USA > Maine > Hancock County > Traditions and records of Southwest Harbor and Somesville, Mount Desert island, Maine > Part 8
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The population of the town was increasing and more room for school was needed. The old building was sold to William Shields who owned the adjoining property to the south and he moved it just over the line where it was used for school while the new house was being built and later as a public hall. Then the Shields property was purchased by J. T. R. Freeman and later it was moved to his lot farther to the south where it was used as a part of his dwelling house and is now a part of the woodshed and owned by Mr. Freeman's daughter, Mrs. Fred A. Walls.
The new building was two stories with belfry and bell, patent seats in the upper room and at the time of building was said to be as good a school building as any in the County outside of Ellsworth.
The lower room was furnished with hand made benches and desks and all the woodwork was painted a dull red. The room. was designed to be used for church services and the teacher's desk was made like a pulpit with a place in the middle for the big Bible. An organ was at the back of the room, enclosed in a red-painted wooden case for protection and padlocked to be used only on Sundays. The idea of using it in school was never considered and never requested. The "pulpit desk" was "grained" in a light yellow-brown. A tall stove furnished heat and wooden blackboards extended around the room between the curtainless windows. For twenty-five years, preaching services,
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Sunday Schools, concerts, Christmas trees and funerals were held in this room as well as writing and singing schools, lyceums and other public gatherings. Mrs. Phebe Holden Clark Ross taught the first term of school in this room.
Following Mr. Heath as teachers in the early days came the Wentworth brothers, John R. and Freedom of Appleton, Clifton G. Huckins of Kenduskeag, James B. Hawes of Brooksville, Hervey K. Hawes of Surry, Josiah H. Higgins of Ellsworth, Gideon Mayo of Eden, J. M. Frost and Rev. Edgar M. Cousins who taught for two winters.
Dr. Cousins, in an interesting letter of his boyhood memories writes: "The regular studies in those schools were not neglected nor the hours limited as shown by the days lengthened regularly to the twilight of the winter's day that the 'parsing class' might stay and have it out with the etymological intricacies of Paradise Lost and other classics of the parsing book. For variety on Wednesday afternoons came something fresh from the well- stored minds of the teachers. From O. H. Fernald one pupil recalls a series of fascinating tales which he afterwards realized were the stories of Homer and the classic myths which the teacher was taking in his college preparatory work. It was good work for teacher to give and for pupil to hear."
Dr. Cousins in his letter described the spelling schools in which the parents often took part and the best speller in town was regarded with a sort of awe by the school children and with respect at least, by their elders for it was no small distinction. He writes too of the dramatic features of school life, including the closing exhibition of each winter term.
He continues : "Perhaps the culmination of this supple- mentary and dramatic work came in the two great exhibitions given under Mr. Heath's leadership in district No. 2. These were given about 1860 and 1861, and because there was not room for the people in the schoolhouse, the first was given in the Freeman House, which was afterward burned. The new hotel was finished on the outside, but no partitions were yet put on the main floor within; so this was converted into an auditorium with ample stage, curtain and dressing rooms. The event was carried into the week following the close of school and much time given freely by all in preparation. People came from many miles away and packed every bit of available space.
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"The same event and success was repeated a year later, use being made of the second story of the large, three-story exten- sion toward the rear of the Island House owned by Deacon Clark. This extension gave even a larger auditorium than the Freeman House gave the year before. The best selections of the previous year were repeated with new ones added and every pupil from the tot of four to the big boy or girl of twenty-one or more, had a part.
"One other school may be mentioned as probably the first term of private higher grade school ever taught on Mount Desert Island. It was held in the Durgain schoolhouse on the south side of the harbor and taught by a Mr. Brainard. Pupils came from Bass Harbor as well as from both sides of Southwest Harbor. One ambitious pupil at least, studied Latin. This was in 1859 or 60."
About 1874-5 a few terms of so-called high school were taught at the Freeman schoolhouse, but the plan was abandoned because of crowded conditions, the room being needed for the younger children.
