USA > Maine > Hancock County > Northeast Harbor > Northeast Harbor; reminiscences > Part 2
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
And that simple word "supper" brings to mind a curious bit of evidence showing the strength of Bishop Doane's personal in- fluence. Bar Harbor early graduated from the midday dinners and country suppers of its huge caravansaries and of its first sum- mer folk, and settled into the ways of that world which lunches at noontide and dines
35
at night. But the Bishop was very strenu- ous in his efforts to maintain the "Simple Life" in our part of the Island, and he re- garded the apparently innocent late dinner as an entering wedge of city life, and there- fore as a corrupting influence to be kept out. So we all dutifully followed his lead-some of us even till now-and supper it was, all through our colony. To be sure, there may have been, even then, a bit of camouflage about it :- "Of course," said one of our most brilliant hostesses, "of course, I am perfectly willing to put my soup into cups, and call it supper, to please the Bishop,"- but, all the same, we did it, and the influ- ence of the Bishop's wishes is still traceable among us to this day, some score of years since his death. New-comers, to whom his name is but a faint tradition, may un- ashamedly invite you to "dinner at eight," but I suspect that the majority use the old shibboleth still. Possibly there is a touch
36
of fraud in it. Is the call the call of supper, but the food the food of dinner? Perhaps. But it's a pious fraud, that shames nobody, and keeps a memory alive.
Such were our simple habits as we settled, one after another, on our various favorite spots, and built our houses, and became "regular summer inhabitants." As to our land titles, few lands have a finer pedigree than ours: "Aunt Hannah's Pasture," for example, no longer supports its cows of the eighties, and is now largely overgrown with trees and houses; but those who own it have only some six main deeds between them and the grant from his "Most Chris- tian Majesty, Louis, King of France, Pro- tector of the Faithful," etc., etc. Whether his Majesty had any title to grant may not be quite clear to historians, but it satisfies the conveyancers; which is the main point, after all. And if the monarchs of those
37
early days did have a bad habit of giving away what did not belong to them-well, the defrauded, if there were any, are so long dead now, that we can do nothing about it, and may as well sleep on our acres in peace, safety, and good conscience!
38
ROADS AND TRAVEL
But to return to the general picture and to the year 1882. There was then only one good road from Northeast Harbor to Bar Harbor, that between the Hadlock Ponds and through Brown Mountain Notch north- ward to the head of the Sound, where it met the road running from west to east, by the head of Eagle Lake, to Bar Harbor. Trans- portation was by many buckboards, and a few single-horsed "buggies"-a two hours' trip by the former and perhaps an hour and a half by the latter.
There was no change till about 1895
39
when Mr. Gardiner, who was a skilled engi- neer by profession, built for Mr. Cooksey, through lands owned by him, the road now known as the "Cooksey Drive," from Seal Harbor along the cliffs and through the woods toward Bar Harbor. This road was a revelation to the dwellers on the Island, for up till this time the roads had been built in the usual country fashion, up hill and down, as the general course might run, and "repaired" by annual scrapings of the dirt from the gutters into the middle. But people were quick to learn, and every road built since has profited by this lesson.
A few years later the somewhat wild county road eastward from Seal Harbor was rebuilt with skillfully made grades and sur- faces, and this relieved the travel on the Cooksey Drive, which was really private property, though practically open, most of the time, to general use.
40
Between these two periods came Mrs. Gardiner's brilliant project of a road along the Sound, dug out of the rocky side of Brown Mountain. Her husband laid it out, and it was built under his supervision, a little at a time, as subscriptions came in for the purpose. It is now called the "Sargeant Drive," as a memorial to Mr. S. D. Sargeant, one of the early summer settlers.
Finally, a few years ago, Mr. Rockefeller built the Jordan's Pond Road, from Jor- dan's Pond to the County Road near the head of Eagle Lake, for motor traffic.
And here perhaps is the place to say the three things that may be safely said about the many miles of roads, for horse-drawn vehicles only, which Mr. Rockefeller has built and is building, partly through his own lands and partly through the lands of Acadia Park.
41
And the first is that they are greatly liked by the permanent inhabitants, because of the welcome work which these roads give, and by some of the older summer residents, who enjoy driving on them, and by the young in the saddle.
