Federal-style 1801 brick mansion built for shipping magnate Hugh McLellan, later owned by the Clapp family and now part of the Portland Museum of Art, with reports of an apparition tied to Captain Asa Clapp.
111 High Street, Portland, ME 04101
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Access included with Portland Museum of Art admission; open during limited hours and via special PMA tours.
Access
Limited Access
Federal-period mansion with stairs and historic floors; primary access via PMA campus.
Equipment
No Photos
Est. 1801 · National Historic Landmark · Federal architecture · Portland Museum of Art campus
The McLellan-Sweat Mansion at 111 High Street was built in 1800-1801 for Major Hugh McLellan, a wealthy Portland shipping merchant. Architect John Kimball Sr. designed the brick three-story Federal house with Palladian windows, ornate staircase, and high-quality interior woodwork.
In 1817, Portland shipping magnate Captain Asa Clapp purchased the mansion as a wedding gift for his son, Charles Quincy Clapp, who had recently married Julia Wingate, daughter of General Joshua Wingate. Charles Clapp later built his own Greek Revival house next door at 97 Spring Street. The McLellan house subsequently became the residence of Margaret Jane Mussey Sweat and her husband Lorenzo de Medici Sweat, who left it to the Portland Society of Art on her death in 1908 along with funds to construct an adjoining gallery — the L.D.M. Sweat Memorial Galleries, completed 1911.
The mansion was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970 for its architectural significance as one of the finest surviving Federal-period houses in northern New England. After decades of mixed use, the Portland Museum of Art completed a multi-year restoration in the 2000s, and the house now serves as a period-rooms component of the PMA campus.
The house is open to the public on a limited schedule during PMA programs and themed tours.
Sources
Captain Asa Clapp's apparition is the central ghost of the McLellan-Sweat Mansion. The haunting narrative connects to Clapp's purchase of the house in 1817 for his son Charles, and to his reputed displeasure at the subsequent loss of his own nearby Congress Street home, torn down per his wife's will after Asa's death.
The ghost tradition is independently documented across several sources. Portland's 94.9 WHOM radio station blogger Meredith Manning identifies Asa Clapp by name and reports 'cold spots, apparitions and unexplained footsteps' at the McLellan-Sweat House. Visit Portland's seasonal roundup describes the female presence — 'the lady of the house, Margaret Jane' — heard wandering the halls, and notes the uncertainty as to which 19th-century resident the figure represents. Maine Haunted Houses documents the Asa Clapp apparition and additionally notes that 'the ghost that haunts the place is the same ghost known to haunt the nearby Clapp House,' a cross-property detail suggesting local lore anchored independently at multiple sites.
A psychic researcher named Tanous is cited in the Down East Magazine article on haunted Maine houses as having visited the McLellan-Sweat Mansion and reported hearing 19th-century music and feeling spirits in the rooms.
The paranormal lore is featured on Old Port ghost walks and in Visit Portland's seasonal roundups but is not part of the Portland Museum of Art's interpretive program. Captain Asa Clapp (1762–1848) was a real and documented Portland shipping magnate; the legend attributes an apparition to him without inventing life events beyond his documented history.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Tour the 1800-1801 McLellan-Sweat Mansion during scheduled PMA programs. The mansion's grand staircase and parlor are most often cited in visitor accounts of unexplained footsteps and a presence attributed to Captain Asa Clapp.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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