On October 14, 1875, a correspondent writes for the columns of the Ellsworth American as follows :
"Tremont-There are now two Free High Schools in suc- cessful operation here, attended by nearly one hundred industrious scholars. A very marked improvement can be seen and we say without fear of contradiction, that the average rank in scholarship is higher than ever it was before. This advantage in education we owe to our High Schools taught during the past year, for they have not only given opportunities for more study, but have incited the scholars of our other schools to greater diligence, thus in- creasing their efficiency. Tremont has never taken a step at so slight a cost of such enduring worth as this ; establishing Free High Schools. May she ever look as well to the educa- tion of her sons and daughters; then, whether they live and labor on this beautiful isle of the sea or elsewhere, they will ever remember Tremont and her good schools with pleasure."
At the time the above was written, Southwest Harbor was a part of the town of Tremont.
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In 1888 the town raised money for three terms of Free High School; the fall term to be at Seal Cove, the early winter term at Tremont (at the schoolhouse at the head of the harbor) and the late winter term at Southwest Harbor. Charles E. Perkins of Lamoine taught this school for several years and was a very popular teacher. He had the ability to make each student feel the responsibility for lessons and his schools were remarkable for good discipline and well-prepared lessons. George R. Fuller, Esq. was Superintendent of Schools at the time of the estab- lishment of the Free High School. The Southwest Harbor terms alternated between the village and Manset schoolhouse.
The first year that the school was held at Manset, the stu- dents gave a play, probably the first one given by a school in the town. The "High School Reporter" was published; the first school paper in the history of our schools. The proceeds of these enterprises and of several socials and suppers went to pay for an encyclopedia and a dictionary ; the first pieces of educa- tional equipment the schools ever owned.
Although nothing was furnished to aid in teaching, the students constructed material for experiments in physics and in chemistry, crude enough and of course very simple. Geometry, advanced algebra and Latin were included in the list of studies but there was no course laid out and no particular goal except to learn all that was possible.
Other teachers of the Free High School were W. W. A. Heath, W. W. Rich, Byron Carter, all excellent teachers.
The difficulties and losses of having the three terms of school in different localities was very apparent and as the school in- creased in size there was no building in the town large enough to accommodate it. It was still a one-room school with but one teacher and every year more students came to study. The in- terests of the widely separated parts of the town were so different that it was impossible to come to an agreement and when the building of a new schoolhouse was suggested it was impossible to agree upon a location. Finally, when the South- west Harbor citizens demanded new buildings at the village and at Manset, those in the western part of the town decided to
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separate themselves from Southwest Harbor. This was agreed upon by both sides and the town of Southwest Harbor was incorporated February 21, 1905.
In 1906 the new town voted to build a new schoolhouse at the village and raised the sum of $4500 to do so. This sum included the purchase of additional land. The old building stood close to the main road and had but little land surrounding it, and the new one was to be set farther back with a playground in front of it. The old building was sold to George Harmon and moved to the lot south of the school lot where it is now used for stores and apartments.
Arthur T. Richardson was the architect of the new building and Henry Tracy, the builder. Additions have been made from time to time, more land purchased, the south wing added and heating plant established.
The primary building was built in 1917, costing, with the land $5,037.51.
The new building was dedicated in 1908 with appropriate ceremonies. Tribute was paid to those who had studied in the old building and gone out to do good work in the world, to those faithful teachers who had served there and to the honored place the old schoolhouse had held in the community.
In the autumn of 1908 the first certified high school in the town was opened with forty-eight students and a young man by the name of Edwards as principal and Miss Annie Holmes, (Mrs. Harry Rice) as assistant. The establishment of the school was due to the efforts of Dr. G. A. Neal who had been superin- tendent for several years and Seth W. Norwood, who was prac- ticing law in the village. Mr. Edwards was obliged to resign in a few months because of ill health and the first four years of the school saw a new principal each year. But in spite of these difficulties a class of twelve was graduated in 1912. Since that time the school has steadily increased in numbers and efficiency, about half the students at present coming from Tremont and many from the adjacent islands. Several of the principals have been with the school for a number of years and Winfred E. Clark served as superintendent of the schools of Mount Desert, Cranberry Isles, Tremont and Southwest Harbor from 1917 until
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his death in 1937. A good percentage of the graduates attend higher institutions of learning and do credit to our high school .*
In 1934 in accordance with a plan offered by the authorities of Acadia National Park and the CCC camp at Long Pond, the town raised a sum of money to purchase materials for the grading and planting of the school lot and the Village Green and this work was done by the men of the camp under direction of the Park landscape architects.
