USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Sebago Lake Land in history, legend & romance > Part 7
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It is somewhat difficult to place the first actual permanent settler in South Bridgton. Quite likely it was Enoch Perley, son of Thomas Perley, one of the proprietors. Enoch came in 1775, and settled on the farm that has since borne his name. This was the pioneer who built the first framed dwel- ling, to be erected in the town, at the foot of what was then called Prospect Mountain, but which has since carried his name. The house consisted of only one room about eighteen feet square. Overhead was a small chamber reached through a trap door by a pull-up ladder. A trap door also opened into a small cellar. Here he lived alone in the woods, ranging the forest for deer and bears, reading, writing poetry, and drawing charts of the surrounding territory on
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birch bark. It was to this house that he welcomed his bride in 1777. This historical and venerable old habitation was rescued from oblivion by Walter Hawkins of Bridgton Village and reassembled on his estate. The original fireplace was replaced by one found in the nearby town of Denmark. Notable is the pumpkin pine mantel, old-time latches, an oil painting of its original occupant, Squire Perley, and an original deed in his handwriting.
A few rods from the Perley Farm is a little private burial ground where several generations of the Perley family lie. One tombstone is inscribed "Cloe Perley, a Woman of Color". She lived as a servant with the family from 1778, to the time of her death in 1829. As was often the custom in those days, she adopted the family name of her master.
An interesting story is recorded of the building of the South Bridgton church in 1825, which is somewhat indica- tive of building customs in those early days. The labor account shows among the subsequent temperance reformers, the following items: - Asahel Cram furnishes one gallon of gin, Jonathan Fessenden two quarts of rum, Enoch Perley spirits, forty cents.
On one of the hidden trails on Perley Mountain is revealed a unique stone bear trap, built by Squire Enoch Perley, and said to be the only one existing in the State of Maine. Some interesting examples of early Maine architecture are the old Peabody Mansion on the old Sebago Stage Road, built tradition claims, in 1784, and the venerable stone house on the Roosevelt Highway built in 1839.
The scenery in and around South Bridgton is very delight- ful. From Ingall's Hill the eye can range over a vast extent of scenic beauty with the White Mountains of New Hampshire in the background.
Fear of Indians prevented rapid settlement in this terri- tory, and sometimes the pioneers went with their families to the Pearsontown Fort at Standish for protection. The vil- lage of Bridgton Center began to be settled in 1789, when
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William Sears of Beverly, Massachusetts purchased two lots and erected a grist-mill at Highland Lake, then Crotched Pond. He opened the first tavern in town, which later became the "Pondicherry House". A meeting house was finished in 1798, which served the joint purpose of church and town-house, until erection of the new church thirty-six years later. In 1800 Bridgton Center had its first post-office, and by 1811, the little hamlet had increased to a dozen dwellings.
Sixty years later we find a party of travelers from Plymouth, New Hampshire, alighting from a balloon piloted by Professor King, the famous aeronaut, at the door of the old hotel, in the midst of a busy and populous village which was already beginning to acquire a reputation as a manu- facturing center. It was also the headquarters of the Sebago Lake Steam Navigation Company, which early built a fleet of steamers for service on the lakes. In the center of the village is the old Cumberland Hotel which has catered to tourists and stage-coach travelers for more than a century. It is the outgrowth of what was once the Rufus Chase boarding-house, built in 1841.
There is a romantic story surrounding an old willow tree which occupies a spot on the Ingalls place on Bridgton Ridge. In 1794, when the state was still a part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Mrs. Richard Ingalls, the wife of the pioneer who settled the farm, returned from a visit to her father at Marblehead, Massachusetts, which journey she made on horseback with her infant son.
Upon her arrival home she stuck into the ground her wil- low whip plucked from a tree in Marblehead, and after the manner of willows, it took root and fast grew into a large tree. In 1851, in order to make way for the erection of a building, it was necessary to cut down the tree, but a shoot of it was cut off by the grandson, and stuck into the ground at another place. This in time grew into an enormous willow
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tree, twelve feet in circumference, with an equally enormous height and spread.
