USA > Maine > Hancock County > Traditions and records of Southwest Harbor and Somesville, Mount Desert island, Maine > Part 13
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The Fernalds were enterprising people and carried on con- siderable business in lumbering, brick-making from the clay near the bridge, and they built small vessels and captained them in fishing and trading ventures.
It was during a lumbering operation on the Fernald land toward Somesville in the winter of 1820 that Canada Hollow received its name. It was a very severe winter and stories of the extreme cold to the north were brought down from Canada. The choppers got the habit of referring to the location of their work as "Canada" believing that no place could be much colder, and the name has been used down through the years and now seems firmly fixed.
Miss Dreier in 1928 purchased the old Fernald homestead and now owns it and uses it as a guest house.
Edward S. Macomber built his cottage in 1920 and the Scott family had their Swiss chalet built in 1916-17. Some smaller cottages were added to this property in 1930 and the whole is now owned by Rev. and Mrs. A. H. Lucas of Washington, D. C.
Returning to the Main Road: the eastern side opposite the road leading to the Robinson, Greenlaw and Dunbar houses is still spoken of as "The Landing"-a legacy from the early days when small vessels used to come into the Mill Pond to take on board loads of logs which had been landed at this spot. Several vessels were built in the Pond along the shore of what is now the property of Miss Grace M. Simmons, which shows that the water was much deeper there then than now.
The house on the hill now owned by Arthur Robinson was built by William H. Rea and the one now owned by Lewis Willey was built by Edwin Hersey. Mr. and Mrs. Frank Moore cared
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for Mr. Hersey and at his death the place became theirs. They sold to Mr. and Mrs. John A. Walls and the Willeys bought it of Mrs. Walls. Seth Greenlaw built his bungalow and Lewis Dun- bar built his residence. The small house in that section was built by Frank Moore, who lived in it for a while and it has been occupied by several different families. Benjamin Gilley once had a house on this hill where he lived for a long time.
The Lurvey house was built by Samuel Lurvey, Jr., who lived and died there as did his wife and the place passed to their adopted son, Seth W. Lurvey, and from him to his son, Sam A. Lurvey. It was formerly surrounded by a white picket fence and a summer house was in the garden.
In 1888 Capt. Robie M. Norwood of Seal Cove built a house south of where the electric power construction is now. This house was destroyed by fire in 1921. Capt. Norwood's son, Robie M., Jr., built his house to the south of his father's home in 1897 and lived there until he built another residence on the High Road in the village, when he sold this house to Jesse Carpenter.
The Sawyer house was built by Deacon Benjamin H. Dodge of Seal Cove about 1887. It is now owned by the heirs of his daughter, Mrs. Emmons P. Sawyer.
John A. Walls built the adjoining house in 1884 and lived there many years, selling it after the death of his wife to Vera- nus Reed, whose heirs sold to Grover A. Morse of Cranberry Isles, who now (1938) lives there.
Walter B. Stanley built his house in 1883 and the house on the corner opposite was built by Marshall Lurvey, sold to Capt. Thomas Milan, who sold to Ezra D. Lurvey, whose son, Ezra W. Lurvey, now owns it.
Edward Black's house was built in 1924 near the junction of the Manset and Bass Harbor roads and moved in 1935 to its present site. Homer Brawn built his cottage below the Lurvey Hill and the adjoining small house was built by Mr. and Mrs. Warren Norwood. After their deaths it was purchased by Mrs. Ethel Robbins, now Mrs. Harry Albee.
John R. Tinker built his house on the south side of the Seal Cove corner and it is now owned by James Elliott. The square
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at this corner is named in memory of Eugene Norwood, who was killed in action in the World War.
The house occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Austin Mitchell and family was built by Mrs. Mitchell's father, Capt. Joseph B. Nor- wood, in 1896.
Capt. and Mrs. Norwood now live in a small cottage near by, part of which is built from timbers from an old house which stood almost on the same site and which was Mrs. Norwood's childhood home. This house was built by Allen Hopkins, once a prominent citizen of the town, and was his home during his lifetime. Then it was sold to Mr. and Mrs. Levi Lurvey, who lived and died there. After their deaths, the old house was for some time the home of Lemuel and Jacob Lurvey after their house had been destroyed by fire. Albert Rowell owns a small cottage near by and also Mr. and Mrs. Norman Bouchard.
