The house is most notable as the long-time home of Rebecca Sophia Clarke (1833-1906), who wrote a series of popular children's books under the pen name "Sophie May".

The interior follows a typical side-hall plan, with the main parlor to the left, and kitchen and service area in ells attached to the rear of the house.

[2] The house was built in 1845 by Cullen Sawtelle, a native son who studied law at Bowdoin College and represented the area in Congress in the 1840s.

Clarke's daughter, Rebecca, was educated at Norridgewock Female Academy and taught primary school in Illinois until advancing deafness forced her return.

From 1861 until her death in 1906 she lived here, where she wrote more than forty volumes of children's stories, using realistic settings and characterizations drawn in part from her hometown, and in contrast to the prevailing style of didactic and moralizing children's literature.