USA > Maine > Waldo County > Unity > A history of the Town of Unity, Maine > Part 19
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The grandstand was not built in 1890.41 However, Edwin Rey- nolds erected one before the fair of 1891.42 A new lease for the fair grounds was drawn up in January 1894 whereby for five years Rey- nolds leased his trotting park to the society for one hundred and five dollars a year, plus the proceeds of the grandstand for which Reynolds agreed to keep the grounds, track, buildings, and fences in good re- pair.43 In the lives of the boys and girls, as well as many adults, Unity's fair was eagerly anticipated. One who remembered those halcyon days wrote:
Unity Fair was the highlight of the year for the children. There was a merry-go-round and the midway had perhaps thirty tents and sideshows. A man from Belfast sold soused clams each year. The horse jockies always lined up swapping horses outside the main gate. After- noons they had horse trotting and also dancing in Stevens' Hall across
38. Records of North Waldo Agricultural Society (1880-1905) p. 82 in possession of Mrs. Ethel H. Ward of Unity.
39. Ibid., p. 99.
40. Ibid., December 28, 1889, Vol. II, p. 101. Also see Republican Journal, January 2, 1890.
41. Ibid., p. 114, Also in 1891 the society commenced leasing the grounds from Edwin Reynolds p. 115.
42. Ibid., p. 125.
43. Ibid., p. 148.
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the street. Guerney Stevens was marshal and rode horseback. Usually Mr. Frisbee a policeman from Belfast kept order. School closed so we could go to it. 44
The North Waldo Agricultural Society carried on until after the turn of the century. The old leaders dropped out of the scene one by one and few others took interest. Prominent among the later lead- ers were W. H. J. Moulton, Edwin B. Hunt, Edwin Rand, Frank Bartlett, Edward Vose, Frank Mussey, Burt Dolloff, and many others. In 1905 the society dissolved itself, and the funds which it possessed were turned over to the town, to be known as the North Waldo Ag- ricultural Society fund and used for charity.
For a time a fair was maintained by Nicholas Walton, Edwin Rey- nolds, Joseph H. Farwell, and Edwin B. Hunt, all of whom had part interest in the Unity Trotting Park Association. Finally James O. Pillsbury acquired the grounds and until World War II sponsored Unity Fair.45 The old grandstand burned about 1926, and Pillsbury erected a new one. Pillsbury was president of the association and E. S. Farwell, secretary; both worked hard to retain the excellent stand- ards previously attained. After J. O. Pillsbury's death the fair was discontinued. The American Legion bought the grounds, but sold it to a group who race broken-down motor cars around the track. The days of Unity Fair are apparently past.
UNITY PARK ASSOCIATION
The days when bystanders could see two or three smartly built equipages drawn by a well-groomed driving horse pacing up the main street have gone forever. A favorite pastime on a free afternoon was racing from the town pump by the church to the depot and back, or sometimes down the main street. There was once a horse trading minister who didn't mind taking on a race. Often men who had re- turned from Montana during the winter bought themselves fine sleighs, and, sporting a great buffalo robe, took keen pleasure in tak- ing young ladies for rides, always driving up the street at a breakneck speed.46 Indeed, Unity was horse conscious and no wonder the horse trots were popular.
About 1865 Edwin Shellitoe Stevens built a race track.47 Races were held here on the fourth of July and at fair time except for the brief ban in the 1870's.
In the year 1875 a group including Stevens, Andrew R. Myrick and J. W. Harmon formed a corporation known as the "Unity Park Association," the purpose of which was "organizing, holding, and
44. Letter from Mrs. Annie Libby Tilton, October, 1949 to author.
45. Organized by J. O. Pillsbury as the Unity Park Association. C. B. Jones, vice president, E. S. Farwell, secretary. Department heads Merwyn Woodward, agriculture; Mrs. Edith Stevens, arts and crafts; horse pulling, G. R. Hunter.
