USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Nahant > Some annals of Nahant, Massachusetts > Part 28
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In the hunt for an out-of-town supply of water the town naturally turned first to Lynn, and the response was favor- able, but no action followed. Finally the selectmen negoti- ated with the Marblehead Water Company, who had driven wells and set up a pumping station in Swampscott. This was a private corporation. In July, 1885, the town authorized the contract with this company, and they supplied the town with water until 1899. When this arrangement was made, but before it was public or ratified by the town, Wilson hap- pened to meet, one day, some prominent Lynn men lunching together in Boston. They asked where Nahant was to get water, and if Lynn would not be the natural supply. Wil- son's reply was that Lynn was the first place considered, and that the mayor had received the suggestion cordially and said that Lynn could do it, and the only question would be of price. Wilson said he then supposed the mayor meant the price of the water, but after so much delay and no action he felt uncertain about it. He went on to say that Nahant's water supply would come down Ocean Street, Lynn's prin- cipal residential street, which would be ditched for the pur- pose. These men all exclaimed against this and said that it was impossible, but this impossible happening came to pass, and Nahant was able to get what it wanted when it wanted it.
In 1899 the Marblehead Water Company did not desire to go on with the service, and the selectmen applied to the Metropolitan Water Board for a supply. Nahant and Swamp- scott had been included in the district intended to be served by this State undertaking, but it involved a new water main laid out to these towns for several miles, and their entry was supposed to be together. Swampscott was not ready to enter, whereupon Nahant proposed to pay the entrance fee of $20,000 for herself, and to pay interest on Swampscott's sum until that town chose to apply for admission. The suggestion was approved, but Nahant never paid this $800 interest, as Swampscott entered the system a few months later.
In the year 1881 there was a public meeting in the Town Hall at which resolutions were passed on the death of Presi-
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dent Garfield, and in 1885 a memorial service was held after the death of General Grant. At the latter meeting H. C. Lodge was the principal speaker. The year 1878 saw the first selectmen's report, signed by Artemus Murdock, chairman. Up to about that time information about the activities of the several town departments had been lacking and voters had to be content with sidewalk gossip or with what was told in town meeting. The policy of letting citizens know as much as possible about town affairs had begun, however, and con- tinues to the present day, as it should. Probably the wind of suspicion, which whined and whistled occasionally, would have been quieted had there been opportunity for citizens to appreciate and consider thoroughly what was going on.
This period of the 70's and 80's saw continued prosperity as a summer resort. The list of houses and dates of buildings given elsewhere indicates when many people called Nahant their permanent summer home, but a little further comment is needed. The poet Longfellow is a man many Nahanters remember, although he died in 1882. Apparently his first year in what came to be known as the Longfellow house was 1858. Subsequently he bought it and occupied it regularly. This house was earlier known as the Wetmore cottage. Long- fellow came to Nahant first about 1850, for an entire season, though he writes of earlier visits. This first summer he lived at the Jonathan Johnson house, which stood on Nahant Road where now is the post office block, and which was moved, enlarged and remodelled into the Rockledge Hotel at Willow Road and Wharf Street. This Johnson was a son of Joseph Johnson and the father of Edward J. Johnson and Annie E. Johnson. Here he wrote "The Golden Fleece" and a part of "Hiawatha." From here he writes of seeing the cows going over the beach at sunset from the cow rights of Nahant to the cow sheds of Lynn, saying it was one of the prettiest pictures of Nahant. He speaks of it in "The Bells of Lynn," written fifteen years later, the original manuscript of which was pre- sented to the Nahant Public Library by his daughter, Miss
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Alice Longfellow. He mentions famous men and their coming here, speaking of meeting Agassiz and Sumner at the steam- boat wharf. Emerson was often here, dining with Longfellow and walking the beach towards home. After five years here, the poet spent the season of 1855 at Newport, but returned to Nahant in 1856, to the Mountford cottage, elsewhere men- tioned, on Swallows Cave Road. Then he boarded at the Hood house, directly opposite the Whitney homestead. He speaks of being with R. C. Winthrop, Lord Napier and Mrs. Kemble, the famous actress, all at Nahant.