And the second is that they are greatly disliked by very many persons, especially by the walking and climbing groups, because of the invasion of their beloved wildernesses, and because of the gashes which mar the sides of the mountains.
And the third thing is that, a generation from now, these gashes will have been largely hidden by weathering of the rocks and by the growth of trees, and that these feelings will have been largely hidden by the years that will have flowed over them, and that these roads will be used by somebody in some way or another; and that the ques- tion, by whom, and how, is a question that
42
rests on the knees of the gods; and there we can best leave it.
The Island and the Legislature were for several years the scenes of combat between the automobile and the horse-a combat naturally won by the beast with the steel skeleton and the gasoline lungs. But it was a brave fight. Many of us thought-and some of us still think-that one large island left in all this vast continent, where one could come and live the simple life of ante- motor days, free from their noise and smell and risk, might not be an excessive propor- tion. And so, we propounded this view to successive town meetings, where we were successful, and to successive Legislatures, where we were not successful.
The fight had its amusing moments. President Eliot, who always came with us to Augusta for the hearings, had written a book extolling the many beauties of the
43
Island. "Sir," said the opposing counsel, "would you hinder the millions of your fel- low countrymen, traveling by motor, from entering the Island and enjoying those beau- ties?" The honors were not with us at that moment.
The Legislature was moderately favor- able, but they could not resist the pressure of the powerful automobile associations, who would not permit such a precedent to be established. So motors now possess the place and the young can begin a dance at Northeast and finish it at Bar Harbor, which is doubtless a great gain-only aged in- habitants are not expected to be especially enthusiastic about it.
In any event, the victory was most com- plete and final; for no one who has become accustomed to thirty odd miles an hour can ever thereafter be persuaded to travel behind a horse-not even if that horse were Black Beauty himself.
44
Such were the approaches by land. In the early days, one drove over these roads from Bar Harbor or even from Ellsworth in a heavily loaded buckboard. Now we come over their new concrete surface in the rush- ing motors. A far cry between those days and this. Yet how little these modern trav- ellers know of the pleasure of driving with Captain Corson and his horses, in the old days, or with Mr. Herrick in the new, and listening to their talk, always interesting and often brilliant. No modern motorist, with his eye on the road and his ear on the engine, could possibly equal them.
The approach by sea was no easier. For many years no steamer landed passengers on the island except at Southwest Harbor and Bar Harbor. Mrs. Hill writes of this early time :-
"The first steamer service began about 1850. Captain Charles Deering was the pioneer of a
45
steamer route along the coast of Maine as far east as Milbridge, and later, with a larger steamer, to Machias. . .. In those days Mrs. Adelma Joy, and her sister, Mrs. Kate Whitmore, had a dry goods store at Northeast Harbor. Each spring they went to Boston to buy merchandise; and the first landing ever made at Northeast Harbor was near the site of the present steamboat wharf by the 'City of Richmond,' to let these ladies come ashore on their return from market."
Anyone who will stand today on the steamship wharf and look southward along the shore can see the wharf-like ledge on which the steamer's boats-crew must have landed these pioneer passengers.
Save, however, for such pampered favor- ites of Captain Deering, all passengers, for many years, were obliged to land at "South- west," and be rowed over to our village in a small boat. One of our life-long summer residents is often reminded of first arriving at this happy island in a clothes basket
46
perched safely in the bow of Mr. Kimball's rowboat. And having been, at the time, of the tender age of five months, this sum- mer resident has no memory to set against the tale.
Some years later, an alternative process was created by the owners of the "Bangor Boat" from Boston, by putting on a con- necting steamer to take passengers from Rockland to various landings on this island and those lying along the route. By this line the passenger had the happy privilege of dragging himself at the crack of dawn from his bunk on the Boston boat, landing at Rockland, and spending many weary hours on the steamer "Mt. Desert" before being landed toward noon on our new Steamboat Wharf.
Truly, Mount Desert, like many other joys, is not easy of attainment.
47
During two or three happy years there was an exception to this, which grew, curi- ously enough, out of the wrath of two men.