Nahum Norwood built his house in 1903 and it is now owned by his heirs.
Henry Bartlett built the house now owned by Alton Trundy. This was in 1870. His young wife, dying not long after, the house was rented to different people for some years, then bought by Freeman J. Lurvey, who lived there for a while and then sold to Mr. and Mrs. Trundy.
The small bungalow by the roadside was built in 1925 by Mrs. Helen Hamor as a home for herself. She left it by will to her grandson, Elwell Trundy, and it is occupied by tenants.
The house on the brow of the hill was built in 1854 by Willard Young of Trenton, whose wife was a daughter of Allen Hopkins, who gave her the land on which to build her home. She died before the house was completed and it was sold to George Lewis Harmon, whose daughter, Mrs. Frank Stewart, now owns and occupies it.
The house at the top of the long Seal Cove hill was started by the Mr. FitzGibbons who attempted to build a house on the Fernald Road. It was a very small building and was purchased by Ezra D. Lurvey whose home it was for a long time. He built a large addition to the house in 1889 and it is now owned and occupied by his son, Ezra W. Lurvey.
Walter Murphy's house was built in 1926.
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The house on the corner where the three roads meet was built by Benjamin Norwood, sold to Edwin Robbins, then to Harlan Murphy and is now owned by William Soukup and family.
Joseph Murphy built the house at Pleasant Valley Farm in 1849. It was below the hill in front of where it now stands. It was only partly done when John D. Lurvey bought the place, moved the building to its present site and completed it. He and his wife spent their lives there and it was afterward owned and occupied for many years by his daughter, Mrs. Henry Trundy and family. It is now owned by their nephew, Ezra W. Lurvey.
Rufus Trundy built the house on the Long Pond road where he lived for some years before moving to a house in the village. The CCC camp was established in the spring of 1933 and B. C. Worcester built the log cabin near it that is occupied by officers of the Company. Horace Herrick built his cottage in 1935.
John Brawn built his house on the Seal Cove road in 1888. It changed hands several times after the deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Brawn and was destroyed by fire in 1932. The old house which was for many years the home of Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Lurvey and their large family, built in 1827, has been taken down. A small camp owned by B. C. Worcester is built in the field of the old Lurvey house but only the lilacs and straggling rose bushes marks the site where this family lived for a lifetime.
Isaac Lurvey's son Freeman built a home for himself to the west of his father's house. It was only partly done when the Civil War began and the young man enlisted and marched away. He died at Augusta in 1863 and his father bought the house from the young widow and sold it later to Joshua Marshall. It has changed hands several times since the Marshalls owned it and is now the property of William Herrick.
Owen Lurvey started to build a house near that of his father at the junction of the Seal Cove and Long Pond roads but did not complete it. Mr. John Finney bought the building, moved it to the Seal Cove road where he owned land and finished it. The place is now owned by Mr. and Mrs. Albert G. Hall and used as a poultry farm under the name of Hillcrest Farm.
A mile or so along the Seal Cove road there used to be a
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house owned by Samuel Norwood. It has long since disappeared but the descendants of the family live in the town.
The house now occupied by Harvey Gilley and family was built on land now owned by Mrs. John F. Young at the corner of the Main road and Fernald Point road. It was built by D. L. Mayo who used it as a store. Montreville Gilley bought it, moved it to its present situation and lived there. After the deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Gilley, the place was occupied by their son Harvey and family.
Thomas Day built the house on the Cook place. It was a small, one-story house, later enlarged to its present form. It was once the home of Rev. Charles Brown, minister of the Congrega- tional church of Mount Desert Island and later sold to Rev. Benjamin F. Stinson who lived there many years, his heirs selling it to Charles E. Cook.
While Mr. Stinson owned the place he built a building directly across the road which he used as a boat shop. On the second floor were living rooms occupied by tenants. The build- ing was partly done when it was blown down by an unusual wind in the late 1870's. He rebuilt it and many different families occupied the living apartments during the existence of the building.
The old house on the hill west of the road was built by Andrew Tarr about 1838 or 40 and it has always been owned by his heirs. It is now the property of Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Harmon of Jonesport. There was a public hall in the ell of the house, which the Masonic lodge occupied for a number of years. Mr. Tarr kept a general store in a part of the house for several years. The place was inherited by the adopted daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Tarr who left it to her children.
