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Friends of the Southport
Historical Society
P. O. Box 3, Southport, ME 04576
HENDRICKS HILL MUSEUM
Newsletter ***** November 2018
Donald Duncan, Editor
************************************************************************
Friendly Reminder
Perhaps we failed to send you a letter in March, or perhaps you forgot to reply, but
several of our loyal supporters have not yet responded in 2018. If you see an X on the label
attached to this newsletter, we have not heard from you. If you would like to respond, please
send your check in any amount (payable to The Friends of the Southport Historical Society)
to Cathy Messmer at PO Box 3, Southport ME 04576. If you think we have made a mistake,
please let me know [Donald Duncan, 32 Blair Road, Southport ME 04576 or
donaldduncan@roadrunner.com]
A Summer of Celebration
The house that was to become the Hendricks Hill
Museum was moved from the head of Pierce Cove to its
present location thirty years ago this past February. It
was lowered onto its foundation, and the spring of 1988
saw great activity with volunteers stripping wallpaper
and getting the museum fit for the public. On July 16th,
1988, the guests streamed in.
Thirty years later we appreciate all that has been
accomplished: the building of the Boathouse; the
addition made possible by Sterling Nelson housing the
Reference Room, the Post Office Room and the Marr
and Pierce Rooms upstairs; and, finally, the addition to
the Boathouse which stores the SYC sailboat and the
counter and stools from Gus Pratt’s Pavilion. Our band
of dedicated volunteers have welcomed thousands of
visitors over these thirty years.
In 2018 it was time to celebrate, and we did so
Evelyn Sherman
with gusto this summer. On the evening of Monday, July
Ron Orchard
16th, the Town Hall was filled with guests to hear stories
Jean Thompson
and view pictures of the museum’s thirty years. In addition
to the celebration in Town Hall, we participated in the Windjammer Parade inBoothbay Harbor and Southport’s 4th of July Parade. We had four “small talks”
related to items in the museum’s collection and, at our ice cream social, we served up
59 ice cream cones (or cups) for 5 cents each. Lastly, the Southport library displayed
photos of the island in the old days which were prepared by Ann Roche. All of
celebratory events are recorded in a beautiful pictorial book prepared by Jim Singer,
dedicated to Nan Jackson, and available for viewing next summer in the Reference
Room.
Our deepest appreciation goes to Nan and her planning committee consisting of
Evelyn Sherman, Sarah Sherman, Donald Duncan, Shelby Kaider, Carole Zalucky and
Jim Singer. Bravo!
Small Talks
On four successive Thursdays beginning on July 26 we held “Small Talks” at
the Museum from 1:30 to 2:30 as follows:
Genealogy Resources at the Museum; Becky Singer and Ron Orchard
Becky writes:
On July 26 this past summer, a group gathered at the Museum to learn about the
information available to people interested in the genealogy of Southport and also the
Boothbay region. Each participant received a handout listing various resources
throughout the Museum. Becky Singer, with the help of Ron Orchard, pointed to some
of the key books, notebooks and files that have been collected during the 30 years that
the museum has been open. The newest addition is a book just published by the Maine
Genealogical Society titled: The Records of Boothbay and Southport. Ron was quite
excited by this new source. Anyone interested in Southport families should go upstairs
and examine Ron’s thorough family tree that has many Marrs and Pierces listed. Come
to the Museum any time it is open to research Southport’s families. There is a room full
of information for anyone interested in Southport history or the genealogy of its
inhabitants. In addition almost every room of the museum has additional treasures to
further one’s knowledge of the island.
Morgan Rhees Jr., The Mysterious Artist of Southport; by Pegi Stengel
Pegi writes:
Morgan John Rhees, Jr. (1850 - 1925) was a well-known, award winning
portrait artist, with studios in Boston and New York City. He visited Southport during
the summers of the late 1890's, married Frances Rose Marr, a Southport widow, on
April 16,1908, and lived on the island until his death, June 30, 1925. Stories of him
abound, but little is known - why did he come, was he really a hermit, what might
explain the large, strange painting in the Museum?
Pegi answered many of these questions in her talk and slide presentation at the
Museum on August 2nd. She focused on the story of this artist, whose works can still
be found in the area. Pegi detailed his movements around the country, unusual for an
artist in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and showed pictures of his art. The Museumhas several of his paintings on display, including the Fauvist “Greed” and the lovely
portrait of Ethlyn Pinkham Giles as a child. Some of his paintings are now in private
homes and some are available at auction and occasionally on eBay.
Fifteen people attended this Small Talk, and they contributed to an interesting and
lively discussion.