46. Gustavus and Benjamin R. Hunt always drove good horses. B. B. Cook, Ralph Berry came home from the west and made nice appear- ances.
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A HISTORY OF UNITY, MAINE
maintaining agricultural fairs, stock exhibitions and sufficient to con- struct and prepare a trotting park with a mile or one-half mile track within the limits thereof, with such structures, fixtures and appurte- ances as may be necessary."49 The one-half mile track was built and ready for a "grand opening and dedication" at Unity Trotting Park on July 5, 1875. The main feature of the celebration was the horse races which were well attended by a large crowd. The newspaper correspondent wrote "a number of celebrated horses were entered but few took part owing to the extreme heat of the day. The trotting park at this place is a new and superior one, probably the best in all the county."50
There were two hundred and fifty dollars offered in purses; the first purse of forty dollars was "open to all horses that never trotted for money";51 the second purse of sixty dollars, "open to all horses that never beat three minutes in public"; the third purse, a sweepstake race, a one hunderd fifty dollar purse, "open to all horses". The con- ditions regarding the races were advertised to be "according to the national rules."
The Belfast paper write-up said that the best horse on the grounds was the stallion, "Joe Hooker," owned by a man from St. Albans. This horse won the sweepstakes in three straight heats; his time was 2:38; 2:361/2 and 2:37. The three-minute race was won by a horse named Spot.52 According to this paper "the most exciting feature in the trotting was a matched race between the horses of Pillsbury and Marsh of Unity for one hundred dollar bet. It was gotten up on the spot after a very warm and animated discussion. Marsh's horse won the first heat, and Pillsbury's, the second and third. In going around the fourth time Marsh's horse was seen to falter, kick and finally fall and roll into the gutter completely winded. Pillsbury won the race and money. P. M. Moody of Belfast drove the winning horse."53
Horse racing continued here until the close of the fair. The ag- ricultural society discontinued its fairs in 1904 and the owners of the Trotting Park carried them on.
The names of a few of the thoroughbred horses may stir the mem- ories of Unity racing fans and horse lovers. There was "Bay Rolfe", owned by Benjamin R. Hunt of Unity. There was E. J. Vose's "Black Rock", a black stallion which made a record on the Unity track on
47. It was built as early as 1866 and called Stevens' trotting park. He built one on the prairie called "Little Egypt", a smaller track, which has long since been abandoned.
48. Laws of Maine, 1875, Chapter 55, p. 36.
49. Ibid., approved February 8, 1875.
50. Republican Journal, Belfast, July 8, 1875.
51. Hand bill "Grand Opening Unity Trotting Park", July 5, 1875, in possession of author.
52. Ibid., July 8, 1875.
53. Ibid.
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September 28, 1885. His time was 2:31. "Castle Dare" was another popular horse, owned by G. A. Hunt of Unity. "Castle Dare's" record made at Albion was 2:421/2.54
There were a few horses called "Knox Stock" from the famous General Knox. George Pillsbury of Unity owned a black stallion named "Pillsbury Knox" foaled in 1868. Oliver Whitten had a horse "Leadaway." Another horse, "Black Sultan", owned by B. Bussey of Dixmont made startling records in the eighteen seventies. He made a half mile record 1:16 and at Bangor did 2:341/2. Charles Welling- ton's "Iolanthe" was another valuable horse.
Benjamin R. Hunt,55 and his brother Gustavus, George B. Pills- bury, Charles Wellington and Charles J. Vose, were the men mainly interested in horse breeding and driving trotters of recent years. Willis (Bill) Gerrish was one of the last to keep a driving horse in town.
54. J. W. Thompson, Sketches of Noted Maine Horses, Vol. II, Can- ton, 1887, pp. 48, 75. Also see J. W. Thompson, Noted Maine Horses, Past and Present, 1874, Portland.
55. Horses owned by B. R. Hunt, "Black Joe", "Bay Rolfe", "Sour- crout", "Lady Irving", and "Gazelle"; Pillsbury horses, "Baymont Chief", "Singed Cat", "Lady Belle", "Black Ralph", and "Susie P."
