by Frannie Niles

Published with Permission October 21, 2022

THE PERKINS WOMEN OF YORK

Old York Historical Society undertook a major renovation of the Perkins House in 2018 and 2019 and reopened in August 2019 with rooms once again open to the public for viewing the astounding collection of Perkins artifacts and memorabilia. The Perkins Collection is an important part of Old York’s overall collection, shedding light on the Perkins women’s interest in Colonial Revivalism, in the Piscataqua region and further around New England. The collection contains diaries, correspondence, scrapbooks, vintage clothing, jewelry, paintings, and photographs.

The Perkins women, Mary Sowles Perkins, and her daughter, Elizabeth Bishop Perkins, left an enduring legacy in the town of York despite their relatively recent arrival at the turn of the 20th century. Both were charismatic and influential people in their own, resolute ways. This blog seeks to review their family backgrounds, early upbringings, and personalities to understand them first as individuals and then how together they undertook to create a new focus on the important history of our town Agamenticus-Gorgeana-York. We will seek to understand the local character of the Town of York at the turn of the 20th century. And we will look at the nascent Summer Colony of York Harbor that the Perkins family entered in 1898 and examine the interactions between the longstanding townspeople and the summer newcomers. Daily exchanges between the two groups turned out to be a two-way street that benefited both sides. Finally, we will bring to life the various community and historical projects undertaken by both women and appreciate their devotion to the betterment of York.

We hope the following will interest and inform you and that you’ll come visit the Perkins House!

Many thanks to Kevin McKinney who has never-ending persistence in rummaging through old books, records, maps, and the internet and whose research help was invaluable.

Frannie Niles

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PART 1: FAMILY BACKGROUND

MARY EMILY SOWLES

Mary Emily Sowles (1845-1929) was a well-educated and wealthy Vermont native from St. Albans, descending from the Sowles, Gadscomb, and Aldis families who all enjoyed impressive political and social status. Her father Hiram Sowles was a Vermont Supreme Court Justice. He and his wife Mary Ann Gadscomb had only one child, Mary Emily Sowles. Hiram’s wife was the step-sister of Asa Owens Aldis, who had six children. Asa O. Aldis also served as a Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court and afterwards as U.S. Consul to Nice in France. Probably because Mary Emily Sowles was an only-child, she spent her “fun time” with her Aldis cousins and was often included in the family holidays.

When Asa O. Aldis returned from Nice in 1871 he moved to Washington, DC and was appointed President of the Southern Claims Commission, a high level government organization in the Executive Branch, whose purpose was to make reimbursements to Union sympathizers from the South for property losses experienced during the Civil War. It is not surprising that the Sowles and Aldis families commanded great esteem locally in Vermont but also in wider social and political circles nationally and internationally.

Mary Sowles attended Emma Willard School, a private girls’ boarding school in Troy, NY. Her upbringing at home with the Aldis family and away at school piqued her interest in history and world politics and gave her the opportunity to study languages.

Throughout her life, she traveled extensively and even attended the wedding of Alexander III of Russia (1866), and the last Coronation of the Czar of Russia, Nicholas II (1896). She was sophisticated and surrounded herself with impressive friends comprised of politicians, authors, and artists – William Dean Howells, Thomas Nelson Page, and Mark Twain to name a few. It seems that hers was a worldly existence, supporting many social causes and enjoying a high status in social circles. Her social causes mirrored the beliefs of one of her heroes, Italian national Giuseppe Garibaldi who was quite popular in both U.S. and Britain in the 19th and early 20th centuries for his leadership in creating a unified Italian nation. Garibaldi is said to have been a champion of freedom, tolerance for all other people, and progress in relieving suffering and rectifying wrongs; all lofty goals that rang true for Mary Sowles Perkins.

J NEWTON PERKINS, JR.