No story of Bridgton would be complete without some mention of the Bridgton and Harrison Railroad, known as the Narrow Gauge, which connected the outside world with that section of the country. It was built in 1883, at a time when there was a great deal of freight shipped from the Bridgton mills, and it operated sixteen miles of track to meet the Mountain Division at Bridgton Junction.
Built at a cost of $193,868, the road was sold in 1913, to the Maine Central Railroad, which operated it as a branch line. An extention to Harrison built in 1898, was abandoned in 1930. The coming of good roads, automobiles, and bus service, and the further decline in the industrial life of the town, changed the conditions and fortunes of the railroad. In 1940, the road was still in operation, the only two-foot gauge in the country then in commercial service, but was later discontinued.
The first train over the road was run on January twenty- first, 1883, and caused a great celebration. The local paper headlined the story with, "Bridgton and the Outside World at Last Connected", and published the following jingle :-
"And hark! through the valley, o'er hillside and plain, The thunder is heard of the Narrow Gauge train; And cheers and huzzas from the spirited throng Greet the advent of Progress now booming along. Eureka! the shriek of its engine declares, And Bridgton Redeemed is the motto it bears."
Considerable amusement and entertainment was afforded to his guests by the late James A Chute, a sporting camp proprietor at Naples, who used to round up a group for what he called "Playing at Railroading". He would charter the old Narrow Gauge Railroad, and members of the party, dressed to fit the parts, would have the privilege of taking
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over the jobs connected with running the train, for a sixteen mile jaunt to Hiram. Various stunts were performed for the enlivenment of the journey, such as a comic "Jesse James" holdup by two men placed on the track in advance by Mr. Chute. On rounding one point they would come upon a brightly dressed tramp, sitting in the center of the rails, who would refuse to let the train pass until he got food, where- upon he was given a large beef bone. Then "Old Eight", venerable old engine, went on her way.
North Bridgton is noted for its picturesque setting and scenery, and also for its famous old Academy, with a history reaching back further than the State of Maine. It has a long list of graduates who have attained distinction in this state and elsewhere. Robert Peary, the famed discoverer of the North Pole was a student here, as well as Seba Smith, author-journalist, and John Anderson, Massachusetts gover- nor during the Civil War. Incorporated by the Legislature of Massachusetts in 1808, it received a donation of state land. The Academy had no building of its own at the begin- ning of its career, but classes were held in a room up two flights in the old Masonic Building.
North Bridgton was the site of the original Kimball Tavern in 1768, and its first store was built by a man named Andrews. It was located at the boat landing at the extreme end of Long Lake, and had a great attraction for the old- time canal boatmen and country teamsters, for Andrews sold good old rum for three cents a glass.
Bridgton was the early center of the Summer Camping Industry, which started many years ago, when Charles E. Cobb opened his Wyonegonic Camp along the shore of Highland Lake, and today the camping business is its staple industry with more than eighty boys' and girls' camps in the neighborhood. In the winter this section is the center of the snow sports area of this part of Maine, with a thirty thousand dollar development.
It is the trading center for the many summer and winter
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visitors of these environs, and has excellent recreation facili- ties. Sufficiently removed from all the larger centers, it affords ample opportunity for seclusion and quiet for those who seek a restful vacation.
ON a little country road, a short distance from the present center of Harrison, in a quiet, ancient burying-ground, lies the body of the "First Settler of Harrison", John Carsley. History tells us that in 1792, he and his brother Nathan made the first opening in the forest and erected a rude camp, which should serve as a shelter until they could make a per- manent home, upon the lands that they had selected. In the spring of the following year, they returned to the spot, haul- ing their wives, their camping utensils, and the household goods on handsleds, as the rude paths were far too narrow to permit the passage of oxen or horse teams.
It must have been a long, arduous, and perilous journey from their home in Gorham to Harrison, then a part of Otisfield. Although this is not recorded, it is interesting to speculate by which route they traveled. There was available the narrow trail, then called the Pearsontown Road, just sufficiently wide for travel by horse, which went from Standish to Bridgton by way of Sebago woods. Or they could have journeyed by the eastern path, by way of Windham and Raymond Town. One can imagine, perhaps, the little cavalcade starting from the old "carrying place" at Standish, during the hours of a bright March day, and crossing ice-covered Sebago Lake to the further shores of the long Raymond Cape.