From his own house Longfellow overlooked the fleet of boats and yachts anchored, as always, around Nipper Stage Point. This he enjoyed; indeed, the activities of the sea interest nearly every one. Here he wrote -
Four by the clock! and yet not day; But the great world rolls and wheels away, With its cities on land, and its ships at sea, Into the dawn that is to be!
Only the lamp in the anchored bark Sends its glimmer across the dark, And the heavy breathing of the sea Is the only sound that comes to me.
One of the fleet under his eyes was the yacht "Alice," which many remember. A photograph of her is in the Nahant Public Library, as also of the poet's brother-in-law, T. G. Appleton, surrounded by the crew of the yacht. Appleton owned the "Alice," although Longfellow's son Charles was a prominent spirit in it, and sailed in it across to Europe. The poem "Three Friends of Mine" is the poet's appreciation of Agassiz, Felton and Sumner. The first two lived on Nahant in summer time, and Sumner was a frequent visitor to sev- eral homes and to the Nahant Hotel. George Abbot James had a room in his house called the Senator's room, from its frequent occupancy by this guest.
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Daniel Webster also visited at Nahant, often with his rela- tive James W. Paige. In 1852, when Webster failed of the nomination for the presidency, a reception to him was given by Paige, to which all Nahant citizens were invited. Again in this same year he was back, much enfeebled, only a short time before his death.
John Lothrop Motley on Nahant reaches back to an earlier period, also. It has already been related how he went to school in the old stone schoolhouse. Apparently he came here, in summer time, whenever he returned from Europe, where he spent so much of his life. At least a part of the "Rise of the Dutch Republic" was written while he was staying at the old Hood house, across from the Whitney homestead. In 1875, the last summer he was in America, he was the guest of Mrs. John E. Lodge, Senator Lodge's mother, at her home on Cliff Street, called for a long time the "Lodge Villa." Motley's correspondence, edited by George William Curtis, contains many letters written from Nahant. One speaks of staying at his brother Edward's and dropping in on Agassiz. These two places were adjoining, and though altered, are more or less unchanged in general appearance from those early days. N. P. Willis is another writer who came to Nahant, usually stopping at the hotel on East Point. George William Curtis is already mentioned. Both these men write of the delights of the town. Then come Sarah Orne Jewett, Frances Hodgson Burnett and Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward. Mrs. Ward lived at Little Nahant and Mrs. Burnett in the Tudor Homestead, now the Nahant Club. Many remember the latter as an enthusiastic horsewoman, riding about town. James T. Fields, a brother-in-law of Mrs. James H. Beal, was frequently here. William Dean Howells was at Little Nahant for a season. Cyrus W. Field, who laid the first Atlantic cable against many disappointments, lived at the Tudor homestead when it was a hotel. In 1881 he lived in the house now owned by Alexander Lincoln on Pond Street, since remodelled. Some of these names come down to later years, but few into the present century. Whittier
Harry C. Wilson Selectman and Assessor
Thomas Roland
Charles Cabot Johnson Town Treasurer
Otis A. Johnson School Committee
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was here, as well as Hawthorne. Both wrote about Nahant. Whittier's lines are familiar:
But fairer shores and brighter waters Gazed on by purer, lovelier daughters, Beneath the light of kindlier skies, The wanderer to the farthest bound Of peopled earth hath never found Than thine - New England's Paradise.
The early 70's saw Oliver Wendell Holmes coming here sometimes as a visitor, and in 1873 occupying the "Charles Amory house," now known as the Dr. Dwight house. In 1876 he was with his daughter, Mrs. Sargent, in the Welcome Johnson house, just above the old post office and store. He also wrote stanzas in praise of the town. Then there was Harriet Beecher Stowe, spending her later years with her daughter, Mrs. Henry F. Allen, first in the Washington John- son house, now Shaughnessy, across from the Edgehill, and later in the Dr. Haven house, at the corner of Nahant Road and Pond Street. Her grandson, Dr. Freeman Allen, is now a summer resident, owning a house at Summer and Cary Streets. Robert C. Winthrop may be mentioned, mostly remembered as an old man occupying the Winthrop house on the corner of Nahant Road and Winter Street. He succeeded Daniel Web- ster as United States Senator, but served only one year, and was an unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Massachusetts in 1851.
