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THE STORY OF PROUTS NECK
BY RUPERT SARGENT HOLLAND
Gc 974.101 C91h 1560653
M. L.
1
ENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01088 2170
" WEATHER BEATEN "
Painted by Winslow Homer. Owned by Mrs. F. S. Smithers, New York Courtesy of Frederick A. Stokes Co., New York
THE STORY OF PROUTS NECK
BY RUPERT SARGENT HOLLAND
1
A
THE PROUTS NECK ASSOCIATION PROUTS NECK, MAINE
1560653
DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF FRANK MOSS
ARTIST AND DEVOTED WORKER FOR THE WELFARE OF PROUTS NECK
FTR
12-31-10
Man Lean
Copyright 1924 by The Prouts Neck Association Prouts Neck, Me.
Printed in U.S.A. THE COSMOS PRESS, INC., CAMBRIDGE, MASS.
r
PROUTS NECK HOUSE, OR MIDDLE HOUSE Said to have been built by Timothy Prout and reconstructed by Alexander Kirkwood It was the residence of Captain Thomas Libby
The idea of collecting and putting in book form some of the interesting incidents in the history of Prouts Neck originated with Mr. Frank Moss, who some years ago printed for private distribution an account of the Neck as it was in 1886 and some of the changes that had since occurred. Copies of this pamphlet were rare, and Mr. Moss and some of his friends wished to add other material of interest and bring it up to date, making a book that, published by the Prouts Neck Association, should interest summer residents in the story of this beautiful headland and in the endeavors to preserve its native charms. Such a book was planned, and some of the material for it collected, by Mr. Moss and Mr. Freeman Hinckley in 1923.
The purpose of this book is twofold: to furnish information about a settlement on the Maine coast that has had a very eventful history, and to set before the reader such a statement of the work of the Association - its care of the woods and the roads, the paths and the Marginal Way, the Thomas Library, the bathing beach, the fire department - as will serve to show the impor- tance of its activities and lead to its support.
The chief sources of information that have been used in this story of Black Point and Prouts Neck are The History of Scarborough, from 1633 to 1783, by William S. Southgate (Collections of the Maine Historical Society); The Settlement of Scarborough and Old Prouts Neck, by Augustus F. Moulton; The Sokoki Trail, by Herbert Milton Sylvester; The Historical Sketch of Prout's Neck, by Frank Moss; and the notes made by Dr. James W. Holland of interesting facts told him by various people who were familiar with the history of the Neck. Grateful acknowledgment is made of in- debtedness for the use of this material.
The historical map was drawn by Dr. James W. Holland, who made a careful study of the to- pography of the Neck and the neighboring coun- try. Much research went to the making of this map, and it should add greatly to the interest and value of the book.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
"Weather Beaten." Painted by Winslow Homer
. Frontispiece
FACING
PAGE
Prouts Neck House, or Middle House
V
Harris Seavey's Stage Coach and a View toward the "Willows"
5
"The Clam Diggers." Painted by Frank Moss
9
Captain John Wiggin's "Hotel"
13
"The Fog Warning." Painted by Winslow Homer
17
Bathing Beach about 1890
21
Bathing Beach about 1890 (another view)
25
Corduroy Path to the Sanctuary
29
"The Meadow." Painted by Frank Moss .
37
Seavey's Shack, Inner Bay, Prouts Neck
41
Board Walk through Woods, Prouts Neck .
45
Club House and Bay
53
Garrison Cove, Prouts Neck
57
"Easy Alley." Thirteenth Hole
59
Plan of Golf Course
63
Eleventh and Twelfth Fairways
67
Map, by James W. Holland
69
THE STORY OF PROUTS NECK
I. THE FIRST SETTLEMENT
THE first English name associated with Prouts Neck is that of John Stratton, who came to the islands off the Neck some time prior to 1630, or a few years after the settlement at Plymouth, Massachusetts, and there carried on a profitable business, trading with the Indians on the one hand and on the other with the English and French fishing vessels that constantly visited the coast. Similar traders were already estab- lished on other islands, a thriving commerce was being done at Monhegan, and on Richmond's Island Walter Bagnall had set up his trading house in 1628, where he was murdered in 1631 by Indians in retaliation for his unjust dealings with them. There are no records to show who were associated with John Stratton nor how much of a trading post he had, but his name appears to have been given not only to the two islands
THE STORY OF PROUTS NECK
but to a considerable part of the adjacent main- land as well, which was referred to in 1641 as "Stratten's Plantation." After some years he gave up his trading and moved to Salem, where he was settled in 1637.