Fred Robbins had his house built by William H. Rea. During the years that Mr. Robbins was employed as a lighthouse keeper, the house was rented and so he built the small cottage to the south of his home as a place where he and his wife could spend their annual vacations.
The next house was built in the spring of 1934 by Raymond Brotemarkle for Mrs. Alfred Herrfeldt of New York, whose summer home it is.
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The Carpenter house was built by John C. Harmon as a residence for himself. He lived there a short time and sold the house to Nathan Smallidge as a residence for the minister of the Congregational church, who at that time in the eighteen sixties was Rev. David Hibbard, greatly beloved by his people. After Rev. Hibbard had completed his labors here, the house was sold to Capt. Jacob Mayo, Jr., whose home it was during his lifetime and it is now (1938) the property of his daughter, Mrs. Hattie Mayo Carpenter. After John C. Harmon had sold the above house he built another, which now is the property of Miss Grace M. Simmons, but with many additions and changes.
R. P. Brotemarkle built his carpenter shop in the spring of 1937. The second floor has living rooms where Mr. and Mrs. Brotemarkle live.
A house of the old New England type stood for many years to the south of the Simmons house and it had an important part in the affairs of Southwest Harbor. It was built by a man named Dodd between 1785 and 1791-2. Mr. Dodd came here in company with a man by the name of Jones, who built a house on the Jacob Lurvey place near the old well. When Jacob Lurvey moved to that site he lived in this house for some years. Dodd sold his half finished house to George Harmon, ancestor of the Harmon family here. The first school in the settlement was held in part of this house, taught by Mrs. Polly Milliken. One of the pupils, who lived to a great age, used to tell of playing around the un- finished rooms and hopping from sill to sill in those whose flooring was not laid. The map which was made by Salem Towne in 1808 gives George Harmon as the owner of this prop- erty. (A copy of this map is in the Southwest Harbor public library.) In 1814 Mr. Harmon represented Mount Desert in the Massachusetts Legislature. In 1818 he divided the property giving half to his son, George, Jr., who made the house his home during his lifetime. The first meeting called to consider the organization of a Congregational church was held in this house which seems to have been frequently used as a place of public meeting.
George, Sr., in his old age, deeded his part of the place to his grandson, John C. Harmon, for the care of himself and wife.
r
Old Harmon house at Southwest Harbor built about 1790. In this house the first school was held, probably the first school on Mt. Desert Island.
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George, Jr.'s part descended to his children. His daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth Harmon Gilley, wife of Benjamin Gilley, lived her life there and cared for her parents. Later, the property came into the hands of George Harmon, now of Bar Harbor, great- grandson of the original owner, and the interesting old house was taken down. For many years there was a barn across the road belonging to the Harmon family.
William Mason bought his house in 1884. It was built by Stephen Gilley, who sold it to his brother Charles, who sold to Mr. Mason.
Soly Caruso's cottage was built in 1930 and Ralph Sawyer's soon after.
Mrs. Alice Gilley's house was built by Seth Higgins in 1859. He bought the lot in 1854 from Nehemiah Cousins, paying thirteen dollars for it. Then he sold the place to William Her- rick. It has been the home of many families and was bought by Mr. and Mrs. Gilley many years ago.
The house south of William Mason's was built in 1905 by John Wilson of Bass Harbor and his son Leon. Mrs. Venia Hodgkins bought it of the heirs of the Wilson family. It was purchased in 1937 by Chester Clement, Jr.
Winfred B. Joy's house was built in the summer of 1923. George R. Fuller built his house about 1902-3. The Cousins cottage was built by Rev. E. M. Cousins as a summer home which the family occupies every season.
The Cousins homestead was built between 1834 and 1841 by Rev. Micah W. Strickland, who was minister of the Congrega- tional church here at that time. He was a very active and in- genious man and did the greater part of the building with his own hands. He quarried out the stone used in the foundation at what is now Hall Quarry and rafted it down the Sound. His wife was a daughter of Dr. Kendall Kittredge and they had a large family of children. Mr. Strickland was careful and cere- monious in his church work and saw that the records were correctly kept. On the church books there are many entries in his neat, plain handwriting. When he went to another field of labor he sold the house to Andrew Haynes, who, after living there for several years, sold to Nehemiah Cousins. in 1849 and
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his descendants still own and occupy it. The house has never been changed in any way since it was built.