Many people remember the annual encampment of the First Corps of Cadets of Boston, changed over during the World War to the Two Hundred and Eleventh Coast Artil- lery. Cadet week was a lively time, with its flock of tents, fine band concerts, brilliant uniforms and Governor's Day. Many of the men were from the families of summer residents, or related to them, and much entertainment seemed to reach a climax during this period of four or five days. Cadet week was always in July, except in 1870. In 1869, July 13 to 17, the camp was near Mrs. Moering's house on Pond Street,
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later owned and occupied by Charles Thorndike. This was Cannon Hill, and perhaps earlier called Lindsey's Hill. This house was built in the winter of 1867-68, and the develop- ment of the grounds and planting seems to have made its use for a camp ground inconvenient, for in 1870 the camp was in the large field back of the Schlesinger house on Prospect Street, between Pond and High Streets. The Schlesinger house was near, and its owner leased this field from the Tudor heirs, afterwards buying it. This year the encamp- ment was from August 9 to 13. The further dates follow:
1871
.
. July 25 to 29
1876
. July 17 to 22
1872
. July 23 to 27
187
. July 16 to 21
1873
July 22 to 26
1878
. July 8 to 13
1874
July 21 to 25
1879
July 14 to 19
1875
July 19 to 24
1880
. July 12 to 17
Thus over a period of twelve seasons this event was an annual occurrence of much interest to Nahant. Children lined the adjoining streets and watched the doings, for at least there were always sentries pacing their routes, and when the Governor of the Commonwealth came, and a review was held, the martial music sounded from a band that was always a good one, and the attraction was complete. This field was known for years as the Cadet Field, but one must have been a Nahanter for nearly fifty years to have personal knowledge why it was so called, and many good Nahanters of today would not know what was meant by it. After 1880, for a season or two, the summer residents arranged among them- selves to have band concerts (were they once a month?) at several estates offered for the purpose; but this plan lan- guished and band concerts as a regular and expected event were not again known until they were an activity of the Nahant Club, mentioned elsewhere. There is evidence of earlier encampments at Nahant, but the records of this organization, as now available, do not support it.
Another item of interest to Nahant relates to tennis play- ing. Dr. Haven, who built his house at Nahant Road and
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Pond Street in 1882-83, maintained a first-quality gravel court in the rear, close to Pond Street. Here were held annual tournaments for several seasons around the late 80's. They were invitation tournaments and not a part of the National Championship layout, but here played many ex- perts. James Dwight, Richard D. Sears, Philip S. Sears and Herbert M. Sears were all Nahanters. The first two were National Champions, in succession, and the three Sears brothers are sons of Frederic R. Sears and grandsons of David Sears who owned the early Coolidge-built house on Swallows Cave Road. To Dr. Haven's came also Larned, Beekman, Wrenn and Hovey, together with many others. The grounds were private, but proximity to the street provided a vantage ground offering a good view of fine playing.
Not so very many years earlier the first lawn tennis game in America apparently was played at Nahant. In August, 1874, J. Arthur Beebe, a son-in-law of Mrs. William Apple- ton, brought over a set from England, and it was at once set up by James Dwight on the Appleton place, formerly David Sears, on Swallows Cave Road, in the part of the lawn east- erly from the house. The house and this lawn now occupy the same positions and present a similar appearance, though there has been some remodelling and planting. A Newport man imported a set the same season, but it was not set up until the following year, and in the spring of 1875 E. H. Outerbridge of New York brought in a set which was used at the Staten Island Cricket Club. This appears to have been the first of lawn tennis on any club grounds. In the summer of 1875 two more sets arrived at Newport. Bishop Lawrence, in his "Memories of a Happy Life," writes: "Later, in 1874, I played upon the first lawn tennis court in the country, with a tennis set which had been brought from England and set out on the lawn of my Aunt Emily Apple- ton. When in the Brookline Country Club a short time ago, my attention was called to a very old-fashioned racquet to which was attached this inscription: 'Racquet used by Bishop Lawrence in the first lawn tennis game in this coun-
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try.'" Bishop Lawrence adds the statement of another who saw the game played on the grounds of the Germantown Cricket Club in September, 1875. James Dwight, later na- tional champion, who laid out this tennis court in 1874, is a brother of the late Dr. Thomas Dwight. Richard D. Sears, also one time national champion, gives much of this infor- mation, and adds that there was an informal Nahant Tennis Club which held a handicap tournament first in 1876. Some of the members were James Dwight, F. R. Sears, Jr., Horatio Curtis, Robert Grant, Lawrence Curtis, Louis Curtis, W. C. Otis, Jr., H. G. Otis, S. E. Guild, Frank Merriam, Morgan Post, C. A. Prince, M. H. Prince, R. S. Greenough, William Lawrence, Senator Lodge, Samuel Hinckley, W. C. Otis, Sr., and Henry R. Grant. This list is from memory and may not include all of the original players. Several of these will be recognized as Nahanters of much later years. For sev- eral seasons Richard D. Sears occupied the Dr. Haven house, but later moved elsewhere, as did his brothers, so that the only ones of the name now coming to Nahant are Mrs. K. W. Sears and her daughter, Clara Endicott Sears, who is the author of an interesting volume on Bronson Alcott's "Fruit- lands," and another entitled "Gleanings from Old Shaker Journals."