It was Captain Thomas Cammock, nephew of the Earl of Warwick and a member of the Council of Plymouth in Massachusetts Bay, who became the first legal proprietor in what is now the town of Scarborough, being granted by the Council of Plymouth in 1631 a tract of fifteen hundred acres between the Black Point and the Spurwink Rivers. Here he came in 1633 and set up his residence, living somewhat after the manner of a feudal lord, claiming the exclusive rights to fishing and fowling, and apportioning land to tenants, from whom he received fees and rents.
The records seem to show that Cammock's original house was built on the headland that is now known as Prouts Neck. It was apparently located near the shore on the western side, a
[2]
THE STORY OF PROUTS NECK
little to the south of the present garage of the West Point House. Later, at the time when Henry Jocelyn joined Cammock and his wife, another house was built, the site of which was the high ground just above Ferry Rock at the mouth of the Black Point or Scarborough River. The History of Scarborough says that "Jocelyn resided with Captain Cammock near the Ferry Rocks." This dwelling is generally referred to in the histories and maps as Jocelyn's house. Beyond Ferry Rock was a stretch of shore better suited to shipping and receiving goods from vessels than any place on the Neck, and there it was that cargoes were usually landed. Many of Cammock's tenants, however, lived along the Spurwink River, a considerable distance from the Neck and Ferry Rock.
Cammock's grant of fifteen hundred acres was popularly called Black Point, a name sup- posed to have been given to it by voyagers along the coast because of its thick forests of ever- green. This grant began at Black Rock on the
[3]
THE STORY OF PROUTS NECK
Black Point or Scarborough River, followed the river to Ferry Rock and the bay, thence around the Neck, along the shore to the northeast as far as the Spurwink River, up that river to the grove at the westerly branch of the Spurwink, and from there ran in a direct southwesterly line to the point of beginning at Black Rock. Most of the settlers lived near the coast or the rivers, the interior being largely a wilderness, from which Indians came to trade with the white men.
At Black Point Captain Cammock was joined in 1635 by his friend Henry Jocelyn, who, like the Captain, had formerly been an agent at Piscataqua. There Cammock and his wife Margaret and Henry Jocelyn dwelt until in 1643 the Captain sailed to the West Indies. He died at Barbados, and by his will directed that his estate should go to his wife for her lifetime and then to his "well-beloved friend" Henry Jocelyn. To Jocelyn he also entrusted the care of his wife, and Jocelyn for a time managed the
[4]
HARRIS SEAVEY'S STAGE COACH
A VIEW TOWARD THE " WILLOWS " IN THE '70'S (At left) Dr. Hyde driving, and Harris Seavey sitting on his right hand. The coach was later used in the production of Kate Douglas Wiggin's play, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
THE STORY OF PROUTS NECK
Black Point property for Margaret Cammock, and then, marrying her, became the proprietor of the Cammock grant.
In 1636 a new settlement was made at Blue Point - afterwards called Pine Point - across the Black Point River; and in 1651 a hamlet was established at Dunstan Landing, three miles up the river, the land being acquired by grant from Indians, representatives of Wick- warrawaske, the Sagamore of Owascoag, to whom that part of the country was reputed to belong. In 1658 it was agreed that Black Point, Blue Point and Stratton's Islands should be called Scarborough.
The colony at Black Point increased in popu- lation more rapidly than its neighbors - possi- bly because it was the farthest removed from the wandering bands of Saco Indians - and soon became one of the most important places on the coast. It was here that most of the business of Scarborough was transacted. John Jocelyn, younger brother of Henry, wrote in
[5]
THE STORY OF PROUTS NECK
1671, "Six miles to the eastward of Saco and forty miles from Georgiana (York) is seated the town of Black Point, consisting of about fifty dwelling houses, and a magazine or doganne scatteringly built. They have a store of neat and horses, of sheep near upon 7 or 800, much arable and salt marsh and fresh, and a cornmill. To the southward of the Point (upon which are stages for fishermen) lie two small islands; beyond the point north eastward runs the river of Spurwink."