CHAPTER XI
TAVERNS, HOTELS AND INNKEEPERS
There was a saying around Unity many years ago referring to cer- tain good people, that "they were so old they could keep tavern," the inference being that inkeeping provided an easy and enjoyable means of making a living. As early as 1805, Benjamin J. Rackliffe was styled "innholder" and some of the first town meetings were held in his tavern.1 Taber's history refers to Clement Rackliffe as a tavernkeeper and Taber wrote that his house was called the "Quaker Hotel."2
The need for an inn or tavern was slight until a stage line between Bangor and Augusta commenced operation about 1821.3 Beginning at that time, stages passed through the town regularly. At a Septem- ber 1827 meeting of the selectmen, treasurer and town clerk, Dr. Rufus Burnham and Hale Parkhurst were licensed "innholders."4 Both men had recently constructed large two-story houses of similar appearance. The Parkhurst dwelling house was known as "Half Way House" and here changes of horses were made before resumption of the journey. Travelers probably often stayed at Burnham's or Parkhurst's taverns, since the trip between the cities was an over- night journey and Unity was estimated about half way between Augusta and Bangor.5
1. Unity Town Records. Probably all that his business amounted to was renting a room to an occasional transient like the circuit rider or a rare traveler.
2. Taber, History of Unity, p. 41. Clement Rackliffe was James R. Taber's grandfather, so this information is probably accurate.
3. History of Penobsot County, p. 698. In 1821 Moses Burleigh established a line of stages between Bangor and Augusta, via Unity. They left Bangor on Thursday at eleven a. m. and reached Augusta Friday at six p. m. On Wednesday a stage left Augusta and reached Bangor at ten in the morning on Thursday. The fare was four dollars and seventy-five cents. Later the proprietors were Moses Burleigh and Spencer Arnold.
4. Unity September 10, 1827. "At a meeting held this day of the selectmen, treasurer and town clerk of said town for purpose we have licensed Hale Parkhurst to be an inn holder in said town until the first Monday of April next ensuing." (Same of Rufus Burnham, Joseph C. Small, Hezekiah Chase, Rufus Burnham, selectmen).
5. Roads were dirt and generally bad. In 1801 a lawyer, William Crosby, described his trip from Waterville to Hampden, "I found the road from Albion to Hampden nearly cross tied and causewayed." (History of Penobscot County, p. 545) In 1810 Joseph Leavitt, "Found the road generally good with the exception of about thirty miles from Unity to Bangor. Twenty miles of the road was intolerably bad and over ten miles his wife rode a hired horse, while he with the help of a man he hired, got his own horse and chaise over it." (Ibid. p. 553).
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In the thirties and forties Thomas Chandler kept a tavern in the village.6 After Chandler's death Mrs. Martha Chandler continued the business calling her establishment the "Temperance House," rather ironic since her husband was allegedly anything but a temperate man. In 1870 when the railroad was put through Daniel Dummer owned this hotel, then called "The Dirigo". James LaBree was the manager.
In 1826 Elijah Winslow built a one-story house on the site of the present hotel, to which later he added another story.7 In the late thirties John L. Seavey bought the house and managed it as a public house. The selectmen licensed Seavey in May 1844 as an innholder "with permission to sell rum, brandy, wine and other strong liquor in his house ... excepting to such persons as are known to use them intemperately and other persons that are prohibited by status."8 John L. Seavey received a flourishing business. As well as his inn, he had two large stables available for the necessary relay of horses.