Ice Harvesting, Maine’s Acres of Diamonds by Donald Duncan
Donald writes
Ice harvesting was big business in the years from 1800 to 1930, and in 1887
over 1,000,000 tons of ice was shipped from the Kennebec River area. The Museum
has a fine collection of the tools used for the harvesting thanks to the late Ralph
Spinney whose father was in the business. Ice was cut when it was 15 to 24 inches thick
and stored in huge ice houses. It was used to supply local ice-boxes and tons were
shipped to Boston, New York, the Caribbean and beyond. About 20 people attended
and some were turned away due to lack of space! The Museum has a 10 minute video
produced by the Thompson Ice Museum in South Bristol that shows the process. Be
sure to drop in next summer and see it.
Browsing Through our Boatshop Treasures; Dan Harle
Dan writes:
Next door to the museum you will find the boat shop which contains additional
information on the maritime history of the island. Included are boats and fishing gear
used by the residents to make a living as well as an SYC sailboat built especially for
the Southport Yacht Club members. There are five other boats that are on display that
were used locally. In addition, there are various exhibits of local activities such as the
counter and stools from Gus Pratt’s Cosy Harbor Pavilion and ice harvesting. The
boatshop also has a work bench and carpentry tools used by Cecil Pierce, a local
craftsman and furniture builder who had an important influence on the museum.
Ronald Orchard
Later in this newsletter you will read that “Without our Volunteers we could not
operate.” Now we wish to highlight one of our most productive and longest serving
volunteer, Ronald Orchard. When we published Island Tales in 2011, the book was
dedicated to Ron with these words:
However, Ron Orchard is special. He was a founding Trustee in 1988 and
serves as the Board’s Chairman. His skill with genealogy, his encyclopedic knowledgeof the collection and his willingness to tackle any problem from putting on winter
shutters to solving software glitches is what makes things happen.
He is on hand every day that the Museum is open and can answer nearly every
question. He puts up the flag in the morning and takes it in at closing. He is the one
who responds when the security alarm goes off. He has chosen and enhanced most of
the photographs in this book. Every year at Town Meeting he arranges an historical
exhibit for the voters complete with pictures and captions. Truly, he cares for the
Museum.
This past September Ron told the Trustees of the Museum that in 2019, he
would not be available to open and close the Museum and be on hand every day that
the Museum is open. He will continue as the Chairman of the Trustees and will be at
the Museum in 2019 only as often as he wishes.
A little arithmetic leads to a most impressive result: 3 days/week times 9
weeks/year times 30 years comes out to 810 days! Thus, since 1988 when the Museum
opened, Ron has put up the flag and taken it down every day for more than two years.
And he has not missed one of those days!
Finding other people to cover all the roles he has played will be difficult, and the
Friends and the Trustees will set about the task immediately. If our readers can suggest
new volunteers or can see fit to expand their number of hours, that would be a great
help. Please call Nan Jackson at 633-2003.
Let us look at the many areas where Ron has made a significant contribution to
Southport and the nation.
Ron was born in 1931 on Southport Island. He attended the island school
through the eighth grade when the eighth grade comprised 15 students. He continued
his high school years at Boothbay Harbor, graduating in 1948. He well recalls as an
eighth grader being required to attend Southport Town Meeting (sitting in the balcony)
so that he could learn about how the Town operated politically. He recalled carrying
buckets of water from a well near Ebenecook Road to the school. Water had to be
drawn by bucketful from the well and he says that when the well was later cleaned out,
seventeen rusty buckets were recovered!
Ron’s grandfather was the legendary Charles Pinkham who, during much of the
20th century, was Southport’s leading citizen and storekeeper. Ron worked at the store
and spent many evenings absorbing Charlie’s stories and lore.
He played and later coached, with Ralph Spinney, basketball in the Town Hall.
None were more loyal high school basketball supporters than he and Ralva who, for
years, attended nearly every home game.
He worked at Frank Sample’s shipyard and later at Yacht Services in East
Boothbay. He was a petty officer in the Navy during the Korean War and has always
marched proudly in the various holiday parades.
A voracious reader of history, he took a leading position in the Historical
Committee to help the Town celebrate the Nation’s Bicentennial in 1976. As the final
rocket and roman candle came down, the Town extended the role of the HistoricalCommittee to what developed into the Southport Historical Society and the Hendricks
Hill Museum whose 30th Anniversary we celebrate this year in 2018.
At the Annual Closing Party in October 2013, Ron was presented with a baseball
cap carrying the embroidery ABOVE and BEYOND and a check in recognition of his
years of service to us all; well above and beyond the call of duty. Between the words
on the hat was embroidered a small brown mouse.