The legend runs that Mr. Plant, owner of a Southern line of steamers, found him- self in Boston on the way to Bar Harbor and wished to have a special car put on the train for him. His request was refused, and he appealed to Mr. Mellen, the head of the rail- road system. He was again refused. Both men were used to having their own way, and both had active tempers. "I'll fix your road for you," says Mr. Plant, and sends for his steamer "Olivette," lying idle in the South during the summer, and puts it on the route from Boston to Bar Harbor, in oppo- sition to the railroad. Great was our rejoic- ing, for we sailed from Boston at six, dined at seven, and transferred at sea the next morning, off Schooner Head, to the small steamer then heading for Northeast on its
48
morning trip, and landed there in time for an eight o'clock breakfast. But the wrath of man abates, and at the end of two years the "Olivette" returned to the South, be- loved by passengers and cursed by coasting craft, several of which she had cut down.
Thus we returned to our old ways, and there we are still, save only in one respect.
Many years ago the "Mt. Desert" van- ished from the scene, and the much larger steamer "J. T. Morse" took her place on the route from Rockland to Bar Harbor. This newcomer contains good staterooms; and the wily traveller from Boston, who suspects a foggy night and fears a sleep-ban- ishing serenade of fog whistles, takes the afternoon train to Rockland, goes peace- fully to bed in one of these staterooms, sleeps soundly while the steamer lies at the vacant dock, listens indifferently to the
49
bustle of sailing in the morning, enjoys a late breakfast in a sunshiny cabin and lands without a shade of the weariness of his sea- going brother who sailed from Boston.
By so much have the young gained on their elders.
50
THE WELL AND THE WATER
The well by the Kimball House has already been mentioned as supplying water for the bath. But it also supplied water for drinking; with the result that several mem- bers of Bishop Doane's household fell seri- ously ill, and the water was analyzed and condemned. What was to be done? The answer was simple and brief. The Hadlock Ponds lay high above the village level and daily poured scores of thousands of wasted gallons of purest waters into the Sound through Hadlock Brook-of course, bring these waters down in a pipe! No sooner said
51
than done. A water company was formed by Mr. Gardiner, a charter procured, the stock subscribed for, and the pipes bought and laid, and all seemed well.
But consumers multiplied and fears of shortage arose. The Hadlock Ponds are not very large, and being fed only by a water- shed from rocks, with little reserve capacity, they can fall dangerously low in a dry sea- son. So the company obtained a charter empowering them to tap Jordan Pond, a much larger body of water.
Now Seal Harbor also obtained a charter to draw water from Jordan Pond, and, the law being that, with equal rights, the first to exercise the right and lay the pipe took permanent precedence, it became a question of "first come, first served."
The result can be best described in the words of one of the workers :-
52
"We knew that the Seal Harbor people had or- dered their pipes and that they were on the way, but we hoped ours would arrive first. We were rudely awakened one night, when shortly after midnight we heard the fog whistle of a tug ap- proaching Seal Harbor. 'It must be towing their barge-load of pipes,' we said. What was to be done ? 'Have we no pipes we can use ?' 'No, un- less we take that pile of old discarded pipe recently taken up.' 'Very well, use that, and get teams and load them up,' ordered the boss ; and we did it, and started for Jordan Pond in the darkness. It was then after one, but the fog whistle of the tug was still going, showing that their barge had not yet reached shore. Two o'clock, and we were at the Pond. The whistles had stopped, but the pipes were still to be landed and loaded. So we worked like beavers getting the pipes in. Three o'clock and it was done and the water running through them. Then at last the Seal Harbor crew appeared with their loads; but too late. Our rights were secured. It was a fine contest, but there were no hard feelings after the first chagrin of defeat."
53
The final result was a merger of the two companies and a joining of the two pipe lines, and all was well. Both villages have had "water to waste" and the Water Com- pany stocks have paid good dividends down to the present day.
