The Acadian House is located in a residential setting just northeast of the town center of Guilford, on the south side of Union Street near its junction with Market Place. It is a 2+1⁄2-story timber-framed structure, with a gabled roof, large central chimney, and clapboarded exterior. Its main facade, oriented at an angle to the street, is three bays wide, with a central entrance framed with simple moulding and topped by a fourlight transom window. The windows on either side of the entrance are placed asymmetrically. The rear slope of the roof extends to the first floor, giving the house a saltbox shape. The chimney has an unusual T shape, the result of an expansion after the house was built.[2]
The oldest portion of the house was built about 1670 by Joseph Clay. Clay's grandson inherited the property in the 18th century, but vacated the house for a more modern one in 1726. The house has its name because a family of Acadians from Grand Pré[2] were settled in the house following their 1755 deportation from Nova Scotia.[3][4][5]