The first schoolhouse at Manset was built on the lot between the church and the house now owned and occupied by Fred Lawton. It had a floor that slanted from the back to the front so that the teacher might have a better view of the pupils and so that if a pupil dropped anything it would roll to the front of the room.
It was about 1860 when the present school lot was purchased and a new house built. This was a one-room building with home- made desks and benches, wooden blackboards and furnished as were all the schoolhouses of that period, with a desk and chair for the teacher, a broom, sometimes a dustpan and sometimes a pail and dipper for drinking water. This served the purposes of learning until 1901 when the present two-room building was built.
The first schoolhouse is now serving as a barn on the prop- erty of George Ward where part of the original plaster and woodwork may be seen. The second building serves as a barn on the property of Mrs. Eldora Ward.
The first schoolhouse at Seawall stood about opposite the Cope property. The present one was built in 1900 and Sarah Carroll (Mrs. Wilford H. Kittredge) taught the first school in it.
All these schoolhouses were used for community purposes in many ways. Miss Mary A. Carroll, a teacher for more than fifty years, taught writing schools in them all, and there were singing schools by travelling teachers, lyceums where many questions were skillfully debated, spelling schools and spelling bees where he or she who "spelled down" all the others held an enviable position.
* In 1923 the first award of the Lurvey medal gave the honor to Helen Wooster and every year since then it has been presented to the out- standing pupil in the graduating class who has done most for the school in scholarship, deportment and school spirit. This medal is of gold, suitably inscribed and is the gift of Freeman J. Lurvey of Somerville, Mass., a former resident of Southwest Harbor.
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And while on the subject of education for the young we must not forget the schools for dancing taught by G. D. Atherton of Beech Hill at Tremont and Centennial Halls. Mr. Atherton played the violin and with the assistance of some one at the organ, furnished music for the school. He carefully instructed each pupil in the intricacies of the waltz, the schottishe and the polka and in the decorum of the ballroom. His schools were always popular and well conducted and are pleasant places in the memory of those who attended them.
Of the teachers of the early days tribute should be paid to W. W. A. Heath of Seal Cove, successful and popular with his pupils, to Willard W. Rich, a remarkable mathematician and a born instructor, quick to adopt new methods, kind-hearted and delighting in his school work, to Miss Mary A. Carroll, who was among the first to take up the teaching of phonetic reading and who spent freely of her money in the days when text-books and supplies were furnished by the pupils, to give every child a book and materials with which to work. She taught the Spen- cerian method of writing and was herself a fine writer. She taught in many places in different parts of Maine and also in Massachusetts. The last of her teaching was at the lighthouses on the islands along the coast; at Baker's Island, Duck Island and others.
Byron Carter taught many terms of school in this vicinity. A gentleman of the old school, he had a strong influence for good over his pupils who had a high respect for him and his ways. Mr. and Mrs. B. T. Atherton of Somesville both taught many terms of school in this town and were highly esteemed.
Mrs. A. M. Lawton taught singing schools at the village which were very popular. She had a beautiful contralto voice and led the singing in church for many years. Arthur T. Rich- ardson also served as teacher and as superintendent of schools as did also George R. Fuller.
From the schools of Southwest Harbor, even from the earliest days, have gone out men and women who have made good in many walks of life; as doctors, lawyers, teachers, theo- logians, editors, business administrators, captains who sailed their ships on many seas and as men skilled in their trades and
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doing honest work for honest pay. They have travelled far into all the countries of the world in many capacities and today, any news of the little village of Southwest Harbor on Mount Desert Island is read in many lands by those whose early education began in the schools of our town.