CHAPTER XXII
BASS POINT
BASS POINT was the name given to the point of land now the Bass Point House property. In later years the name came to be associated with a far larger area, until it would be rash to venture establishing its nominal limits. Certainly it is everything as far as the marshes in a northeasterly direc- tion; and while Fox Hill and Castle Road may seem outside of Bass Point, very many people understand it to include everything beyond the marshes southwesterly or westerly. It would seem that this district, including these wider limits, had no permanent residents or permanent buildings prior to 1800. Earlier mention is made of men of whom no record remains affecting Nahant. The 1706 division of the town mentions Taylor, Jacobs and Hudson, as if they were living there, but they may only have been the men to whom land was allotted in this division of Lynn's common land. All who have dealt with the question seem to agree that the "Old Castle," built shortly after 1800, as is described else- where, was the first permanent building on Bass Point. The old roads were Flash Road and Castle Road, with Castle Road connecting through in crooked fashion to the first range road easterly. They were only cart paths, and in the easy fashion of the times, with land fairly inaccessible and of little value, their location was not too definite, though doubtless old deeds and their accompanying records would show how far they were laid out. The old roads within present-day memories are Flash Road and Castle Road as now, with Willow Road running by Bear Pond and up the hill and down again to the Bass Point engine house, with another branching off near Bear Pond to run over by the foot of
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Bailey's Hill and along the shore, returning to Willow Road through what has come to be known as the "Midway." This name was applied to this section of the road after the Chicago Fair of 1893, with its Midway of varied amusement enter- prises. Many other streets have been built, all to accommo- date the breaking up of the land into house lots.
Nathan Mower started his career on Nahant by bringing parties over from Lynn, making chowders and frying fish over near the North Spring in the early days of the Maolis Gardens, and perhaps before that. This was wholly on Great Nahant. Soon he bought the property at Bass Point, now known as the Relay House. There were two buildings on it, one a pavilion on the ledges near the present dance hall, and one a barn which Mower changed into a kitchen, near which were rough tables at which dinners were served. In 1862 Mower built the oldest part of the hotel, leaving the kitchen as it was. Some of this construction can still be recognized among the many changes which have since been made. He ran this house for twelve years, till his death in 1874. In 1873 he enlarged the house. He was succeeded by his son, John D. Mower, who managed the hotel for seven years. It was then let to Mack & Searle for two years, George Batch- elder for two years, and Searle, formerly of Mack & Searle, for seven years more. In 1892 Eugene H. Brann leased the property and has operated it until 1927, buying the entire estate in 1907. Brann has made many changes and addi- tions, developing the place to considerable size. Of late years it has been open all the year, claiming to be the first hostelry in town open in the winter. Among houses of any size this is undoubtedly true. It is also claimed that the many ways of cooking lobster originated here, with Mower, before which time lobsters were only boiled, or were boiled first and fried or broiled afterwards. Mower or his successors thus contest for a share in the development of the lobster industry, and certainly the food sprung into greater general favor and use during these times.
