The architecturally vernacular house was built beginning in 1947 by the authors Ruth Moore and Eleanor Mayo, who lived and wrote there until their respective deaths in 1989 and 1981.

The main house is a single-story vernacular wood-frame structure, which grew organically over time as the two women expanded it.

Architectural elements of the house were recycled from an old Civilian Conservation Corps camp site, second-hand materials, and beach-combed lumber.

She was lauded critically by contemporaries and later commentators for her social commentary, wit and language in writing, and her depictions of rural Maine, following in some degree the trail blazed by Sarah Orne Jewett and others.

Mayo published five novels before becoming involved in local politics; she was the first woman to serve on the Tremont board of selectmen.