From an established New York family, J. Newton Perkins, Jr. came from what was called “good stock” and “well-heeled.” His father Joshua Newton Perkins was considered one of the most influential and honorable members of the New York Stock Exchange in its early days. He was also an officer of Global Life Insurance & Trust Co. and the Illinois Central Railroad. By 1850, Joshua had amassed enough wealth to enable him to retire at an enjoyably young age. Born in Nova Scotia and having graduated from Hamilton College in 1826, he moved to Ithaca, NY where in 1831 he married Elizabeth Bishop, whose father was a Deacon of the Congregational Church. Joshua and Elizabeth parented three children; Lucy, J. Newton Jr. and Elizabeth. The family eventually moved to Norwich, CT into a grand home, Pinehurst, on Washington Street.

On September 24, 1869, a disastrous Black Friday market crash occurred, likely due to James Fisk’s and Jay Gould’s speculations to try to corner the gold market. The U.S. Government responded by selling $4 million in gold, the price plummeted, and investors never had time to make any sales of their own holdings. According to Joshua Perkins’ obituary, he appears to have been one of those ruined by this woeful event. To make ends meet, Joshua Perkins took a low- salary job in a Broad Street office but was ultimately forced to sell Pinehurst. Additionally, 1869 brought death to Mrs. Perkins, Newton’s mother, and Joshua Perkins subsequently moved to Irvington-on-Hudson into the home of his daughter Lucy and her husband Edmund Augustus Benedict, a broker at J.N. Perkins & Co.

J. Newton Perkins, Jr. was born in New York City in May 1840. He was in the Class of 1861 of Trinity College but left early to spend two years traveling in Europe after which he returned to spend two years in the brokerage business followed by two more years in the Office of the Southern Claims Commission in Washington, DC, which would later be headed by Asa O. Aldis (mentioned above).

GRAND TOUR

For the cultured and well-to-do of the Northeast, the “Grand Tour” was a European excursion that was an educational rite of passage in the 19th century. Exposure to classical antiquities and Renaissance arts and music was sure to broaden the horizons for promising Americans in their early 20s.1 Traveling throughout Great Britain, continental Europe, and occasionally farther afield to Russia or the Middle East, meant privileged youth would have the opportunity to socialize with Europeans of similar social standing and other Americans abroad, to develop friendships, and occasionally to meet a future spouse. Souvenirs were unique and exciting to the inexperienced and included objets d’art, sensational outfits reflecting their new sense of style, and jewelry of an elegance they had never seen before.

Years 1866 and 1867 found Newton Perkins and Mary Sowles gadding about Europe with friends, each on their own Grand Tours, as would have been expected of two such privileged young adults of the time. Newton Perkins was accompanied, for at least part of his tour, by Louis Comfort Tiffany and his sister Annie Tiffany, children of the famous New York City jewelers. Like Newton, the Tiffanys were visiting Europe for the first time. Newton collected many beautiful Italian works of art and photographs intended to decorate his father Joshua’s mansion Pinehurst. At 21 years, Mary Sowles embarked on her Grand Tour of Europe, traveling with her cousin Helen Aldis whose father was the U.S. Consul to Nice, France, from 1865 to 1870. Because Nice was a popular winter destination for Russian aristocrats, it is likely that Mary made connections with some of these vacationers, and this is likely what motivated Mary to extend her Grand Tour to the distant and exotic St. Petersburg, Russia. The two, Newton and Mary, met in Nice as their Grand Tours intersected. As was common for young travelers, Mary documented her sojourn with scrapbooks, journals and letters home, and she returned with many treasures. She collected small paintings of some of the well-known Grand Tour stops in various cities and towns in Germany, France, Italy, Austria and England, and some lesser visited but stunning destinations like Monaco and St. Petersburg. Mary wrote often to her mother and father describing special events she experienced and told them all about the marvelous places she visited, and she included details about her daily life, teas, card games, people she was meeting, all very exciting to a 21-year-old in Europe for the first time.

1 Lefever, Joel; “New Englanders Abroad: Souvenirs from the Grand Tour, 1830–1880,” Exhibit at Old York Historical Society; 2018.

Newton and Mary married in October 1868. It is alleged that her family did not approve of the marriage, and some have surmised that they considered him a man of lower stature or lower means. At the time however, this was probably an erroneous opinion because as noted above, his father’s later loss of as much as $10 million in the future market crash is documented.

