PORTLAND, Maine - Bowdoin College has won a legal fight to buy a house whose owner claims is worth far more than the college's offer, in part because the owner says part of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was written there.
The house on College Street is the last on the cross-campus street not owned by Bowdoin. In 1996, the college made an agreement with the owners that it would have first refusal, and that if it chose to buy the house, it would pay 25 percent over the appraised value. As of April, 2016, that was just over $150,000.
But the owner - 87-year-old Arline Lay, who now lives in Florida - and her son, claim an array of historical events took place at the house. These include not just the writing of part of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," but also Henry Wadsworth Longfellow writing a poem about a clock in the house; and the staging of one of Norman Rockwell's Thanksgiving paintings there. Those claims haven't been confirmed by historians.
Lay and her son James made a deal to sell the house to a Portland woman for $750,000; and offered to sell the house to Bowdoin for 25 percent more, or $937,500.
But Superior Court Judge Michaela Murphy ruled Wednesday that the agreement requires Lay to offer to sell the home for a much lower price, based on professional appraisals, to Bowdoin, if the college wishes to buy it.
The order also says Lay was in violation of the original agreement when she listed the house first for $3 million, and then for $1.6 million.
In an email, a spokesperson for Bowdoin said the college "is pleased with the result, and we look forward
to acquiring the property in accordance with our original agreement." The Lays' former attorney was not available for comment.