The season for tapping the sugar maple trees was at hand, and they came prepared to make maple sugar, for which purpose they had erected their camp among the maples. The hardy pioneer family found "Harrison" a dense wilder- ness, with no sound to disturb the primeval forest but the
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music of the waterfall and the roar of wild beasts. However these pioneers were well-acquainted with hardships, skilled in woodcraft and the use of the musket, possessed of strong constitutions, and were capable of great endurance. As an example of their hardiness, it is recorded that a younger brother Seth Carsley, a mere lad of eleven years, drove a six-ox team through the rough paths and across Long Lake on the ice to Bridgton, for lumber with which to build their home.
Following the advent of the Carsley family came Simeon Caswell, a Revolutionary soldier, in 1797. He settled on a farm, since then occupied by at least four generations of his descendents. Mr. Caswell, the pioneer, was doubtless a good way from being a devotee of any form of religion, but was probably a thinker and somewhat of a philosopher. It is re- lated that at one time in the last days of his life, a pious neigh- bor called on him, professing to feel some concern about his spiritual-mindedness. "Have you made your peace with God?", asked the neighbor. "Peace! Made peace with God," repeated the old man, "Why, I hain't never been at war with Him!"
The village of Harrison was named in honor of the Hon. Harrison Gray Otis of Boston. In 1805, that part of Bridgton lying on the east side of Long Lake, about eighty- five hundred acres, was taken off to form the new township, with that part of Otisfield on the west side of Crooked River. The first settler of Harrison Village itself was James Sampson, who came there in 1800. He was an active pioneer, and did much to encourage the settlement of the town. It was his grandson, Captain Christopher Sampson, who cap- tained the steamer "Fawn", the first steam passenger boat to run on the lakes.
Captain Benjamin Foster is said to have been the first man in town to keep a store. It was located in South Harrison, and his establishment also served as a tavern. It was a notor- ious place where many stories were told, and "much ardent
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spirit was imbibed". A great local event in the spring was "river-driving", and this tavern was the headquarters of loggers, boatmen, and teamsters in the vicinity, and many curious and amusing scenes were enacted there.
At one time the tavern was full of river-drivers and trav- elers, among them being a well-known character, a certain negro "doctor", who used to travel over the country, dispers- ing his "herbs and potions". He applied for accommodations for himself and his horse, and as was the custom during a storm, it was thought best not to turn him away. No sooner was the darky finished with his supper, than the sport began, and the rivermen proceeded to make life miserable for him. Befuddled with drink, the tormented "doctor" resolved to brave the elements and to go on in the storm to some other shelter, where he might find company more to his liking. So he called for his horse, and the jokers, as a gesture of pre- tended friendship, volunteered to see that it was properly saddled and brought to the door.
In place of the darky's steed they saddled a frisky young bull from the barn. The Negro was informed that his horse was ready, and with the darkness and in his condition, he failed to detect the difference. His saddle-bags were put in place and the reins carefully placed in his hands. "I thank you all for your kindness," said the colored man to his make believe friends, "and now I bids you all goodnight, gemmen." The bull was released and with a wild bellow of fright, made a dash for the barn, and in short order the rider was flung into the mud and filth, to the accompaniment of the specta- tors' mirth.
An early problem that the town authorities had to contend with in those times was the straying of cattle, that were allowed to run at large. A town "pound" was built, and stray cows, pigs, and sheep were captured and placed in the pound at the owner's expense, until they were claimed.
A custom which suggested slavery, was the early care of the poor. They actually auctioned off the services of the
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unfortunate, in the same manner that slaves were sold. A typical instance is recorded as follows :- "April 5, 1819, set up George Edwards and family at vendue to the lowest bid- der, oldest child bid off by Morrill Hobbs at sixty-five cents per week. Youngest by Morrill Hobbs at seventy-five cents per week. Edwards and wife and one child bid off by Ahira Sampson at one dollar and seventy cents per week."