Here is the significance of the mouse. One night well after midnight, Ron’s
phone rang with a report from Northeast Security that there was an intruder at the
Museum. There had recently been some house break-ins on the Island and the deputy
sheriff advised Ron not to go into the Museum until the deputy arrived. With
flashlights and caution they went in to the Reference Room and found no sign of an
intruder, concluding that perhaps a mouse had set off the alarm. In due course they
found the varmint in the Post Office Room and tried in vain to kill it with brooms!
Finally, giving up, they prepared to leave and Ron noticed the mouse, sitting on the top
rung of a ladder-backed chair, smiling at them! Mouse 1 People 0.
His historical interest and tenacity is shown clearly in the vast genealogy tree
that he made and which is displayed in the Marr Room of the Museum. Two Marr
brothers from Georgetown married two Pierce sisters from Southport c 1800 and later a
Marr sister married a Pierce brother thus further uniting the two families. The tree
follows this development until about 2000.
In 1998, the Newagen Post Office was closed. As the postal authorities were
about to dismantle the office and load the material into a truck, Ron approached them
and asked if the Town could have the material. Thus it was that we have the Post
Office Room at the Museum. Prior Postmasters include Ron’s great grandfather,
Edward Everett Pinkham, his grandfather, Charlie Pinkham and his mother, Harriet
Orchard.
If you have voted in Southport over any of the last 20 years, your ballot has been
provided by Ralva as she checks the voting rolls and has been carefully received by
Ron as he deposits it in the old locked wooden ballot box or, in recent years, fed it into
the machine which electronically records the results.
His genealogic interest led to deeper skills with the computer and he has
enhanced many of the Museum’s photographs, changing them from fuzzy images to
brighter and crisper photographs, some of which have appeared on the covers of Town
reports over the years.
His wealth of memories and knowledge are complemented by his eagerness to
share that knowledge with museum visitors. No one visits the Museum under his
guidance without a lasting memory of the visit. He is sensitive to their interest and
answers their questions while being sure that nobody misses the details of the
collection such as Gustav Tenggren and the Poky Little Puppy.
For many years, he served without pay until the Friends realized that some
stipend was more than appropriate. Since then he has received a very small percentage
of what he is worth!!Thus we all stand in praise to honor the extraordinary contributions Ron Orchard
has given to the Museum, the Town and the nation. No one will ever be able to fill
Ron’s shoes, but together we will try to fill at least one of them.
Well Done, thou Good and Faithful Servant.
History of the Olcott-Jacobs-Plane House
By Kathy Jacobs and Dave Plane
The story of our house at the end of Ebenecook Road involves three of
Southport’s prominent 19th century families (Pierce, Maddocks, and Cameron), plus
one of our island’s most notorious 20th century summer residents (George Lincoln
Rockwell). Over the past couple of years we have spent a good deal of time
researching the history of the house and those who have lived in it.
The house, on the end of the point between Pierce and Maddocks Coves at the
southern end of Ebenecook Harbor,
was built in the late 1850s for Robert
Maddocks and Ann Maria Pierce
Maddocks. Married in 1848, they
were first cousins. Robert, born July
11, 1824, was the 11th of the 12
children of Palgrave Maddocks and
Rhuhama Pierce Maddocks. Ann
Maria was the 6th daughter born to
George Washington “Squire” Pierce
and Maria Barnes Pierce. Squire
“built his wharf and stand on the
western shore of Pierce’s Cove. He
owned and captained the Ann Maria,
named after his daughter.” The Squire and Maria Pierce home on Ebenecook Road is
now that of Ramona Gaudette. Ann Maria’s brother, George W. Pierce, Jr., lived next
door in the house now owned by Doug and Betsy Jones.
In March of 1857, Robert Maddocks purchased his 2.5-acre homesite at the end of
the point from his uncle and his wife’s father, Squire Pierce, for $300. It was a fitting
location, given it was between the Pierce and Maddocks family homesteads. Robert
was a ship’s captain, and the house was constructed to face south, with no first-floor
windows looking out to the water. According to Francis Gaudette, this was because
Captain Maddocks had already seen enough of the sea.
Shortly after the family moved in, tragedy struck. In 1859 Robert was lost at sea
in the schooner E.S. Pendleton, “120 tons, loaded with oats, dressed hogs and geese,”
which had “left Georgetown, Prince Edward Island, for home in November. No
tidings were ever had of them after sailing.” Ann Maria was left with four childrenunder the age of 10, and she was carrying a fifth, whom she would name Robert after
the father he would never know.
