbers. The terraced grounds in front extended as far as the river, and it must have presented a fine appearance when it stood alone on the hill. It is probable that is was built by an ancestor of the Dennett family, as the name has always been associated with it. Ephraim Dennett, who married Lydia, a daughter of Timothy Waterhouse, living here at the time of the Revolution. His widow afterward married Judge Plummer of Rochester. The house is known in the neighborhood by the cognomen of the Beehive."

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

Inscription reads, "Dennett House, Christian Shore, about 1680."