Perhaps it was his to-date spotty resume, never having graduated from college or having held a job for more than two years at a time. Nevertheless, Mary Sowles’ family was apprehensive about her wedding to Newton Perkins.

Newton and Mary had only one child, Elizabeth Bishop Perkins, the year after their marriage, in November 1869. Family worries aside, the young couple had a happy marriage albeit, not one of luxury. Newton studied theology and was ordained as a deacon (1877), then as a priest (1879), and served as Rector of Immanuel Church in Islip and Christ Church in Bellport, both on Long Island. This was not a lifestyle of the rich, and the young Mrs. Perkins taught piano lessons to make a little extra household money. The Reverend Newton served as Curate for St.

George’s Church in New York City, and from 1882 to 1895 he was the Vicar of the Church of the

Incarnation, also in New York City, and published the History of the Parish of the Incarnation in 1912. In his later years he was the Secretary of the American Church Building Fund Commission.

J. Newton Perkins died in 1915.

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PART 2: ELIZABETH PERKINS’ UPBRINGING

Elizabeth Bishop Perkins was born in 1869, grew up in New York City, and was educated there. She participated in and enjoyed the cultural and society activities that New York City had to offer. She was strong-willed, an outspoken girl who said what she meant.

Elizabeth and her mother were very different people, her mother having grown up rooted in the traditions of a small Vermont town, profoundly aware of and honoring the several generations of her family that proceeded her. Contrast this with Elizabeth’s young personality that reflected New York City life, tending toward bold, brassy and forthright.

Mary was sophisticated, poised and refined, and Elizabeth was more likely to speak her mind, a 19th century version of an “in-your- face” kind of girl, a girl who made her own decisions. That said, her mother likely instilled in Elizabeth her love of traveling and together they visited five of the seven continents together. Her interest in history can easily be traced to her mother’s love for preservation and civic works.

Elizabeth’s parents had different interests and to some extent led separate lives. Her father’s was a life devoted to his church work and the congregation at his parish. He threw himself into support of New York City’s Fresh Air Fund, a service organization that continues today allowing low-income children to visit a family in the country each summer. Mary’s focus was on a wide- reaching, grander scale, embracing world politics, foreign languages, and traveling as often as possible; although it must be noted that Mary did support her husband with Fresh Air Fund work. Elizabeth and her mother together bonded over their aristocratic pursuits, their love of travel, and collecting fine china, fabulous silks and antiques.

PIGGIN HOUSE

While the Perkins family was visiting Aldis relatives in York Harbor’s Summer Colony in 1898, Mrs. Perkins was enchanted by the colonial house on the York River, built by Capt. Joseph Holt, Jr. around 1732. Also called the old Piggin House, the Perkins ladies believed the house was built in 1680. Instead of purchasing a well-appointed home in prestigious York Harbor, starting in 1899 Elizabeth and her mother engaged in major renovations of their old colonial house next to Sewall’s Bridge. Mrs. Perkins bought the house for $1300, placed the documents in her daughter’s name and from then on, mother and daughter continued to spend summers in York.

The Reverend rarely visited York as he remained in New York City immersed in his life of service. Some infer that his absence implied theirs was not a solid relationship but husbands’ absences in summer were quite common at that

time. Their families “summered away,” seeking relief from the sticky, dirty cities, while the men remained in the cities working, only joining them for a week or two of vacation, unless

they happened to be “people of that station in life who could afford to lay aside the active duties of life during the summer months.”² Distances were too great to allow for “weekending” with the state of transportation at the turn of the century.

Captivated by colonial history, the two women dared to create their own version of many bygone architectural characteristics. Elizabeth sought to write stories that demonstrated her commitment to bringing to life days of bygone years. Their love of their adopted summer town drove them both to work indefatigably on behalf of York for the rest of their lives.

Elizabeth apparently had little interest or little luck in finding a suitable spouse among the well- to-do young society men of the Harbor and for the next few years, made herself content helping her mother with restoration projects on the house and community service endeavors.

² Moody, Edward C.; Handbook History of the Town of York: From Early Times to the Present; p. 174; York Publishing Company; 1914.