The stage continued its service until the Belfast Moosehead rail- road commenced business in 1870. Burleigh's stage lines were suc- ceeded by V. D. Pinkham's of Bangor.º A journalist visiting Unity wrote in the fall of 1851:
"Here may be seen staging carried on as it was before the innovation of railroads had faded the ancient glory of the coachman. It is a pleasant thing to see fine teams and coaches which traverse the route whirl up to the door of the hotel where the driver throws the ribbands to other hostlers with that nonchalant air which makes the true whip."10 As a small boy George C. Chase remembered the big Con- cord coach drawn by four swift horses. The coach was "completely filled inside" and passengers rode on the top in seats placed there.11
In 1855 the stage went from Bangor to Waterville. Roads were bet- ter then and the journey was made in eight hours. A branch stage
Another excursion writer for the Eastern Argus, wrote concerning his trip, "From Hampden to Waterville is a little short of fifty miles. The road leads through Newburg, Dixmont, Joy, Unity, Albion, Clin- ton, and Winslow. There was more traveling on this road than I ex- pected and some of the towns had the appearance of having been set- tled longer than I had supposed before. I passed many good farms, some large orchards, many of which were young and just yielding fruit of their usefulness. The road was generally very good but a full propor- tion of New England hills. At Albion the road branches in two direc- tions. A stage runs across from Augusta to Bangor three times a week." Eastern Argus, Portland, Maine, October 18, 1825. “Editorial Excur- sion" number nine.
6. Taber, History of Unity, p. 36. This was on the location where Roy Knights lives. The present house was remodeled in 1889 by Dr. Craig and most of the old house torn down.
7. Kennebec Deeds, Vol. LX, p. 57.
8. Unity Town Records, May 6, 1844.
9. The line was shortened running only from Kendall's Mills to Unity, but discontinued after 1870. (Taber, p. 37) The fare in 1855 between Fairfield and Bangor and Augusta was three dollars; the fare to Unity was one dollar and a half. The stage operated daily except Sunday.
10. Republican Journal, Belfast, September, 1851, "Sketch of Unity."
11. Chase, Twice Told Tales, p. 34.
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A HISTORY OF UNITY, MAINE
left Unity on the arrival of the Bangor stage and carried mail to Augusta. (Maine Register 1855, p. 239) .
Fred Burrill bought the Seavey house and "kept tavern" until he sold it to Daniel Dummer in 1856. From that date until 1871 Dum- mer operated this dwelling as the Central House.12 It was while Dummer was conducting the hotel that Rose Nelson, an attractive sixteen year old girl from Dixmont working at the hotel, was drowned. The tragedy occurred in the latter part of July 1865, while she was playing on the shore of the stream. When she tried to jump to a raft, her full skirts hindered her and she slipped into the stream and drowned.13
In 1871 Dummer sold his tavern stand to Gustavus Hunt, who then sold one-half interest to Thomas J. Whitehouse. Whitehouse had just moved to Unity from China and now took over the management of the Central House. Seven years later the building burned, and Whitehouse bought the other half of the business from Hunt. The same year Whitehouse started rebuilding. Thomas Whitehouse ran his new "Central House" from 1878 until 1891, when the hotel was taken over by Lester Simpson, Walter Twombly, and Benjamin Mud- gett. Walter Twombly acted as landlord and kept the hotel in a "com- fortable and neat appearance."14 In the same paper which praised Mr. Twombly's hospitality, another news item revealed his weakness. Quoting from the paper,
, constable Mears went to Unity, where he made a search and seizure, finding in the possession of Walter Twombly, of that place about fifteen gallons of liquor. Twombly was brought to this city Fri- day, and tried in police court ... on four warrants, viz., search and seizure, common nuisance, common seller, drinking house and tippling shop On the last three warrants he was bound over under two hundred dollars bail, which he furnished.15
In 1903 Fred A. Whitehouse purchased the hotel, and operated the Central House once more under the Whitehouse name. There were accommodations for twenty guests. On August 31, 1918, the doors of the hotel were closed to the public, and it reverted to a private home. After Fred A. Whitehouse's death, his son, Robert R. Whitehouse reopened the hotel in July 1939 under the name of Woodbine Terrace. It was open only during the summer months and closed on Labor Day. During the war the hotel was closed again to
12. Taber, History of Unity, p. 36. Dates not given by Taber are taken from the Maine Register, 1855 and 1856.
13. The picture of the dead girl was in much demand and was found in family photograph albums. There was another tragedy con- nected with the stage. In the spring of 1855 the heavy rains caused the roads to be flooded. Jonathan Parkhurst wrote in his diary about watching the stage come through the high water. This same year an outrider rode horseback ahead of the stage as a guide. Somehow the horse of this particular guide lost his footing, the rider and horse floundered, and the man drowned.