Joseph B. Mason built the house on the north side of the hill and it is now owned by his grandson, Joseph Trask. Henry Gilley's house was built in 1929.
Harry Newman built his house in 1924-5 and Raymond Mace built his in 1928.
Mrs. William Hanna owns the house built by Montreville Gilley in 1889 on the Forest Road. Alden Mace built his house in 1924 and Chester E. Clement's was built in 1923-4. Mrs. Roland Lunt's house was built for Harvey Hodgkins who sold to Capt. Lunt. The mill was erected in 1922 by B. C. Worcester and he built several small cottages in the vicinity for those in his employ. Robert Carter built his house in 1931. Jasper Hutchins owns a house on this road. There is also a large building near the mill site, owned by B. C. Worcester, which is used as a storage place for the road machinery belonging to the town.
James Norwood built a house in 1937-8 on land purchased from the heirs of Leverett Gilley.
The ell of the old Gilley house was built by William Gilley, who was born on Baker's Island. His son John built the main part of the house and lived there, leaving the place to his son Leverett, whose family now lives there.
The next house was built by William Gilley, Jr., son of the man mentioned above and the fourth to bear the name. His widow gave the place to her niece, Mrs. Carrie Bunker Joyce, for caring for her in her old age. The ell of this house was built to be used as a store on the grounds of the E. L. Higgins house. It was sold to Capt. Gilley, who moved it to the southern part of his property and used it as a boat shop. Later it was moved to its present situation as part of the house.
David Robbins was the builder and owner of the house now owned by Frank Moore. Mr. Robbins sold the place to James Ross and he sold to Thomas Holmes who lived there for many years. It has been owned by several people and the Moores have owned it for some time.
Thomas Lawton built the house which has always been the home of his family.
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The Chester Robbins house was built by Herbert Stanley, who sold to Melvin Norwood, and it has been owned by several persons. It was partially destroyed by fire a few years ago and has been remodeled in the restoration.
Francis Gilley was the builder of the Gilley homestead. He was born on Baker's Island and was a brother to William Gilley, Sr., whose home was near. The place was left to his son George, whose son, Dr. Philip F. M. Gilley, now owns and occupies it.
Dr. George A. Neal's residence was built by Danforth Mar- cyces who was a prominent citizen of the town for some years. He was in charge of the Custom House here for a long time, moving to Bar Harbor when his duties there were over. His son-in-law, James J. Lawton, owned the place for some time and sold it to Dr. Neal years after he had moved to Massachusetts to make his home.
The public garage now owned by Earl Gordon and Leslie White was built in 1928 for Howard E. Robinson, who operated it for a while and then sold to Gordon and White who have greatly enlarged and improved the original building.
The Episcopal church was built by R. M. Norwood during the early summer of 1918 and the primary school building was also built by Mr. Norwood.
The high school building is the third educational edifice to stand on the same lot. The first schoolhouse, built by the early settlers as a place for school and also for church services, was replaced about 1862 by the two-story white building that stood there for many years. The first old schoolhouse was pur- chased by J. T. R. Freeman and it forms part of the ell of his house now owned by his daughter, Mrs. Fred A. Walls. W. W. A. Heath taught the first term of high school in the second schoolhouse. It was used for church services also until the building of the Congregational church in 1885. A high school was maintained here for some years during the eighteen six- ties; then interest or funds gave out and there was no high school in the town until 1887 when it was decided to have three terms a year, each in different parts of the town which then included Tremont. The fall term was at Seal Cove, the early winter term at Tremont and the last term of the year at South-
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west Harbor or Manset alternately. Charles E. Perkins of La- moine was the teacher for several years. In 1906 the Southwest Harbor schoolhouse was sold to George Harmon of Bar Harbor who bought the adjoining lot to the south, moved the building there and made two stores on the first floor and a hall on the second. The hall was later made into two apartments for rent. A new schoolhouse was built on the school lot but back from the road where it now stands. Arthur T. Richardson was the architect and Henry Tracy the builder. R. M. Norwood has built the additions that have been made. Since the building of this house, the high school has been held here.
