USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Rye > History of the town of Rye, New Hampshire, from its discovery and settlement to December 31, 1903 > Part 9
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54
106
IHISTORY OF RYE.
Levi Merrill, Thomas J. Parsons, John A. Trefethen, and others of later date.
Previous to 1825 Dr. John W. Parsons taught school several terms in the schoolhouse near Lang's corner, and being the only physician in town he was frequently called during school hours to attend the sick, on which occasions school would be at once dismissed and the children sent home. Frequently after teaching all day he would make professional calls until a late hour, and occasionally would walk over to North Hampton to see patients there, returning home in the evening on foot.
SELECT OR HIGH SCHOOL.
1840. The vestry in the basement of the Congregational meeting house having been finished this year, a committee was appointed to procure a sufficient number of scholars to warrant the undertaking of a school, whereupon the committee engaged Mr. Nason H. Morse to take charge of the same the first quar- ter, but as he could not attend at the time fixed upon for its commencement, Mr. Samuel French opened the school on Feb. 17, 1840, and continued in charge until March 9, when Mr. Morse entered upon his duties. The committee were enabled by the patronage bestowed upon the school to meet their en- gagements to Mr. Morse, and to pay the wardens of the Con- gregational society $8.22 for the use of the room. The follow- ing are the names of the scholars who attended the first term or a part of it:
Ebenezer W. Marden James P. Leavitt Abagail Brown
Orion Foye John I. Rand Sarah Dow
John C. Philbrick Isaac D. Rand Ursula A. Locke
Nathaniel M. Walker
Joseph P. Locke Eliza Jenness
Thomas H. Parsons
Sheridan Jenness Elvira Garland
Gilbert Jenness Abby S. Parsons
Martha Brown
Alpheas Green Anna Drake
The second quarter of the select school opened May 25, 1840, under the care of Mr. Morse, who took the school on his own responsibility, but owing to the busy season of the year many of the larger scholars were obliged to lcave school to
107
SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLHOUSES.
assist their parents in farming, which so reduced Mr. Morse's income that he was not able to pay the wardens of the Congre- gational society anything for the use of the schoolroom. Mr. Morse closed his second term Aug. 15th, and soon after left town, leaving none but friends, all being satisfied with his efforts to sustain a select school here.
The third term of the select school commenced under the care of Mr. Simon L. Hobbs, Nov. 3, 1840, at $17 a month and board, a few persons who had taken an interest in the school having pledged that pay to him. At the close of the school it was found that they had not realized sufficient funds to meet the expenses, and the deficiency was made up by Thomas J. Parsons, Richard Foss, John T. Rand, and Jedediah Rand.
The fourth term of the school commenced Feb. 8, 1841. As no one felt disposed to pledge the tuition necessary for the fourth term, Mr. Hobbs took the school on his own risk, and, having a singing school in the room, they together paid him very well for his services.
It was not until 1846 that another attempt was made to establish an advanced school in the town. On April 16, in that year, Nathaniel Watson of Barrington opened such a school on his own responsibility, and taught one month, ending with a small number of pupils.
In 1847 a term ending May I was taught by Daniel Barbour, on his own responsibility. During the term he had about forty different scholars, at $1 each.
In 1848 a term commencing March 9 was taught by Edwin G. Wallace of Berwick, Me., he having been employed by Thomas J. Parsons at $18 per month, and board at $2 per week. The following named were pupils this term :
Berry, Woodbury Odiorne, William S. Walker, William C.
Caswell, Warren
Parsons, Daniel D. Walker, Samuel J.
Drake, Charles Parsons, Charles H.
Waldron, Franklin
Foss, Henry D. Parsons, John Wm.
Dow, Harriet A.
Foss, John O. Rand, Edward
Drake, Martha M.
Goss, James G. Rand, Albert
Green, Mary J.
Green, Woodbury
Rand, James M.
Garland, Abby P.
IOS
HISTORY OF RYE.
Garland, Joseph W. Rand, Thomas W.
Lang, William B.
Rand, Augustus Y.
Philbrick, Ann M. Philbrick, Caroline A.
Locke, William H.
Rand, Isaac D.
Rand, Elizabeth J.
Marden, John S.
Remick, Charles M.
Rand, Mary T.
Otis, Charles
Shapley, Robert
Odiorne, Lewis
Trefethen, Dennis C.
In 1851 a term of four weeks was taught by a Mr. Rollins of Stratham ; he was employed by Thomas J. Parsons and Jona- than T. Walker, who met with no loss.