Having got the water into the town, the next question was to get rid of it when you were done with it. I recall several visits to Northeast in the nineties and later, to pre- sent the need of extending the iron sewer- pipe, that drains the whole settlement, well out into deep water; where it is now, meet- ing the strong tidal sweep. The town meet- ings were at first held in the little hall at Somesville. I remember my despair at the hurly-burly and apparent chaos of the gath- ering. I was hopeless of getting them to attend to so prosaic a subject. But when that article of the warrant was reached, lo, a sudden calm fell; the meeting resolved it-
54
self into a silent "committee of the whole," listened carefully and voted generously.
These trips were hard experiences, for March here is really still winter. At a later meeting, my counsel, Mr. Hall from Ells- worth, had a most exciting trip and a very narrow escape, having taken the road on Brown Mountain, along the Sound, where the ice, from the melting snows above, had filled the road with a solid mass, sloping down to the top of the then wooden fence; and only the top rail of this fence had kept his sleigh from slipping off into the Sound!
But it was worth any hardship I suffered to see the Island in its winter garb-the snow lying white on the flat ledges, trickling in dark wetness over the sloping rocks, with the evergreens black from the cold, and con- trasting with the white of the birches and the grey of the beeches. A striking picture, more vivid than the gentler hues of summer.
1.1
55
RELIGION
Whatever was the case later on, the early settlers were a religious people. Here is the testimony of Mrs. F. I. Phillips :-
"The early settlers of Mt. Desert seem to have been of good hardy stock, law abiding and indus- trious. They were more faithful to remember the Sabbath Day, and keep it holy, than many of their descendants at the present time. I remember my grandmother Savage telling me that she, with her sisters and others, in their younger days, had gone to religious meetings from Northeast Harbor to the Center many times; they would go in a boat across to Norwood's Cove, thence by a blazed trail through the woods. Also that they were so careful
56
of their shoes and stockings that they would take them in their hands, and put them on when they got nearly to the Church. In my mother's girlhood days Southwest Harbor was the center for religious services, which were held at the old white church at Manset. Many of the inhabitants of Northeast Harbor owned pews in the church there and in summer time it was customary for everyone who could to go over by boat to meeting. I remember having been in the church only once. I was very young, but I can remember the music. The choir sat in the balcony at the back of the church and Mr. Butler, my aunt's husband, played on a big bass viol. I think there were other instruments."
But at the time when Bishop Doane settled here there was no church within miles, and no one seemed willing to travel these miles to attend a service of any kind. Profoundly moved by this situation, the Bishop never rested till there was built a simple, wooden, slab-covered, little church, where the present "St. Mary's" now stands.
57
This church was made possible by many friendly gifts, the greatest of all coming from his sister-in-law, Mrs. Edward Per- kins, who spent the last year of her life at Northeast Harbor. It also carried on the memory of the Bishop's younger daughter, whose grave was originally just outside the east end of the building, marked by the Iona Cross which is now within the new and larger church.
The Bishop naturally hoped to interest the village people in his church, and the Smallidges and the Fraziers and some others joined; but on the whole the people pre- ferred to remain Baptists and Methodists, to his natural disappointment. But a rapidly increasing body of summer visitors soon filled the church beyond its capacity and led to the building of the present stone structure.
Some years later the "Union Church" was built by subscription, and soon after
58
that the Catholic Church, and all three soon prospered greatly.
But the people of Northeast Harbor have not been content to live only with the con- ventional service of churches. They have developed other things, some of them al- most unique.
One of the most individual is the series of "Sunset Services," where the children sit on the ground and their elders stand about them, one of the boys reads a passage from the Bible, several hymns are sung, and then all listen to a simple address from one of the many men of mark who come here. "Sim- ple" the address must be; but to hold the attention of children and at the same time stir the interest of their elders does not mean that it is an easy thing to do. These services began many years ago on the grounds of Mr. Arnold (where Mr. Symington now lives) , but, finally, so many children came to
59
sit on the rugs and so many elders came to stand about, that they were crowded out of that limited shore and moved to the larger grounds of Mr. Cromwell, where they now meet, with the sunset coming to them over
the Jesuit Field across the Sound. Those zealous fathers might not have approved the doctrine, but they surely would not have quarreled with the spirit of these meetings.
Another striking feature is the "Sunday Evening Club," whose meetings in the local theatre bring in many who really take more interest in things of the spirit than they know themselves, but to whom a church stands as something "not in their line."