Monday morning, December 6, 1937, the work of excavating for the foundation of a new high school building on the South- west Harbor village school lot was begun.
Students attending high school at Southwest Harbor in 1889.
The school was held that winter in the schoolhouse at Manset.
Norah King
Herbert Stanley
Marietta Stanley
Robie Norwood
Susie Haynes
Everett Stanley
Nancy King
Albert Staples
Helen Dolliver
Charlie Freeman
Nellie Spurling
Isaac Stanley
Frances King
Fred Moore
Jennie Dolliver
Stephen Harmon
Hattie Milan
Everton Gott
Neva Moore
George Harmon
May Driscoll
Eugene Torrey
Maud Mason
Thomas Stanley
Daniel Handy
James Whitmore
Nellie Mayo
Orrin Milan
Henry Teague
Mary King
Cathie Freeman
Lulu Mayo
Ned Clark
Josie Battis
George Parker
Mary Morris
Joseph Harmon
Vincie Torrey
Nellie Carroll
Verney King
Fred Handy Levi Torrey
Lowell Hodgkins
INDUSTRIES OF MOUNT DESERT ISLAND
The first settlers of Mount Desert Island were attracted to the region because of the abundance of fish in the nearby waters and the fine growth of timber on the island. Remarkable tales are told of the size of the virgin pine trees that were growing here when white men first visited the place. And Abram Somes, a cooper and first permanent settler of the island, knew some- thing of lumbering and recognized the excellent site for a saw mill, which decided for him the place of settlement at Somes- ville where his descendants carried on for many years the busi- ness begun by their ancestor.
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The Somes family had several kinds of mills on their stream. A grist mill ground the grain for the settlers all over the island for some time; a saw mill provided them with boards for their modest homes and a shingle mill turned out the necessary covering for the roof. A stave mill produced material for the barrels and casks in which fish were shipped and many a ship load of staves went to other ports from the Somes mills. Later the Heath family had a grist and saw mill on their stream at Seal Cove and Leonard Holmes had one at the Mill Dam in Southwest Harbor. There were mills at the head of Somes Sound and at Duck Brook near Bar Harbor and at several other places.
Lumber was shipped in quantities. The getting out of ship timber was a flourishing industry for many years and this timber was shipped as well as used in the numerous ship yards of Mount Desert.
The ship yards employed many men, and craft of many kinds were launched-sloops, fishing schooners, coasting vessels, three- masted vessels and brigs. The Somes yards were busy places as were also those of Deacon H. H. Clark at Southwest Harbor, Durgain's at the south side of the harbor, Eaton Clark's at the head of Bass Harbor and others. Timothy Mason built a small vessel on his place at Oak Hill and hauled it to the launching place by oxen.
There were several brickyards on the island. Deacon Clark made bricks from clay on his land and between the houses of Richard Carroll and F. A. Birlem on the Clark Point Road the depression from which the clay was taken may yet be seen. The Fernalds had a brickyard on their place taking the clay from north of the bridge on the road leading to Fernald Point. There were other yards on the western side of the island, but the in- dustry was not long followed.
There was a kiln for the making of charcoal to the west of the Jacob Lurvey place and a road in that vicinity is still spoken of as "the coal kiln road."
Fishing was a major occupation from earliest days. Salted, dried and smoked fish were taken to Boston to be sold in vessel loads. Everybody who had land bordering on the shore had a
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smoke house where herring were cured for market. Often several men owned a smoke house together. About the middle of April a fleet of small vessels would leave for the Magdalen Islands to bring back herring. The fish were heavily salted and were taken out of the vessel and put in what were called "soakers"; large, square boxes about ten by fifteen feet, with holes bored all over them. They were fastened securely, then thrown overboard and towed to the shore where they were well shaken to get the scales off. Then the fish were strung on sticks and hung in the smoke houses over fires built on the ground. It would take weeks to smoke them thoroughly and sometime in September the herring were boxed and sent away.
The making of these "herring sticks" was work for old men, who could do that when they were no longer able to follow the sea. The stringing was often done by girls and women.