14. Belfast Age, March 5, 1896.
15. Ibid.
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the public; however, in 1947 Mr. Irving J. Judson purchased it and once more turned it into a summer hotel, advertising it as the Judson House. In 1948 and 1949 "Bing" Crosby enjoyed its pleasant atmos- phere, while two decades previously Warren G. Harding and William Jennings Bryan, spoke from the veranda.
CHAPTER XII
WINDERMERE PARK
The eighteen nineties, fondly recalled as the "gay nineties" was an era of civic improvement and one of intense public-mindedness in the town of Unity. Everyone wanted to tear down the old and to put up something new. The ladies of the town formed an improvement league, which built sidewalks, repaired the church, and installed street lights on the main street. In 1891 Fred Whitehouse started a pants factory and Fogg, Fuller and Grant started a Unity Packing Plant. Unfortunately, most of the business schemes were of short dura- tion. But one of the best and most effective ideas characteristic of this period was the development of a piece of real estate.
On a Saturday night of June 1892, a group of nine men met at James Libby Jr's. office and discussed plans for developing a piece of land bordering on the pond. These men were W. G. Fuller, Lind- ley H. Mosher, Crosby Fowler, George W. Clark, Curtis Mitchell, Nathaniel C. Knights, Willis S. Merrick, and A. C. Sibley, whose pur- pose was "buying and selling real estate in said Unity" of leasing and renting real estate, and also "the carriage of freight or passengers, or both upon any waters where this corporation may have a right to navigate." On the twenty-fifth of this month, 1892, their company was incorporated under the name of Unity Lake, Land and Improve- ment Association. They were permitted to issue capital stock up to forty thousand dollars; the stock to sell at par value for ten dollars a share. W. G. Fuller was elected president; N. C. Knight, treasurer and Homer F. Benson, secretary.1 Their plan was to promote a sum- mer resort and recreation park by selling shore lots or cottage lots.
The company bought thirty acres of land of Eben Thompson, who used the area for his sheep pasture,2 an ideal location since it was a pine-covered peninsula jutting into the lake. The land was cleared in the fall of 1893 and spring of 1894. Lots were surveyed for cottages. Meanwhile the stockholders were selling stock to individuals inter- ested in erecting summer residences. Single lots were at first sold for ten dollars, but as the promoters recognized interest developing, the lots were increased to fifty dollars. Dr. Fuller built two cottages about 1895, one of which a few years later was moved and became Mrs. J.
1. Records of Corporations, Office of the Secretary of State, Augus- ta, Maine, Vol. XVIII, pp. 169-170.
2. Miss Lutie Hunt to the author. Each director gave one hundred dollars for the project. Hunt was paid eight hundred dollars.
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WINDERMERE PARK
W. Harmon's cottage.ª Also the Park Lodge was built before any cottages were erected." Charles Cook erected his cottage not long after. Charles Taylor, one of the early cottage builders, named his "Idlewild." Joseph P. Libby bought a lot naming his cottage, "Sun- set". About 1897, the Fred Nichols family built a cottage which they named "Columbia" appropriately shingled and painted in stripes of red, white and blue.5
About 1895 James R. Taber was elected president and Frank Bart- lett, secretary; both retaining their offices until 1909 when James Libby, Jr. and W. G. Fuller succeeded them. By 1896 there were ten or more cottages perched on the rocky, pine-shaded shore. About this time the promoters wanted a name for their successful venture. The name Windermere was suggested by Eliza J. Perley, who had trav- eled abroad. She had either been impressed by the beauty of the name, or visualized a comparison with the famous lake in England of this name; hence, the appellation Windermere, which pleased the proprietors, and thereafter the area became generally known as Win- dermere Park.“
Not long after Taber assumed leadership, the company authorized building a reservoir at a spring about a mile from the Park and piping water to the cottages and hotel." The park became a popular resort for outings, picnics and celebrations. Summer tourists came for va- cations and enjoyed the fishing and boating on the lake. During the first two years the hotel was under the management of John Van Deets; in 1896 Craig and White of Dixmont became proprietors. The season opened in June, and the guests paid a dollar a day for board and lodging.