All these things, taken together, show as complete a change from the state of this town in 1882 as can be well imagined.
Although it is all too recent to come under the head of reminiscences, I cannot omit recording one of the most encouraging
60
signs of the time. The Baptists, the Meth- odists and the Presbyterians in this and the surrounding villages have come together in a "Larger Parish," and are ministered to by two able and active young clergymen, as- sisted by a lady who has charge of the Sun- day Schools and kindred work. I am glad to say that I do not know from what Divin- ity School these two zealous workers came -- and nobody else seems to wish to know. A cheering portent in the religious sky!
61
BOOKS AND SPORTS
In secular enterprises comes the "Li- brary," not a public library in any sense- that is a needed addition yet to be made in the town-but a private Book Club, on a large scale, with a pleasant building where- in to house their books and to meet and read their magazines.
Then there is the "Neighborhood House," whose name implies its calling, which har- bors many doings, winter and summer, from lectures and theatricals to basketball and bowling, with rooms beside for the Red Cross Nurse and the Mothers' Club.
62
These are all more or less "things of the spirit"; but the body is by no means neg- lected. The swimming pool, devised by Mrs. Gardiner over thirty years ago, and run ever since under the eye of the never- tiring Miss Wood, brings all the young, and some of the old, to a daily meeting-place. Those who now use it as a matter of course do not realize how desperate was the condi- tion for the children before we had it, with the water on our shores sometimes in the forties and seldom rising above fifty de- grees, thoroughly chilling and discouraging the child before the swimming lesson was really begun. So shocking was it to let a generation grow up by the sea without learning to swim, that Mr. Peabody aban- doned his house here for one season and moved to the warm waters of Cape Cod. "When the children had progressed so far that I could push the boy suddenly off the float and have him come up smiling, then I
63
moved back to Northeast," was the account he gave of the venture.
This swimming pool was built wholly by private subscription, and when com- pleted the subscribers thought innocently that their job was done. But it was soon discovered that the "neap tides" left it half empty at low water, and flooded it with cold sea water at high, and they had to go deeper into their generous pockets for an electric pump and other devices to balk the forgot- ten vagaries of the moon.
But all these things are here today, to be seen by all men, and need not be dwelt on. Reminiscences are not needed of things seen.
Of course we have sports of all kinds. But the story of them is less a treatise on games than a sermon on the fickleness of the American people.
64
In the very beginning baseball filled the modest desire of the summer folk. Many a match was arranged by Mr. Arthur Brooks and Mr. Langdon Marvin on Tracy's Field, at the head of the Cove. But not for long did this satisfy. The golf fever broke out as far back as thirty-odd years ago, and nothing would do but fairways and bunkers and putting-greens of the best that a land of hills permitted. More than that, a club house was built with lockers and meeting- rooms where all the world came on Satur- days for afternoon tea and talk. This lasted for several years, and then, presto-all change to tennis! A forest of wire fencing appeared about many courts, and again a club house was built, bigger and finer than the other, and the world migrated to the new one for their Saturday afternoon teas, and the golf course became an empty space, where, for several years, not a soul was seen to play except Mr. Diston, Mr. Cabot and
65
Mr. Parkman. Was that the end? Not at all. A few years later there came a recur- rence of the golf fever; so violent that noth- ing would do but a longer and finer course. Money was again contributed and many acres of young forest were uprooted bodily and the surface soiled and sown and sodded -as may be seen today. Will it last? Per- haps. But it is already noted that this course is the only piece of level ground in this mountainous region fit for a flying field.
It really is quite a little sermon.
On the sea our record is a little better. We began, of course, with the sailing sloop, pure and simple. Captain McLane, after he re- tired from the Navy, used to spend his sum- mers here, in the square cottage near the Rock End, and he led the fleet with his large sloop. He became our acknowledged Com- modore, although he cared more for the sail- ing, as such, than for the racing; which he
66
left largely to the younger men and the young women-for both sexes raced. And many a good race we had with these sloops, the only drawback being the careless way in which the wind would sometimes die out toward sunset, and leave us on a glassy sea, with only an "ash breeze" to get home with.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.