Monday morning, December 6, 1937, ground was broken for a new brick building for the high school to be built partly by the town and partly by a grant from the Federal government. W. H. McPherson of Bangor was the contractor.
On the land across from the schoolhouse there was a black- smith shop built about 1855 by William Allen who died at sea a few years later. The shop was used for a number of years and even now old iron tools and fixtures of the fashion of that day are often turned up from the earth. John D. Lurvey purchased the lot and built thereon a small building which he used as a storehouse for the coffins which he made, as he was a skilled carpenter and cabinet maker. Later this building was used as a public library and was twice moved; once to the northern end of the lot and again to the place now occupied by the Lawton Variety Store, where it was used as a drug store, a jeweler's store, a barber shop and the post office. John C. Ralph kept the post office there and enlarged the building.
When Freeman J. Lurvey built the store now owned by Arther Allen, this versatile little building was moved to the rear of it and is still a part of the Allen store. Mr. Ralph built a new building for the post office. Thomas Lawton bought the Ralph establishment and conducted a variety store there until it was burned in the fire of 1922. The present building on the site was built by Mr. Lawton in the spring of 1922. The Lurvey building was built as a general store and was conducted by Liston F. Smith for some years. Mr. Smith came to this vicinity some years previous and went over Mount Desert Island with a
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pedlar's cart, calling himself "The Live Yankee." When he settled down to storekeeping this was on his sign and by this cognomen he was known to most of the people. Later he moved his goods to one of the stores in the basement of the Masonic Hall where he was in business until failing health forced him to retire.
The Public Library had its beginning in the summer of 1884 when Mrs. Annie Sawyer Downs, one of the early summer resi- dents, gathered a quantity of books, mostly paper covered, from the guests at the hotels and they were placed on a shelf in Dr. R. J. Lemont's drug store. Dr. and Mrs. Lemont gave their services as librarians and when the number of books increased and outgrew their limited quarters in 1886, the little coffin shop mentioned above was rented and was a home for the books until 1895, when the present building was built by Melvin Norwood according to plans furnished by Prof. E. B. Homer, one of the summer residents.
The Park Theater was built in 1918-19 by R. M. Norwood for Byron Mayo. An old house stood for many years on this site which was built by Elisha Crane on a lot on what is now the Forest Road, just south of Mrs. Roland Lunt's house. This was purchased by Mr. Sanford and moved to the lot where the theater now stands. Mr. Sanford built a two-story addition to the house, using the old part as an ell. It was sold to William Shields, a brother-in-law of Andrew Tarr, who kept a store there. Then John T. R. Freeman lived there and kept the post office. Later, it was purchased by Thomas Clark, whose home it was for many years. After he moved to Augusta, the place was rented to various people, including several ministers of the Congregational church. George R. Fuller had his law office there for some time. Finally it fell out of repair and was used as a storehouse and one calm evening it burned to the ground. The house was of attractive design, with pink old-fashioned roses overgrowing the front yard and great willow trees over- shadowing it.
The site south of the Lawton Variety Store was occupied by A. I. Holmes' livery stable, built about 1882 when buckboard riding was the chief diversion of the summer guests at the hotels.
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Some ten years later the building was moved to a site near the Methodist parsonage and a large hotel built to accommodate transient travellers. In those days traveling salesmen, spoken of as "drummers", came to show their samples to the merchants and make sales and the hotel was often filled with these men.
A. I. Holmes' first store was on the site of the Village Green and was a typical country store containing almost everything that would be needed or desired by its patrons. It was a large oblong frame building of two and one half stories and some years after it was built, when trade was brisk, Mr. Holmes built an annex of equal size toward the west of the original store and this, too, was filled with goods of all kinds including groceries, hardware, clothing, crockery, harnesses, furniture, etc.
On the site of the present Carroll building was a large house built in 1883 by John Crockett as a residence. This house changed hands several times after Mr. Crockett moved away and was used for years as a hotel. John Carroll was the owner and occupied it with his family when in March, 1922, the last named four buildings and the Odd Fellows building across the road were destroyed by a fire which started in the Holmes store and reduced five buildings to ashes. The following summer, Mr. Carroll replaced the house with the present building.
The Salisbury building which now houses the local branch of the Bar Harbor Banking and Trust Company, the post office and a plumbing shop, was built by the late Archie R. Salisbury in 1933-4.
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