Uncategorized

This 1847 Greek Revival home on Union Street is a showcase of skills by local architect Thomas Lord (1805 – 1880), who is credited with bringing classical motifs seen in Ancient Greece architecture to Blue Hill houses. Specifically, Thomas Lord is often credited with being the reason that his neighborhood, so named “The Five Houses” all follow the Greek Revival Style. The six houses, all built within a 20 year period, have template-fronted facades and are painted white to resemble white marble. This style had been likely seen by Thomas Lord in Asher Benjamin’s design plates, as seen in Benjamin’s 1833 “The Carpenter’s Assistant” among many others. Ann Hinckley, once a librarian at the Blue Hill Library noted of the house, “The lintels of the doors are carved, the eaves, the windows, and within, the molding, the base-board, doors and corner posts are lovely with design. The staircase is a masterpiece.”

Thomas Lord (1805-1880), was the son of Rev. Benjamin Lord (1778-1841) and Mary Means (1784-1864). He worked on boat figureheads, drawing influence from his travels through the Mediterranean. Lord designed and constructed approximately 83 vessels, 84 houses, 12 schools, and 14 meeting houses. He designed both the First Congregational and Baptist Churches in Blue Hill as well as other surrounding town’s churches such as Surry, Sedgwick, Brooksville, and Brooklin. Just before building the house Thomas married Matilda Carlton (1811-1898) and the couple had three children while living in Thomas’ masterpiece, Roscoe Granville Lord (1834-1914), Ellen Matilda Lord (1840-1886), and Sarah Cole Lord Morse (1849-1934).

When Thomas died in 1880, Thomas Lord’s elder son, Roscoe Granville Lord took up residence here, where the 1900 census lists him as a Painter, which was likely as a House Painter or maybe even as a house stenciler – although this art really saw its height just before the Civil War. Incidentally Roscoe was drafted for the American Civil, although it’s unclear if he ultimately served. In 1868, Roscoe married Carrie J. McFarland (1845-1910) in Ellsworth and together the two had a child, Willie A. Lord (1869-1870), who sadly only lived for one year before passing away. Not much is known about the couple after that, but it appears by 1910, his sister Sarah took ownership of the home.

Sarah married James Henry Morse (1844-1918) at the age of 21 and had two children, Henry Everett Morse(1872-1873) and Florence Sherman Morse (1876-1962). James worked as a carpenter for many years until he began to work as a janitor at the school building – likely George Stevens Academy. Florence never married and worked at the Post Office for many years, likely starting in the Blue Hill Town Hall where the post office once was located. Later she worked as a “teamster” or driver for the Blue Hill Hospital and even later on as a secretary. The house was willed to Florence as the sole heir of the family home and she lived in the home until her death in 1962. The house was, for the first time since it’s construction, sold to a non-Lord or Morse and was passed subsequently onto the Park, Rowland and Kuhns families.

If you have any stories or pictures that you want to share about this building or its inhabitants don’t hesitate to post them in the comments section. Over the next couple of Sundays we’re going to focus on the “Joseph P. Thomas House” otherwise known as the “Asa Littlefield House”

Blacksmiths were the beating heart of early colonial communities, providing the skills to fashion shoes for oxen or horses while mending broken iron tools. As shipbuilding took off as an industry, blacksmiths were often employed to fit the ships with ironworks. Some of the early blacksmiths for Blue Hill included Theodore Stevens, Edward Varum Stevens, Frederick Stevens, Richard Abbott, Clarence Snowman and James Bettel. Typically Blacksmiths were taught in either a guild system or through an apprenticeship, but most likely in Colonial America, many of these men would have learned as an apprenticeship at the age of 10-12 years of age. The training takes 8-10 years to fully master the craft. The work of these early smiths can still be found in the iron farming implements still being used on farms in the present day.

The Mill Stream in Blue Hill has long been the site of many industrial-minded buildings from Matthew Ray’s edge tool shop to Daniel Osgood’s grist mill and George Stevens’ cotton mill on the Mill Stream above High Street. Originally on this site, there was a house that was built and occupied by Eben Garland, the shoemaker as his storefront. The home was passed between the McIntyre and Gross family until it burned down.

It has been said that Frederick Stevens built the shop on the bridge in 1852, selling it to Richard Abbott – however there are no records as such to support this claim nor dispute it. It has also been said that William H Darling put in granite foundations for a bank here in 1880’s, but that was the beginning and end of that venture due to financial woes from the Copper Mining speculation busting.

By 1888, Clarence Snowman (1864 – 1913) owned the lot and appears to have been the one to build the structure on site now. Clarence Snowman was the son of Sewell P. Snowman, a Civil War Veteran that witnessed the build-up to South Carolina’s secession from the Union. Clarence split the lot between himself and James B. Bettel, who had long run a jobbing and horseshoeing business on Water Street and happened to be Clarence’s brother-in-law. Clarence Snowman continued to work at this location until he sold the property to Charles F. Wescott in 1910. For fifty-years, Wescott’s Forge was a landmark in Blue Hill Village – originally meeting the needs of the community by showing horses and oxen, but eventually that faded into a different pursuit.