In March, 1852, Charles J. Brown commenced a term at his own risk, closing in April. He had about fifty scholars, and this was considered the best and one of the most successful schools ever taught in the vestry. Mr. Brown taught several terms subsequently ; also Edward Rand of Portsmouth, a Mr. Nowell, and others.
Later the town attempted to establish a high school in the town hall, but it did not prove a success. Now pupils desir- ing more advanced instruction than the grammar schools of the town afford, attend the high school in Portsmouth, the town, under the state law, paying the tuition.
RYE STUDENTS AT EXETER.
The following is a list of the students from Rye who have at different times attended Phillips academy at Exeter :
Joseph Parsons, 1783. William Garland, 1794.
Hall Jackson Locke, 1796.
John Wilkes Parsons, 1796. Samuel Huntington Porter, 1800. Richard Webster, 1806.
John Porter, 1814. Isaac Dow Parsons, 1816. Oliver Porter, 1819.
Thomas Jefferson Parsons, 1819. Charles G. Parsons, 1824. William Harrison Parsons, 1827. John Parsons, 1829. Daniel D. Parsons, 1850. John William Parsons, 1857. John Drake Marston, 1865. Frederick J. Frazer, 1900.
VIII.
Inns, Taverns, and Hotels.
Lexicographers make a distinction between the inn and the tavern, the former being described as a house for the lodging and entertaining of travelers, and the latter as a house licensed to sell intoxicating liquors in small quantities, to be drank on the spot in the discretion-or lack of it-of the purchaser, the tavern-keeper or taverner being also required to provide lodg- ing for guests, and shelter and fodder for animals. This dis- tinction seems not to have been very closely observed in this country by the early settlers, an inn and a tavern having appar- ently been the same thing, and innholders and tavern-keepers synonymous terms; perhaps because all the early innholders sold liquor, in addition to providing shelter and food for man and beast. The more pretentious term, hotel, is of compara- tively modern use to designate a public house of entertainment.
The first inn or tavern in Rye, of which any record has been found, was at the centre of the town, and was kept by Robinson Treferrin-probably a corruption of Trefethen, of which name there were many residents on both sides of the Piscataqua at that time. Treferrin came to Rye from Great Island in 1747 or '48, and in those years probably erected the house which he conducted as a tavern until September, 1756, when he sold it to Simon, Peter, and Benjamin Garland for £2,426 O. T. The Garlands managed the place jointly for three years, at the end of which time Benjamin bought the interests of his brothers for £1,000, and thereafter, for nearly forty years, conducted the business alone. For many years his tavern was the most popu- lar place in town, and not only on week days, but on Sundays as well, was the resort for the minister and his parishioners to get their toddy. The main house is still standing; it is the building on Washington road at the Centre, directly opposite
IIO
HISTORY OF RVE.
the head of Central road, and some of its heavy oak timbers are apparently as sound now as when they were put in a cen- tury and a half ago. The place is now owned by the heirs of R. R. Higgins of Boston.
COLONEL GARLAND'S INN, WHERE THE PATRIOTS GATHERED IN 1776.
Benjamin Scadgel owned and managed an inn for several years prior to 1755. It was situated on what is now Wallis road, a short distance toward the sea from Sagamore road, and near the location of the house now occupied by Joseph Lang- don Seavey; indeed, judging from the positions of the ancient elms now standing near Mr. Seavey's house (from the most westerly one of which the large, heavy sign of the inn hung, decayed places in the trunk showing where the fastenings were driven), it is probable that Mr. Seavey's residence occupies the exact site of the inn. Scadgel sold the property to Ebenezer Wallis, and the latter, in 1758, sold it to Amos Seavey, the place having remained in the Seavey name since that time. It ceased to be an inn when sold by Scadgel.
III
INNS, TAVERNS, AND HOTELS.
John Loverin was an innholder in 1756-'57, his inn being located east of the meeting-house, on the road to Portsmouth. He sold the place to Capt. Samuel Leavitt, who conducted it as an inn for a short time only.
Paul Randall was proprietor and manager of an inn in West Rye, on Washington road, between the present Grove and West roads, for some years prior to January 7, 1763, on which date he and his wife Abigail transferred his inn, barn, shop, and nineteen acres of land to Joseph Libbee, who continued the house as an inn until his death, about a year later. Abraham Libbee of Rye, farmer, administered on his brother's estate, and from that time himself conducted the tavern until it was de- stroyed by fire at night about 1787.