Harrison Village attained increased importance with the opening of the Cumberland and Oxford Canal in 1830, which gave it a waterway connection with the outside world, and made it a port of the surrounding towns. The head of the canal was there, and large warehouses were built at the wharf to store the supplies from many back towns, which were held there until the heavy teams could take them to their destination, and also to store the freight brought by the canal boats from Portland awaiting distribution. In conse- quence the village became quite a business mart, and pre- sented a lively appearance. A large tavern was built for the accommodation of the milling throng, and around its ample fire joyous and hilarious meetings were held by the story- tellers.
George Pierce built the first large storehouse at the land- ing wharf in 1832, which had the reputation of being the first building of any size or importance in Harrison to be built without the use of liquor. Temperance minded, he refused to furnish the customary rum, and was compelled to hire men to do the "raising". Among those who refused to assist in the "raising" because liquor was not to be furnished was a minister of the gospel !
A thriving industry in Harrison in the good old days was barrel making, and the little communities in which they were made, usually bordering the lake, were known as “barrel towns". It was from these places that there came most of the barrels which constituted one of Maine's most important articles of export. Thousands of cords of pine went into
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shooks, that were packed and shipped to the West Indies, where they were used for sugar and molasses.
Every man in the barrel towns knew how to form staves out of split pine, narrower at each end than in the middle. He also knew how to make hoops of birch cut lengthwise, or if ash, split and bent. The cracker barrel, stage property of homespun scenes in a country store, was an heir of the old- fashioned flour barrel, about which the Farmer's Almanac waxed sarcastic, advising the farmer not to sit on the con- venient roost at the corner grocery so long that he needed to take patent medicines. "How do you spend your evenings", it asked the farmer, "Do you sit in an easy chair and sleep, or do you sit on the end of a flour-barrel at the corner groc- ery, and gossip about your neighbors"?
Prior to and after the Civil War, Harrison was distinguish- ed as a center for a various assortment of industries such as wire-making, manufacturing farm machinery, and extensive saw and grain mills, but that form of activity has long since disappeared. Today Harrison, like its neighboring town of Bridgton, is almost entirely devoted to being a summer play- ground, and an all-year round recreation center.
Harrison offers many attractions to delight the summer visitor, not the least of which is the famous Deertrees Sum- mer Theatre, supervised by Enrica Clay Dillon of New York. It has been host to many Broadway celebrities. As far back as 1926, Harrison became a sanctuary for weary professional artistic folk, and it is now especially famous for its musical colony. The great Madonnas of opera, Ada Nielson and Madam Marie Sundelius, the pianist Joseph Hoffman, and many others have found it a haven of peace, and not a few of the outstanding musical artists of today have made their summer homes along the shores of Long Lake.
Naples & Sebago
G HOSTS and han'ted places that mirror the traditions of yesteryear, have an irrepressible fascination for most of us, deny it as we may. However, it is difficult indeed, to associate the lively modern little summer resort of Naples with the supernatural, yet if report be true, no less than a ghostly apparition was responsible for its creation. And a lively ghost it was, too!
Ancient gossip discloses that in the long ago, a youth named McIntyre, employed at Squire Peirce's Mill, at Edes' Falls, fell in love with his employer's daughter. This was resented by the Squire, and in the altercation that ensued, McIntyre was struck over the head with a heavy piece of lumber and killed. His body fell into the mill-pond, and ris- ing to the surface, was buried on the right bank of the river near the mill.
The next spring it washed out, and a ghost was seen flitting back and forth across the river in the vicinity of the grave. The body was returned near the same spot; again it was washed out, and again the ghost returned. After the body was buried, the ghost once more departed. And then when a flood was expected, the citizens of Edes' Falls could see in the moonlight the restless ghost of McIntyre flitting back and forth across the mill-bank, fearing, so 'twas said, that his grave would again be disturbed. Finally the body was rebur- ied on higher ground just to the right of the bridge, and folks saw him no more in drought or flood.
Thus old-time residents of Naples declare that the un-
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happy ghost of McIntyre drove the Squire out of Edes' Falls, to seek pastures anew, with the result that he settled in the choice spot that is now Naples. Whether true or legend, this story has a happy ending, for the Squire became not only Naples' first citizen, but also its first physician, surgeon, law- ler, and millwright to boot !