With the introduction of the Dorrity Stage Coach and eventually automobiles and the decline in the shipping industry, blacksmiths needed to find a new outlet for their craft. Charles Wescott worked in the building from 1910 to his death in 1959, but between the occasional horse shoeing he was able to craft wonderful masterpieces out of metal. He was even known to make rings for little kids from horseshoe nails, which many remember losing quickly as children are apt to do.

Wescott renamed the business Hammer and Tongs and began his forty year stint of creating, both from his own designs and that of other local artists. His wares ranged from metal signs or gates, including the ones at The Old Cemetery on Union Street and the gate at Seaside Cemetery, to fire screens to hanging flower pots. Wescott even did a few statues, but those have long since disappeared with the exception of one: Pan the Piper, depicting Pan lazing against a metallic tree while playing his pipes. The statue was originally created for Arcady, the estate of Mrs. Ethelbert Nevin, widow of a famed composer of the late 19th century. Arcady can be seen near the Reversing Falls Bridge as one heads towards Brooklin.

In 1966, Wescott’s children and his widow sold the property to Katherine “Kitty” Austin Clements – who had earlier sponsored an iron craft shop there during the summer for many years. After her marriage, Kitty Austin sold the property to Russell Phillips in 1968. Phillips reopened the blacksmith shop there and worked with Thayer Bowden at the forge during the summer months. Thayer Bowden was a self-taught blacksmith for the most part, earning some metal work training during his military service. In 1974, Phillips sold the property to John Hikade who opened a furniture stripping business there, while Bowden continued to blacksmith during the summers. On the upper floors, The Handworks Store was opened, a craft store and gallery. In 1977 major renovation took place and a new story was added below street level by extensive excavation.

By June of 1978 “The Firepond” opened in the basement under the partnership of John Hikade and Ben Wootten. The restaurant took its name from the firepond constructed across the street at the mouth of the stream. From that point onwards the Forge had fully closed its doors after a hundred years of smithing. Henceforth the building was used as a restaurant including 66 Steak & Seafood and as of 2021, Blaze.

Although the craft of blacksmithing has declined in popularity in the last sixty years, the both practical and whimsical echoes of these early Smiths can still be found in the strangest of places. If you are walking around downtown Blue Hill, if you spy some twisted iron railings outside some of the local businesses, you are seeing some of the hidden examples of the skills of these Smiths. A subtle, yet long lasting artform that still finds its way into the modern era.

The Holt brothers, Jonah and Jeremiah Thorndike, built the Pendleton House in 1826. Originally called the Brick Block, the building was a storefront for the Holts, and it also housed a post office for many years run by Frederick A. Holt. In the upper floors, Lemuel Ellis once resided, playing his violin, french horn, and other instruments.

“The Brick Block” juggled many owners after Jeremiah died in 1832, being under the management of Captain John Merrill, George Stover, John Snow and so on as a hotel, its name changing from the Brick Block to the Hotel Alma. In the 1870s, the building had fallen into disrepair, and was seized from its owner, Frederick Holt, by the Blue Hill Academy, from whom Nathan Pendleton purchased the building. As an 1877 issue of The Ellsworth American stated: “Blue Hill needs a hotel. There have never been so many strangers and visitors. Five hundred men are working in the quarries.” Thus, Pendleton opened it as a hotel in 1878. Copper mining and granite quarrying in Blue Hill were drawing more workers to the area, and with quarries sometimes employing as many as 1,400 laborers, there was an influx of people to the area. Mr. Pendleton himself was involved in the mining scene, and his hotel gave traveling tradesmen and tourists alike a place to stay, as such it was dubbed the “Pendleton House”. Josie Barker was in charge of the hotel during the mining boom and the registers from the hotel are included in the B.H. Library Archives. The BHHS has a parlor chair, a pitcher and a room key from the hotel from the height of the hotel.

Nathan Pendleton, however, was more interested in mining than hospitality, so he sold the business to William Swazey of Bucksport in 1882, who in turn sold it to John M. Snow in 1888. Mr. Snow encased the building with porches and, in 1896, sold it to George H. Stover, who kept the business going. In 1905, Judge Edward Everett Chase and his family took up living in the house (recounted in Virginia Chase Perkins’ novel America House.) and Judge Chase hired both locals and individuals in a rehabilitation program from local mental asylums. Minot Piper bought the property from Mrs. Chase in 1921 and ran his courier business for the U.S. Mail and freight and later his garage business. Drivers included Edward Pemberton, Luther Piper, Sr, Clifford Piper and Alton Horton.

In 1958 the property and the garage was sold to Foster Blake, Jr. who removed the porches from the building. Heanssler Oil operated a garage there in 1965 and Maine Frame Company has also been housed there in addition to American Railway Express and Western Union. By 1968, Merle Grindle Agency occupied the first floor and the Weekly Packet began publication here. In 1977 Philip Alley ran a Gulf Station at the east end of the building. Today, the building is home to a number of businesses, and although it is no longer a hotel there are still rooms for rent in the upper stories.