John Carroll in 1794 kept a small store a short distance eastward from the Centre, about where the present Portsmouth road commences, where the ardent was retailed. Whether there was as much of this article sold in Rye at that time as in the neighboring town of North Hampton there is no record, but probably the amount was not widely different in proportion to population. Rev. Dr. Jonathan French, in his half-century anniversary discourse delivered in North Hampton in 1850, says that forty hogsheads of the fiery New England rum was sold in a single year in one store of that small town. And be- sides this, some of the farmers brought back from towns in the vicinity, where they had been to market their produce, in many cases a barrel, and in a few cases a hogshead of the liquor and deposited it in their cellars.
But this does not imply that the people of Rye or of North Hampton were any more given to indulgence in strong drink than the residents of other towns. Practically, everybody at that time made use of stimulants, and there was nothing disrep- utable in their so doing; and men who never took a glass of liquor were few and far between, and probably were regarded as cranks. Drunkenness (if too often indulged in) was indeed regarded as discreditable, but moderate drinking was not; and what was regarded as moderate drinking in those days would not pass muster as such now. Temperance movements on the
112
HISTORY OF RYE.
basis of moral suasion were a product of the early part of the last century, and the prohibitory law idea is now only about a half century old.
Rye, from its position relative to other towns, did not require many inns in its early days. It was aside from the line of travel between towns in the interior of the state and Portsmouth : and after the establishing of stage lines it was still away off to one side, so the once noted stage taverns were never required in the town. The principal business of the Rye inns was probably the dispensing of liquid refreshments to the townspeople, and the providing of food and lodging for occasional travelers and their animals, but an incidental.
ATLANTIC HOUSE AND COTTAGES, RYE BEACH, J. C. PHILBRICK, PROP.
IX.
Rye as a Summer Resort.
To its location, away from any line of general public travel which made its inns and taverns in the early days of local inter- est and importance only, the Rye of the present day is undoubt- edly indebted to a great extent for its popularity and fame as one of the most noted summer resorts in New England, attract- ing many hundreds of visitors annually from all parts of the country, and having a numerous and steadily increasing colony of summer residents whose private summer cottages, scattered all along the six miles of ocean front from Odiorne's Point to the North Hampton line, add greatly to the taxable property of the town, and not a few of which are of such size and cost as would have won for them the title of "mansions" instead. of " cottages " a century or less ago.
Not that Rye lacks natural attractions and advantages ; on the contrary, it possesses many and great ones. Its shore line is largely composed of sandy beaches, divided from each other by rocky points jutting out into the Atlantic, with outlying rocks and ledges which, dangerous though they are to naviga- tors unfortunate enough to be in their vicinity in times of fog or storm, afford during and after a storm magnificent surf effects that cannot fail to arouse the awe as well as the admiration of the lover of nature who views them from a vantage point of safety on shore. These beaches, sloping very gradually down to and far out under the sea, furnish at low tide a broad expanse of firm sand for strolling or pleasure driving, and at all times of tide for sea bathing-and such sea bathing as for safety can be found at few seaside resorts, there being nothing similar to the dangerous "pussies" that are common at the beaches along the Long Island and New Jersey coasts, and very seldom any undertow-never, excepting on rare occasions for a tide or two
9
114
HISTORY OF RYE.
after a storm of exceptional severity and duration. Seven miles away, off to the southeastward, the group of rocky islets known as the Isles of Shoals stand up boldly out of the sea; and all the water-borne commerce of the neighboring port of Ports- month, which, during the summer season, is by no means incon- siderable, passes in plain view of the various beaches. Back from the seashore the town is pleasing in appearance, and rest- ful in its attractiveness. There are no wonders of nature to astonish or appal the beholder, but everywhere well kept roads,
A
OCEAN HOUSE, RYE BEACH, JOB JENNESS, PROPRIETOR.
well cultivated farms and neat farm buildings; school-houses and churches, by their exterior condition and surroundings, afford evidence that they are not neglected ; broken down fences and overthrown walls are rarely to be seen, while shade trees, thrifty and moderately extensive orchards, and flower gardens in which modern floral favorites mingle with flowers such as our grandmothers used to tend and admire, are visible on every hand. The cattle in the pastures and the horses on the roads are generally of good quality and in good condition ; the peo-
II5
RYE AS A SUMMER RESORT.
ple one meets of intelligent appearance and evidently self- respecting; in short, Rye in all its aspects presents the best features of a typical, thrifty New England town, where honest toil is honored and usually secures a fair recompense, where the church, the school-house, and the town-meeting are still impor- tant institutions, and which people to the manor born continue to regard as the best place in the world in which to live the year through, and which hundreds of others regard as the best place in the country in which to pass a month or a summer of leisure.