One of the guests was killed early in the morning on the four- teenth of August 1896. Two families staying at the hotel were the Shannons and Bartletts, close friends. Benjamin Bartlett was a prom- ising lawyer from Kansas City who had come east for his vacation to his father's boyhood home. Herbert Shannon, young Harvard stu- dent, had spent his previous summers with his parents in Unity. Both friends and good sportsmen, one of them proposed going duck hunting early in the morning. The fourteenth was a typical Maine August morning, foggy and overcast in the early hours. Bartlett, Shannon and a Mr. Jewell left the hotel, carefully walking along the ledgey shore just below the hotel. Evidently the fog was lifting, for they
3. Harmon's cottage burned, June 1916.
4. Probably the hotel was built in 1893, certainly by 1894. An an- nex was added later to the botel.
5. Other cottages were owned by, Mrs. Jennie Dodge, Willis Mer- rick, Ida Whitehouse, James Merrick, Knowles Bangs; three sisters, Mrs. Charles Taylor, Mrs. Curtis Mitchell, and Mrs. Thomas Park- hurst owned "Rockhurst", jointly; Edwin Rand and others.
6. Letter from Annie Libby Tilton dated October 1949 to author.
7. Taber, History of Unity, p. 74. The men in charge of this work were: Charles Baker, L. H. Mosher and J. R. Taber. The spring was located on the farm of Gardiner Webb. This was across the road from the Fred Hunt farm.
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A HISTORY OF UNITY, MAINE
spied three loons out on the lake. Each hunter agreed to take a shot. Shannon stood behind Bartlett who had just dropped to his knees as a precaution not to alarm the birds. Shannon's shotgun was slung through his arm. Somehow as he started to raise it, the trigger caught on his clothing and discharged. The shell entered Bartlett's back and came out his abdomen making a terrible wound in his side. They hailed for help. Mr. Van Deets put his hand over the wound to stop the blood flow, but it was useless. Bartlett died within a few minutes. It was an accident and naturally upset young Shannon, who was an exceedingly fine young man.8
The Unity Lake, Land and Improvement Association had an active trade until approximately 1910. The following years were less active and the directors mortgaged the hotel to Everett Libby. Later Mrs. G. L. Woodworth acquired the property from him. The Woodworth family still holds the hotel, but now it is chiefly maintained as a private summer residence. Today there are many cottages along the lake shore mostly owned or rented by non-resident vacationers who spend their summers in idle enjoyment.
THE GORHAM CLOUGH CHARITABLE ASSOCIATION
At the same time that the cottages were arising in the park, a group of the G.A.R. veterans formed an organization known as the Veterans' Charitable Association.º These men led by Dr. Billings of Freedom resolved upon the plan of forming a company, and selling shares in order to construct "a building in Windermere Park for the use and accommodation of said association."10 At the meeting of October twenty-fifth "Comrade" Adoniram Judson Billings was elected presi- dent,11 Robert B. Cookson, secretary; W. C. Rowe, vice president; and Joseph B. Libby, treasurer. By-laws were drawn up. At first they voted to be known as the "Veterans' Charitable Association," that they issue a thousand shares of stock at a par value of two dollars and a half each to be nonassessable. All persons holding one of the cer- tificates of stock were entitled to membership and accorded one vote.12
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