The Trimountain House, at the foot of Bailey's Hill, was a
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BASS POINT
small house on land owned by the Tudors. An early pro- prietor was John Granger of Lynn, but the place is indis- solubly associated with Sylvester Brown. Brown was born in Lynn at the corner of Nahant and Ocean Streets, but was a familiar figure on Nahant in the 70's. He kept this house open from 1874 until the United States government bought the property in 1901, and he lived on it afterwards until his death in 1919, at the age of eighty-five. He was known to the town as "Vess" Brown, and he used to tell of his descent from a Brown who was one of the first settlers of Lynn. He was one of "Master King's schoolboys," a group that once went to school together under this teacher in Lynn. For many years an annual outing was held at the Trimountain House, where one might see dignified men playing leapfrog, marbles, and other reminders of days perhaps sixty years gone. This house was enlarged by Brown, and another built near by for further accommodations. The older building was torn down in 1922, and now nothing remains of this place famous for its fish dinners.
The first Bass Point House was built by Mrs. Tudor, after her husband's death in 1864 and probably before 1868. In 1870 it was opened by Thomas Demster, who previously was the proprietor of the Bay View House at Summer Street and Willow Road in Great Nahant. 'After Demster came Batch- elder & Howard, and in 1891 Anderson. In 1892 Andrew G. Fuller and J. A. Flanders leased the property from the Tudor heirs for five years. In 1894 the Bass Point Hotel Company was formed. Members of the Clyde Steamship Company, then furnishing steamboat service to Nahant, were in this company, and later the entire assets were taken over by Fuller and members of his family. The oldest part of the house built by Mrs. Tudor was burned in 1894, and was at once rebuilt, a complete plastered house, in the record time of eighteen days.
A later hotel was the "Bay Side Inn," built in 1907 by Walter H. Southwick, who for a time was proprietor with a manager. Afterward he leased it, and finally it was sold.
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Then there was the "Brenton," built in 1909 and opened in 1910 by Frank Keezer who was for a time owner and manager. Later it was sold to other parties. Keezer opened another place, but finally moved away from Nahant, to which he had come several years before, interesting himself in Bass Point enterprises. Southwick, also not a native, has lived here so many years he has earned the title of Nahanter. In 1915, after the death of Joseph T. Wilson, he was appointed judge of the local court, a position he has held since that time. Brann, of the "Relay House," like most of his predecessors, has not been active in general town affairs, but always inter- ested and always helpful, and when the hat is passed around for some organization or needy individual he is a subscriber. Neither he, a Maine man, nor the Fullers of the "Bass Point House" were natives of Nahant.
Besides these larger houses Bass Point has had many smaller ones, crowding thick upon each other as is usual in amusement resorts. Before the days of prohibition Nahant was a license town, and most of the larger places on Bass Point supported barrooms with bars of considerable length. There were also many places selling illegally, and there were other things, also common accompaniments of such places. In short, Bass Point as an amusement resort was something of a problem for a town otherwise sedate and orderly. It was no worse than other similar places. In fact, at any time a respectable family could go all about the district, get a good dinner, enjoy good music, and return home without seeing any outward semblance of things not quite as they should be. It was a peculiar condition. Many people were interested in these activities, legal and illegal, proper and improper. Many others came there to enjoy them or did not object to them.
Many more, who would have complained under other cir- cumstances, held silent because of unpleasantness that might result from neighbors. Complaints were made and withdrawn when the complainants were told they must appear in court as witnesses. Evidence was hard to get. Spotters were quickly spotted. Plain-clothes men from out of town could
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The Old Town Hall and High School
Town Meeting in Old Town Hall Senator Lodge, moderator; D. G. Finnerty Beyond Foreground, standing, C. D. Vary, F. A. Wilson
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BASS POINT
not help much. Convictions were few, though the district often needed cleaning up. Those uninformed wondered at it. Sometimes a minister in the village church would fulminate against the town officers on account of it. But as Judge Wil- son often explained it, he knew Boston hotels sold liquor. They had a right to do so, and he was positive they did. But his testimony to it on the witness stand would not be accepted because it was an assumption and not personal knowledge.
In the summer of 1914 came one of the times when a min- ister fulminated against Bass Point conditions, but made an initial mistake by antagonizing many who would have been his ready helpers in any clean-up campaign. His accusa- tions, based on insufficient or erroneous information, made the usual few days' stir, but no results followed. To "muddle along somehow" can get to be a tiresome policy. At that time the "Lynn Item" gave several columns to the question, and in the issue of August 20 stated that "every fair-minded person that ever visited Bass Point recognizes the fact that existing conditions are a menace to the morals of the young." Whether this condition yet persists let those say who know of drunkenness, for one instance, among boys of school ages who visit this section.
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