Travel to the northeast was facilitated by the Spurwink ferry, for according to the record of a court held at the house of Robert Jordan July 12, 1658 it was "Ordered yt Mr. Ambrose Boaden shall keepe the Ferry over Spurwink River to Mr. Robert Jordan, to ferry passengers from thence as occasion serveth. In considera- tion whereof the said Boaden is to have 2 pence for every person he ferryeth or carrieth over in prsent pay, and 3d for every such pson as hee bookes down. Ambrose Boaden willingly at-
[6]
THE STORY OF PROUTS NECK
tempts of the Ferry on ye Tearmes by the Court appoynted."
On the southwest there was also a ferry, across the Black Point River; but in 1680 complaint was made that the town was derelict in provid- ing transportation. Says the record in 1682, "The Court upon examination of the case acquit the Town of this presentment, and finds John Start as by testimony appearing hath under- taken ye ferry wrby hee stands lyable to answer any Neglect in ye Premises." The court there- upon ordered Captain Joshua Scottow to pro- vide a better ferryman.
The only road was a rude trail known as the King's Highway, which started at Boaden's ferry on the Spurwink, crossed the Black Point plains to Jocelyn's house and connected with the ferry on the Black Point River.
Henry Jocelyn gave a great deal of attention to his Black Point property and was active in many ways in promoting the welfare of his tenants and the other settlers, but presently
[7]
THE STORY OF PROUTS NECK
shipping began to desert the Scarborough River and, finding the business less profitable than in the early days of his proprietorship, he mort- gaged in 1666 the Cammock patent to Joshua Scottow for three hundred nine pounds, nine- teen shillings and tenpence. Scottow had al- ready purchased a considerable tract of land in the neighborhood, including the hill that is now known by his name. He did not come to reside in Scarborough until about 1670, although he made frequent visits to his estates. For a time Jocelyn appears to have acted as overseer for Scottow, and in 1671 Jocelyn transferred to him for the additional sum of one hundred and eighty pounds all his interest in Black Point.
Jocelyn still continued to serve as manager of the property for the new owner, and it was probably under his direction that a garrison house, or fort, was built on the western side of the Neck, above what was called Garrison Cove. This was located between the present Cammock House and the Willows. It was known some-
[8]
" THE CLAM DIGGERS" Painted in oil by Frank Moss. Owned by Frank S. White, Milton, Mass.
THE STORY OF PROUTS NECK
times as Jocelyn's garrison, sometimes as Scot- tow's. Near it was "the Doganne," an arsenal where ammunition was stored.
With the increase of settlers the Indians be- came restive. All along the New England coast were now the houses of white men, and white men were beginning to push into the western lands. Scarborough, called by the Indians Owascoag, or "place of much grass," on account of its wide marshes, was being wrested from the tribes that had so long en- joyed it. Until 1675 the Indians and the English settlers had been fairly friendly, but in that year trouble began.
King Philip, the great Indian leader, visited Maine in an effort to unite the New England tribes against the common invader; his attempt, however, had little effect, owing largely to the pacific disposition of Squando, the Sagamore of Saco, who was, according to Cotton Mather, a praying Indian who kept the Sabbath and went to hear the Word preached, and was very well
[9]
THE STORY OF PROUTS NECK
disposed toward the settlers. At this particular time a most unfortunate event occurred. Some reckless English sailors came upon an Indian squaw with her papoose in a canoe as they were crossing the Saco River. There was a saying that Indians could swim naturally like dogs, and to test the truth of the theory the white men upset the canoe. Unhappily the saying proved false, the papoose sank, and the mother had great difficulty in rescuing the child. The woman was Squando's wife and the baby his son. Not long after the child died, and the Sagamore, attributing its death to the upsetting of the canoe, called on his tribe for revenge against the English.
In September, 1675 the Indians made a sudden attack on Blue Point and killed Robert Nichols and his wife. The next month they fell upon the settlement at Dunstan, killed two men, and burned most of the houses. The strongest fort along that stretch of shore was Henry Jocelyn's garrison house at Black Point, and
THE STORY OF PROUTS NECK
there the settlers brought their families for protection from the Indians. According to contemporary opinion this house on Cammock's Neck - as the place was popularly called - might easily withstand all the Indians in the province if it were properly defended.