Porgies or "pogies" as they were usually called are a fish resembling a shad and they were once very abundant in this vicinity. Many men made a business of catching them in nets. The fish were cooked in large iron kettles, then pitched into vats which hung in a wooden frame. A cover fitted inside this vat, arranged so that it could be pressed down by means of a jack- screw, and the oil pressed out of the fish. This oil was readily sold to be used as paint oil and for various purposes. The bones, scales, etc. left after the oil was pressed out made excellent fertilizer. Porgy boats went out of the harbors in great numbers and the fish were soon either all caught or frightened away as they are now almost unknown.
Lobsters were canned at Southwest Harbor for many years. The canning of beef was carried on for a few years, but the supply of cattle being less than was required, the company took up the canning of lobsters. At present the canning of sardines, (small herring) is one of the principal fish industries.
Allen J. Lawler canned baked beans and clams at his small factory for several years, and William Lawton canned clams.
The mining craze of the late seventies was felt at Mount Desert and several kinds of minerals found, but in such small quantities that their extraction was not profitable. The people learned a good deal about metals and minerals at that time and
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almost every home had its collection of pieces of different kinds of rock, labelled with its name and where found.
Many men followed the sea as "deep water men"; going in ships to all ports of the world. Others engaged in the coasting trade and carried cargoes to many American ports as well as the West Indies and South America.
There were several cooper shops in the different settlements. The making of sails was done here and when the new ships built in Mount Desert yards sailed out on their first voyages, they wore a set of sails made in the home town.
At Somesville several shoemakers were employed in the making of shoes. A. C. Fernald had a shop where coffins were made at his home on Sutton Island, but afterwards moved to Somesville where he carried on the business. John D. Lurvey also made coffins at Southwest Harbor.
Clothing was made mostly by the women, but in the very early days a tailor used to come to the villages occasionally and went from house to house plying his trade. One inconvenience of his visits was that he insisted on sitting on the family dining table to do his work. The reason for this may be easily imagined in a house where the family life went on in one room, when the fireplace furnished heat 'as well as cooking facilities and when large families of children were found in most homes. Where else could the tailor and his tools be free from cold drafts and out of the reach of little meddlesome hands? Sometimes a shoe- maker came to the house and made shoes for all the family. William Lawler and J. B. Mason had their shoemaking shops in their homes at Southwest Harbor.
In the eighties and nineties Capt. William R. Keene built several small steamboats which he commanded, taking parties out to sea or out among the islands and up Somes Sound.
The quarrying of granite at Hall Quarry occupied many men for many years and buildings in many of the large cities of our country have Some Sound granite in their composition. The mint at Philadelphia and several buildings at Washington, D. C., are among those built with granite from Mount Desert. There was a large industry in granite at Black Island and a consider- able village built up there which is now entirely deserted.
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The beginning of the ice industry was in the 1880's when Capt. John L. Stanley constructed an artificial pond in the swamp at the back of his house, built an ice house, dug a well and prepared to sell ice and water to the fishing vessels at his wharf. He soon enlarged his ice house and he continued in the business all his life, enlarging and improving from time to time and carrying on an extensive fish business. Capt. Benjamin Robinson had a pond constructed on his property and established an ice delivery business in the village, which still continues, being now owned by Christopher W. Lawler.
The hotel business has been an important feature of the place ever since the first summer visitors were accommodated at Dea- con Clark's hospitable home. The Freeman House, the Clare- mont, the Dirigo on the north side of the harbor were built after the Island House had demonstrated that the taking of summer boarders was profitable, and on the south side of the harbor, the Ocean House and the Stanley House were popular places of resort. The Seawall House at Seawall proved to be too isolated to be popular and was open but a few seasons. Other small hotels and boarding houses have been opened from time to time.
The letting of row boats was once a very profitable venture and several men owned sail boats which were in great demand. With greater prosperity, people began to demand larger boats and to own them themselves and with the coming of the motor boat, the row boat was no longer used. Capt. William Gilley and Capt. Robert Gott both had boats to let and also each owned a large sail boat in which they took parties out for deep sea fishing or sailing as did Capt. John T. R. Freeman.
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