Ann Maria was also left with substantial debts and became mired in numerous
probate court proceedings because Robert had no will. We found documents
establishing her 1/3 “dower right” to the house, adjacent barn, and homesite, along
with the other 2/3 of these assets that were put up to auction to raise funds. By 1863
she had gained full title to the property, but in June of that year she remarried and the
family moved to New Sharon in Franklin County. There she lived with her new
husband, shoemaker Oliver Berry, until her death in 1880 at age 51.
In August of 1863, Ann Maria sold the house and the 2.5 acres at the end of the
point to Robert Cameron for $1,200. Robert was a first cousin of Henry Cameron,
whose home (now the Hendricks Hill Museum) was next to that of Squire Pierce on the
western bank of Pierce Cove.
In 1868, after Squire Pierce died, his heirs sold Robert Cameron an additional
three acres of land immediately south of his 2.5 acre homesite. This field, which has
remained largely treeless to the present day, is shown as having been cleared and
stone-walled on the Sproule British coastal survey map of 1772 (on display at the
museum). Also shown is a large building on our point, presumably an earlier house.
We have thus far been unable to locate any remains of that structure.
Robert Cameron would not be able to hold onto his lands for very long. To
finance the purchase of the field, he signed a $1,000 mortgage on the house and
homesite to his wife Harriet’s brother, Charles G. Mitchell of Bath, promising to pay
back $600 in one year’s time. This he could not do. In January of 1870, ownership of
the house and the homesite passed to Charles Mitchell, and in March 1870 the three-
acre field was sold back to Squire Pierce’s son-in-law, Charles Pierce, husband of Ann
Maria’s sister Sarah. Subsequently, Charles G. Mitchell sold the house and Robert
Cameron left Southport.
Our house and land passed through many owners in the years after the 1870s, with
a lengthy record of sales, mortgages, and foreclosures. During the 1930s, the field
housed a number of chicken coops, as shown in the picture given to us by Steven
Gaudette, taken by his grandfather, Henry Gaudette. We believe that the chicken
farmer was actually a neighbor, Albert Greenleaf.
For a number of years our house was rented and lived in seasonally by George
“Doc” Rockwell (1889–1978), a well-known vaudeville comedian, and his long-time
partner, silent movie star, Madelyn Meredith (1894–1981). According to Francis
Gaudette, the Rockwells built a small cottage for Meredith’s mother on a flat spot
below the main house down near our dock. This building was later moved and still
stands on Landing Road.
Also spending summers on the premises was Doc Rockwell’s first son (from his
earlier marriage to Claire Schade) George Lincoln “Linc” Rockwell (1918–1967).
Lincoln Rockwell later gained notoriety as the founder of the American Nazi Party.
Linc Rockwell is quoted in a biography, titled American Fuehrer, as bragging of
sailing in stormy weather, solo, around Southport when other less fearless boys wouldstay on shore. While working for his father’s Boothbay Harbor graphic arts business,
he did the cartography for a large-scale map of the Boothbay Harbor Region on which
individual home owners are identified (also on view at the museum). In 1967, George
Lincoln Rockwell was shot and killed by a former member of his American Nazi Party.
“Doc” Rockwell and Madelyn Meredith were active in the local real estate market.
Their gravestone, with the inscription “Together Forever,” is in Decker’s Cemetery.
In 1950, Kathy’s grandparents, Alfred and Ruth Olcott, purchased the house and
land from Donald and Constance Woodworth. Alfred van Santvoord Olcott ran the
Hudson River Day Line, a sidewheel paddle steamboat company that carried
passengers up and down the Hudson River from New York to Albany from 1863 to
1971. They bought the house when he retired from the Day Line and spent 11 happy
years there until Alfred died in 1961, Ruth in 1966. The property then passed to their
children, Helen O. Jacobs, A.V.S. (“Van”) Olcott, Jr., and Alexander P. Olcott.
On August 12, 1982, we were married on the point in front of the house.
Witnessed by family and Southport friends, the ceremony was performed by our
neighbor, the late Reverend Wallace Robbins. Unlike the 19th century couples who
lived in the house—Robert Maddocks and Ann Maria Pierce, and Robert Cameron and
Harriet Mitchell—our marriage has so far lasted 36 years, and now five generations of
Olcotts, Jacobs, and Planes have enjoyed life the way it should be, here on this
beautiful, historic piece of land.
Nostalgia I
July 20, 2011
Dear Maine Folks,
I have been a “Mainiac” for over 86 years. When I first arrived (I was a baby)
we came by boat from Bath --- and on up to Milton T. Bailey’s on Mollys Point. My
father (Milton’s son) Stanley M. Bailey bought the land and built a house on land now
owned by Susan Katzev. Grace Tellefsen (Janet Cusano’s mother) is my sister who
lives on Hendricks Hill Road.