In October, 1676 a band of about a hundred Indians appeared before Jocelyn's garrison house with evil intent. Their leader was a famous chief named Mogg, sometimes called Mogg Heigon, the original of Whittier's Mogg Megone. He had mixed much with the English and was well acquainted with many of the Black Point settlers. For several days the Indians remained in the neighborhood, without attempting to force their way into the stronghold, a feat that they knew would be difficult, if not impossible. Having taken stock of the situation, Mogg, who was on familiar terms with Jocelyn, went to the fort alone and suggested a parley with Jocelyn, who commanded the garrison in the absence of Captain Scottow. Jocelyn, believing the In-
THE STORY OF PROUTS NECK
dians meant to make some amicable arrange- ment, agreed to the proposal, and, going out from the fort, had a long talk with Mogg. The latter offered to allow the settlers to leave in safety, taking all their goods with them, on condition that they should surrender the garri- son house. Jocelyn did not immediately agree, but returned to the fort to consult with his men. To his utter surprise he found that all the garrison, with the exception of his own family and servants, had put off from the Neck in boats. Under those circumstances there was nothing for him to do but surrender, and this he did, he and his family becoming Mogg's captives. The Indians treated them well, and the Jocelyn family were among the white prisoners who were set free the following spring. Then the Jocelyns moved, according to report, to the greater secu- rity of the Plymouth Colony.
The Indians did not burn the garrison house on the Neck and soon withdrew from the neigh- borhood. Early in the next year most of the
[12 ]
--
HIXOW:
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CAPTAIN JOHN WIGGIN'S "HOTEL "
The captain in the foreground. This stood above the western beach near where the present board walk entrance to the Country Club joins the highroad
THE STORY OF PROUTS NECK
settlers returned, and, peace having been de- clared between the Indians and the Massachu- setts government, the white men set to work to till their farms again. Mogg, however, was bent on making trouble, treaty of peace or no, and in May, 1677 he came again with a band of warriors to the Black Point fort. This was now in charge of Lieutenant Tippen, an officer who had been sent with a party of soldiers from Boston. For three days the Indians laid seige, killing three men and capturing one. On the third day Mogg, while leading an assault, was shot and killed by Tippen, and the loss of their leader caused the Indians to take to their canoes and make off toward York.
A little more than a month later a desperate battle took place near the Nonsuch River. Captain Benjamin Swett, with forty English soldiers and two hundred friendly Indians, was sent on an expedition against the red men around the Kennebec. The ships carrying this force anchored off Black Point, and, the captain
[13]
THE STORY OF PROUTS NECK
being informed that Indians had been seen in the vicinity apparently intending to revenge themselves for the loss of Mogg, he went ashore with a detachment of his men, planning to pursue the enemy. Some of the settlers joined him. "The next morning, June 29th," writes Swett's biographer, "the enemy showed them- selves on a plain in three parties. A large decoy, supposed to be the main body of the Indians, feigned a retreat, and were pursued a distance of two miles from the fort, when the English found themselves in a most exposed situation, between a thicket and a swamp, upon the declivity of a hill, and instantly from an ambush on each side great numbers of Indians, rising with a war whoop, fired at once upon the two divisions, and turning so violently and suddenly upon them, threw the young and undisciplined soldiers into confusion. Swett with a few of the more resolute, fought bravely on the retreat, till he came near the fort, when he was killed;
[ 14 ]
THE STORY OF PROUTS NECK
sixty more were left dead or wounded, and the rest got into the fort."
The Indians also had suffered heavy losses during their pursuit of two miles, and soon after retired inland, without attacking the garrison.
This battle was fought in the Scarborough meadows, and the ambush was at Moor's Brook, not far from the present Black Point school- house.
The next year a treaty of peace was concluded with the Indians at Casco, now Portland, and for a space there was no open strife. But the Scarborough settlers had lived so constantly in fear of the hostile war whoop that they took what measures they could to ensure their de- fense. Captain Scottow proposed to the Black Point men in 1681 that they should build a large stockade fort on his land, a fort stronger and more centrally located than the garrison house on the Neck. This was built of palisades flank- ing a ditch and wall, and was one of the best forts to be found in the province. It was
[15]
THE STORY OF PROUTS NECK
situated on a ridge in the present Atlantic House fields, and a portion of one of the bastions may be traced at the edge of the woods. With this stronghold to retreat to at first sight of a painted redskin the farmers could work in their fields and the housewives in their cottages with a greater feeling of safety.