Rye as a summer resort has a social atmosphere differing widely from that prevailing at either Newport or Coney Island ; neither fashions nor fakers rule supreme. It is essentially a resting place for those wearied with the ceaseless whirl of society or the cares of business. Society " functions" of course there are, but few of the regular summer visitors regard them as the only essential of life; as incidentals they are acceptable, often bril- liant, but they are only incidentals. Bathing, driving, out-of- door sports for the younger people, trips to the many other summer resorts and places of historic interest within easy reach, informal evening dances at the hotels, some boating and fishing, while away the hours ; and for ladies who enjoy shopping-and what lady does not-Portsmouth is but a short drive distant, and though Portsmouth is not one of the great cities it has not a few good stores with large and well-selected stocks, and where the summer visitor, whether from Rye or elsewhere, is a wel- come caller.
The summer colony of Rye is not wholly composed of peo- ple of wealth or fashion; many persons of moderate means have cottages here, and hundreds of others pass a few weeks each, or the entire season, at the various boarding houses which cater to such patronage. And all contribute to the general welfare and prosperity of the town. The hotels and large boarding houses furnish the farmers with a market for their summer produce right at their doors, and this patronage is of importance enough to be carefully catered to. A vast sum of money is annually expended in the town by the summer visi-
FARRAGUT HOUSE, RYE BEACH.
-
-
-
II7
RYE AS A SUMMER RESORT.
tors, and the benefit of this is felt, directly or indirectly by every resident of the town.
The Atlantic House has a good claim to be considered the first summer hotel of Rye, although not erected with that pur- pose in view, it having been built before there was any such thing as " the season of summer travel," as the term is now understood. A part of it formerly stood on the south side of the highway, nearly opposite its present location. It was a large, commodious farm-house, and was also conducted by its owner and occupant, Elder Ephraim Philbrick, as a house of enter- tainment for parties who came from up the country with their teams to buy fish at the numerous fish houses along the beach near at hand. These visitors came mostly during the summer and fall, but their visits were made for business ends only, re- creation and rest not being thought of. This house was moved across the road to the present site of the Atlantic House, addi- tions made to it, and the enlarged structure opened to the pub- lic about 1846 by Elder Philbrick's son, John C. Philbrick. Extensive enlargements have since then been, from time to time, made in the rear, but the main body of the building remains now in practically the same condition as it was more than fifty years ago.
The first Farragut House was erected by John C. Philbrick about 1864, and during the summer of 1866 Admiral Farragut was a guest of the hotel. The house was conducted by Mr. Philbrick up to the time of his death in 1869, after which it was managed by Mrs. Philbrick and her son, Frank A. Philbrick. The building was burned about midnight on April 18, 1882. The present Farragut was erected on the same site with all the speed practicable, and opened to the public in 1883; it was conducted by Frank A. Philbrick up to the time of his death, since which time it has been managed by Mr. Frank A. Hall. It is the largest of the summer hotels of the town.
The first Ocean House at Jenness beach was a comparatively small building put up in 1848 by Jonathan Rollins Jenness, whose brother, Job Jenness, made extensive additions to it and opened it the following year, and continued its manage-
SEA VIEW HOUSE, RYE BEACH.
119
RYE AS A SUMMER RESORT.
ment with success until it was destroyed by fire on June 22, 1862. Mr. Jenness at once erected a much larger and more pretentious hotel, which, under the management of Job Jenness & Son, quickly became one of the most famous summer resorts along the New England coast, a position it retained, until it was burned to the ground on April 3, 1873. At the time of its destruction no summer hostelry to the eastward of Boston was more widely known or enjoyed a higher reputation, and the townspeople hoped and expected that a third Ocean House would soon arise over its ashes, but this never came to pass. For thirty years after the last Ocean House was burned the Ocean House grove, as it continued to be called, was a favorite resort for picnic parties, the grove being supplied with tables, benches, cooking facilities, etc., for their accommodation; but recently the land has been laid out into streets and building lots, and probably neither picnic parties nor summer hotel will have place there hereafter.
Not many rods westerly from the Ocean House, but on the opposite side of the road, Mr. Oliver Philbrick in 1853 built the Surf House, which was conducted as a summer hotel until Octo- ber 22, 1872, when it was destroyed by fire and has never been replaced.