His old home which he built in 1799, is still standing, just outside the village on the Bridgton Road, an outstanding example of mid-colonial architecture. It has four large chimneys, a hip roof, and twenty-four-light windows. The hand-carved woodwork, the "Sunrise" door, and upstairs hall "Martha Washington" window are beautiful details. The old mansion has not been altered, except to add modern conveniences. In stage-coach times it was a popular hostelry for weary travelers, and now it is known as the "Manor", operated as an inn for summer visitors.
To the rear of the Manor is Skid Hill, so named because during lumbering days logs were "skidded" down the hill, across the road to Mast Cove on the shores of Long Lake, there to be floated down the lakes to the coast. Those were the days when the whole territory thereabouts was an un- broken forest of white pine, the tallest of which, in pre-Revolutionary times, were marked with the "King's arrow", and reserved for masts of the Royal Navy. Some of these original trees with the Royal Insignia of the crow's feet and arrow could have been seen on the Perley farm until recently.
As early as 1791, Joseph March operated a small tannery, where he dressed skins obtained from the trappers. A horse propelled a huge circular stone around in a circle to crush his bark for tanning, and black for coloring the leather he obtained from a lamp-black kiln nearby.
Eight years later Eleazer Bartlett and two sons made the first opening in a dense forest between Crooked River and Long Lake, known now as Bartlett's Corner. At this period Nathan Gerry and Elliot Staples built Naples' first inn near
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the present Church place on Route 302, and "entertained" travelers who came to the lake.
This was a much frequented route between Portland and the early settlement of Bridgton before 1790, until the opening of the old "Pearsontown Road", the present Bridgton, Sebago, and Standish Road. In 1816, this inn under the ownership of John Chute, known as the Elm House, became famous as Maine's first temperance hotel. It burned in 1822, and was rebuilt as the Church Tavern, which became popular as a stage-coach stopping place.
The first public building to be erected in the village of Naples was the school house in 1822, followed by the first post office in 1828, under the name of South Otisfield Post Office. The first quarter's business amounted to thirty-seven and a half cents! The sturdy brick town-house, erected in 1838, still serves the town as faithfully as ever.
In the outskirts of Naples on the road to Bridgton is the Hayloft, a house and remodeled barn on land that was a Revolutionary War bonus, with a remarkable story attached to it that seems to have more than a vestige of truth. The land upon which the property stands was given to a Private Hill, a soldier of the Revolutionary War. To this veteran and his wife were born two sons, and one of them became Captain Charles Hill, who engaged in the clipper ship trade with the Orient.
On one of his passages to the far east, the Captain and his crew are said to have removed several large idols from a Chinese temple, and succeeded in bringing them back to this country. When examining the exceedingly heavy idols at his home, he discovered, much to his surprise, that they were filled with gold. The sum realized by the Captain as his share of the loot amounted to around three hundred thousand dollars.
With his fortune he added a fine two and a half story house to the old homestead, and used the old house as an ell. The spacious main house overlooks Mast Cove, and is now
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nearly one hundred years old. It has heavy decorated chan- deliers and a graceful, broad stairway, with the wide hall, where for many years two of the huge idols reposed, in odd contrast to the other simple furnishings.
The story goes that after his ill-gotten wealth began to dwindle, the Captain grew restless and, with the hope of securing more gold and recuperating his fortune, he once again returned to the scene of his exploits. He was never seen again, and it is thought that the priests, aware of his sacriligious plundering, killed him when he returned to the temple.
Naples' first story begins, as do practically all Maine towns, with extensive lumber operations and saw-mills, fol- lowed by cattle and dairy farms as soon as the land was cleared. Then came the advent of the hotel age, with the country farm boarding-houses catering mainly to fishermen and hunters. The summer tourist business, it is said, origi- nated with George W. Hall, when he operated the Hotel Naples in 1876, with a rate of three dollars and fifty cents weekly for fare and lodging. From then on the village of Naples became essentially a summer town, and so it remains.
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