Ten years after the treaty of peace at Casco war clouds rose again. Incited by the French, the Indians of Maine grew hostile. The Eng- lish settlers now found themselves opposed by the men of two races, and the contest was unequal. On May 15, 1690 the French and Indians in overpowering force captured Fort Loyal on Falmouth Neck, and massacred the garrison. This was the signal for the men of Scarborough to fly while they had the chance. If Fort Loyal had fallen the fortification built by Scottow, strong though it was, could not withstand the foe. Cotton Mather says in his history of the war, "The garrisons at Papoodack, Spurwink, Black Point and Blue Point were so
[16]
" THE FOG WARNING "
Painted by Winslow Homer. Courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
THE STORY OF PROUTS NECK
disanimated by these disasters, that without orders they drew off immediately to Saco - and from Saco in a few days also they drew off to Wells - and about half Wells drew off as far as Lieut. Storer's." In a letter written that May from Portsmouth to the authorities at Boston, the writer said "that three or four hundred people, mostly women and children, had arrived at Portsmouth from the eastward, and that the vessels reported that Black Point, Richmond's Island, and Spurwink were burning as they passed."
Within a week or two after the descent of the French and Indians from the north Black Point was as empty of English settlers as on the day when John Stratton had first arrived there. The enemy destroyed Jocelyn's garrison house and Scottow's great fort, as well as the home- steads, among which was probably the house Cammock had built above Ferry Rock Point.
[17]
II. THE SECOND SETTLEMENT
FOR twelve years the land that had belonged to Cammock, Jocelyn and Scottow was abandoned to occasional Indian hunters. No ships stopped off the coast, for what had once been a prosper- ous trading post was now only wilderness.
Sometime in the fall of 1702 or in the following spring a sloop that had sailed from Lynn an- chored in the bay at Black Point. On board were eight men with their families, John Larra- bee, Charles Pine, four Libbys and two others. Deciding to make a settlement, they used the sloop as a shelter until they were able to build a fort on the Neck. This was located on the western side, near where the garage of the West Point House now stands. It was situated near a ravine, by which it was possible to slip out to the neighboring beach without being seen. For a year this little band of hardy pioneers were the only inhabitants of Scarborough, and they apparently relied on the endurance of the
[ 18]
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peace that had been made between the English and the French and Indians.
Little reliance was to be placed, however, in treaties made by these enemies of the English settlers, and in August, 1703, in spite of their professions of peace, a force of five hundred French and Indians made a sudden descent upon all the settlements from Casco to Wells. At Purpooduck (the name of this place is variously spelled in the histories), where nine families had settled, the enemy killed twenty-five people and captured eight. At Spurwink they killed some and made prisoners of twenty-two. At Saco eleven were killed and twenty-four captured. Then the whole force of five hundred, under the command of the Frenchman, Beaubasin, marched to attack the garrison at Black Point. The de- fenders numbered only eight fighting men, but their leader, John Larrabee, was a man of intrepid courage, each of the eight was an expert marks- man, and their fort on the Neck was stoutly built.
Beaubasin sent a flag of truce offering terms of
[19]
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surrender, but Captain Larrabee refused to ca- pitulate or treat with the enemy on any terms whatever. The situation of the fort afforded an opportunity for undermining it, and the Indians, directed by the French, set to work to accom- plish this. A high bank protected the sappers from the shots of the defenders, and it would have been the height of folly, in view of the dis- parity of numbers, for any of the garrison to venture outside the walls. All that Larrabee and his men could do was to prepare to give the enemy a warm reception when they should have driven their tunnel to the cellar of the fort.
Before the Indians had dug half the distance, however, there came a heavy rain storm, which lasted two days. The light, porous soil gave way under the rain, and filled up a large part of the excavation. The sappers were now exposed to the fire of the garrison, and Larrabee's men immediately took advantage of this, with such success that the enemy abandoned the attack and marched away in search of easier prey.
[ 20]
BATHING BEACH ABOUT 1890
THE STORY OF PROUTS NECK
More settlers now came to Black Point and Scarborough, and the country between the Saco River and Casco Bay commenced to resume some of its former appearance of prosperous farmland. The settlements that were now being made in- land served as buffers to those along the coast, protecting them from assaults by the Indians and providing them with outposts of informa- tion as to the movements of possible enemies. In 1720 the town records were brought back from Boston, whither they had been carried in the flight of 1690, and a town government was reorganized. In addition to the farmers there were a number of the new settlers who subsisted altogether by fishing and hunting. Charles Pine, a famous hunter who had been one of John Larrabee's companions in the fort, built his house on the shore above the Blue Point Ferry, from which Pine Point derives its name; and Newbry's Point, on the southeastern end of Pine Point, was so called because of the dwelling there of William Newbury, another celebrated hunter.
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