We (my two sisters and I) miss the days when we used bamboo poles to go
fishing, walked all over the rocks and through the woods to go to Pinkham’s! (Little
did I know then that my niece would some day own the store!!!)
We all have 85 years of Maine and not a thing can ever take those precious times
away! Blueberrying, fishing for cunners, tree moss used for mustaches and beards,
Nana’s doughnuts for breakfast, the outhouse, cleaning oil lamps weekly, going to get
two pails of water at the well and waving to passenger boats --- mostly the Argo --- oh
yes --- and seeing the cruise ship going by at 11 PM to Nova Scotia --- so many
memories!!!
Thanks for reading this!!
Barbara Glines
Nostalgia IIWritten by George S. Murdock in 1935 and revised by Jane Harrington in 2011
You may talk about your Emerald isle or the island of Capri,
But the isle we love the best of all is Southport by the sea.
Twas fifty years ago, or more, I walked its rocks and shores
It seemed like music to my ears to hear the breakers roar.
The pioneers of this quaint place have long since passed away,
But the memory of these good old souls are with us to this day.
The homes they built on these old rocks are monuments of great toil.
The march of time goes steadily on; the old house looks the same,
And as each season rolls around our thoughts go out to Maine.
We see the boats go sailing by for pleasure or for gain,
And lofty trees on distant shore forever will remain.
The sunset in the evening sky is wondrous to behold,
And soon on eastern shores the clouds will turn to gold.
Then darkness settles over all. The lights along the shore
Shine brightly in the darkened night the gulls they soar no more.
\And so each year we gather here, my children and our friends,
And often think what joy ‘twould be if this could have no end.
So God made this wondrous isle, this island by the sea,
And so we think that what he planned, was just for those
Who gather here, today.
Message from the President, Cathy Messmer
We are happy to have received 17 new memberships in celebration of the
museum’s 30th anniversary year. It’s not too late to join! For those of you who have
friends or relatives who would like to become a supporter, just contact me, via
messmer.cathy@gmail.com or by calling me at 201-323-3111.
We thank and welcome all the new members who’ve joined us so far this year:
Henry and Leslie Berne, Guy, Jenny and Eleanor Marshall, Danielle D. Nash, Barbara
and Jack Bauman, Leslie Gelpi and Steve Ingersoll, Steve Tupper, Ruth Davison and
Richard Lally, Royal DePuy Sr. and Rebecca Poulin, Kenneth and Mary MacCormac,
Gary Morrison, Donna Parisi Meuse, Chris McKenna and Mare Keire, Sarah and Jim
Carlisle, Gene Chandler, Jim and Carol Allison, Delores and George Lechleitner,
Linda Murphy and David SpillaneVolunteers, Our Guardian Angels!
Without our Volunteers we could not operate. Forty-two volunteers served a total of
1,052 volunteer hours since last November. This year we had 447 visitors. Again we give
special thanks to Nan Jackson who scheduled all the guides. She kept careful track and hardly
anyone missed an assignment.
Kathy Bugbee Carole Zalucky
Larry Crane
Karen Curtis
Ann Cyr
Conrad Cyr
Fleet Davies
Campbell DeMallie
Peter Doelp
Donald Duncan
Joyce Duncan
Bob Eaton
Gerry Gamage
Tim Hanley
Dan Harle
Jean Hasch
Jean Hawley
Toni Helming
Gene Huskins
Nan Jackson
Hilary Jacobs
Kathy Jacobs
Shelby Kaider
Mary Lou Koskela
Meredith MacKusick
Carole McCarthy
and Grandson
Bill Messmer
Cathy Messmer
Ralva Orchard
Ronald Orchard
Michael Pollard
Gardiner Rapelye
Ann Roche
Evelyn Sherman
Sarah Sherman
Becky Singer
Jim Singer
Dick Snyder
Pegi Stengel
Jean Thompson
Mari Tiwari
Bruce WoodFriends of the Southport Historical Society P. O. Box 3 Southport, ME 04576 Museum Trustees Ronald Orchard, Chairman Kathy Bugbee, Secretary Mary Lou Koskela, Treasurer Donald Duncan Bob Eaton Jean Hasch Gene Huskins Bill Messmer Evelyn Sherman Friends Officers/Directors Cathy Messmer, President to 2019 Jean Hawley, Vice President to 2019 Carole Zalucky, Secretary to 2019 Becky Singer, Treasurer to 2019 Kathy Bugbee to 2019 Nan Jackson to 2019 Shelby Kaider to 2020 Ann Roche to 2020 Gerry Gamage to 2021 Mari Tiwari to 2021
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