Easterly from the Surf House site and nearly opposite the location of the Ocean House, Mr. Carr Leavitt in 1853-'54 built the Washington House, which was conducted as a summer hotel until recently, when it was remodelled by his son, Mr. John E. Leavitt, into an apartment house, the first of the kind in the town. It is still a part of the town's accomodations for summer visitors, but for families only, or parties engaging for the season, transient patrons not being received.
At Foss Beach, the "Sandy Beach " of Morrill's plan of Rye, there was at one time a summer hotel of moderate size called the Prospect House. The date of its erection we have not discovered, but it was burned on July 10, 1862, and not rebuilt.
In 1869 the Sea View House was built by Mr. George G. Lougee, at the junction of Central and South roads, and since
TH1.1+
OCEAN WAVE HOUSE, RYE NORTH BEACH.
I2I
RYE AS A SUMMER RESORT.
that time he has managed it, with the assistance of his son, Gilman M. Lougee.
The Ocean Wave House at North Rye beach (which is shown on Morrill's plan as a part of Sandy beach, and is not so far north as Wallis Sands) was built in 1879 by Henry Knox. It is very near the shore and so situated and so planned that every sleeping room has a window from which a more or less extensive view of some part of the ocean can be had. At this beach and at Concord Point, which makes its northern boundary, there are many summer cottages ; and perched here and there along the huge ridge of sand on the land side of Wal- lis Sands are many others, and new ones are being erected every year. On the ancient Wallis farm, which extends from the northerly end of Wallis Sands nearly to Odiorne's Point, is a large and costly cottage erected by the late Prof. James Parsons, professor of law in the University of Pennsylvania, as a sum- mer home, the place being now owned by his heirs.
The Sagamore House at Frost's Point, Little Harbor, had its commencement in a one-story farm house of large area on the ground, built about one hundred years ago by one of two brothers named Frost, who occupied adjoining farms at the point and from whom the point took its present name. These brothers one year got into a dispute over the ownership of a heifer, valued at $5, carried the dispute into the courts, and kept up the legal warfare until both contestants were ruined ( the heifer having, it is said, in, the meantime grown to cow- hood and finally died of old age), and both farms were sold to pay lawyers' fees and court expenses. The farm of fifty acres, including the point and on which the Sagamore House later stood, was bought by Stephen Foye of Portsmouth, and the smaller farm of thirty-six acres by his brother, John Foye, the latter farm having since remained in the Foye name. By the usual custom, this change of ownership should have changed the name of the point to Foye's Point; but this change seems never to have taken place. In 1842 Stephen Foye sold his farm to a man named Odiorne, but again no change of name resulted. There was already one Odiorne's Point close by, so
RESIDENCE OF FRANCIS E. DRAKE, RYE BEACH,
123
RYE . AS A SUMMER RESORT.
the name continued to be " Frost's," as it had been during the ownership of Mr. Foye. A few years later Mr. Odiorne sold the place to Capt. Thomas R. Clark, who, about 1850, (perhaps a year or two later), put the old farm-house in complete repair and added another story to it, making it quite a large house ; built a bowling alley, and opened the place as a summer resort. Much of Captain Clark's patronage came from Portsmouth, and even during the winter he entertained many sleighing parties ; he was very popular personally, but he did not know how to keep a hotel so as to make it pay, and it only took him two or three years to find that out, when he gave up the attempt and sold the house and farm to Capt. George W. Towle. Captain Towle conducted the house as a summer resort for two seasons, or three, and then concluded that he, too, was unlikely to ac- cumulate a fortune as a hotel keeper; and from that time until 1868 the house was closed to the public. In that year the place was bought by George W. and James S. Peirce, who greatly enlarged and improved the house and re-opened it as a summer hotel. Col. James S. Peirce, who assumed the entire control, was an experienced landlord, and under his manage- ment the house enjoyed such a measure of success that in 1870 a large extension was built; but on June 12, 1871, the build- ing caught fire while being made ready for the summer open- ing, and was totally consumed, with the extension and a large stable, the only building to escape the flames being the bowl- ing alley, which was at some distance from the house, and a portion of which was afterward fitted up as a dwelling and oc- cupied by one of the owners for many years. The Peirce brothers estimated their loss at $60,000, with $29,000 insur- ance, and they never rebuilt. About 1890 the place was bought by Dr. W. D. McKim of New York, who had erected for his own use as a summer home, not far from where the Sagamore House formerly stood, a large and handsome cottage. And it has one of the most beautiful situations along the coast. Toward the sea from the McKim cottage is another handsome one, which Mrs. Martha M. Jones of New York had built for a summer residence; and still nearer the sea, far out toward the
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.