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PART 3: SETTING THE STAGE FOR THE TURN OF THE 20TH CENTURY

To get a flavor of the communities and lives of residents who were cautiously watching the approach of wealthy vacationers around the turn of the 20th century, we must first look at events that took place before the 1880s.

For a span of 40 years on either side of the turn of the 19th century, the Portsmouth, Kittery, and York seacoast area experienced a hey-day of economic achievement thanks to the West India Trade. Prosperity allowed the wealthy captains and ship builders to construct elegant homes that overlooked their own wharves, and towns themselves appeared imposing and successful. But the Embargo Act of 1807 and the War of 1812 put a jarring halt to the economic boom of the Piscataqua area, and the mid-19th century witnessed a prolonged economic depression. Local authors wrote somber stories about the decline of the area and detailed the decay of local environs. Thomas Bailey Aldrich described: “barnacles and eel-grass cling to the piles of the crumbling wharves… the ghost of the old dead West India trade!”3 Sarah Orne Jewett portrayed her town of South Berwick with an equally sad nostalgia: “From this inland town of mine there is no sea-faring any more, and the shipwrights’ hammers are never heard now. It is only a station on the railway…”⁴ The local color evinced in these sketches was disheartening and gloomily focused on misery but nevertheless drew attention to the area.

That said, the passing of a few years heralded the Industrial Revolution which meant many of these small towns could reinvent themselves as mill towns, and prosperity was on the rise again. Waterpower was abundant and lumber and textile mills popped up near rivers. In many cases entire families were working: the men as laborers digging canals and foundations, and the women and children in the mills. Other common livelihoods, like running general stores, farming, fishing, and banking also recovered financially.

By the 1880s, awareness of a new industry appeared throughout New England: tourism. Those who could afford it sought to leave behind the steamy heat and filth of summers in Boston, New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. Titans of business, politics, academia, medicine, and the art world researched the types and locations of summer communities that would appeal to them and their families. Geography, social classes, and entertainments all played big roles in the selection. Affluence abounded in all the summer colonies, but did one gravitate toward the inland lakes or mountains of New Hampshire, the rolling hills of western Massachusetts, or the seacoast of Maine or Rhode Island? At that time housing was a significant consideration because few of the great turn-of-the-century hotels had been built. Seasonal vacationers had to make do with small inns that were often lacking in amenities the city families had grown accustomed to or room with local families whose homes likely lacked those finer facilities. This was a show-stopper for many families.

 ³Aldrich, Thomas Bailey; Story of a Bad Boy; 1870.

⁴ Jewett, Sarah Orne; Country By-ways; 1881.

Let’s examine the 1880s and early 1900s to understand the burgeoning Summer Colony society of the wealthy and privileged that would set York apart from the surrounding towns. York was endowed with all the desired attributes that the elite were looking for: fresh sea air; beautiful, gently sloping, hard-sand beaches; a well-sheltered harbor; a golf course; boats captained by locals who knew the waters and were eager to show off the seascape; and cultural events aplenty. But in York there was an additional attraction, the ambience of early colonial history. The flourishing York Harbor Summer Colony that the Perkins family found itself joining in 1898 was comparable to other communities known for their distinction and favorable reputation, although each had different atmospheres. Wealth was exaggerated in glitzy Newport where many of New York City’s industrialists gravitated, building themselves mansions and even castles. The North Shore of Boston had more down-to-earth communities like Nahant and Manchester-by-the-Sea that attracted Beacon Hill society and families of academic and professional men, but they could perhaps be a little insular. York and Kittery seemed to get it just right with a blend of well-to-do families whose interests lay in business, politics, professions, literature, and the arts, but the focus here was on relaxation, cultural, and sports activities.

At the same time, it is critical to have a thorough understanding of what the Town of York was like in that same time period. Around 1880, 60% of families were involved in fishing and 37% in farming. By 1900, the year-round population of York was 2,668, and livelihoods had changed; only 4% were exclusively fishing, 26% were farming, others had entered new businesses. The York Shore Water Co. had already been incorporated five years earlier by a “who’s who” of prominent local patriarchs: Josiah Chase, John Varrell, Wilson Hawkes, Hartley Mason, John Chase, John Norwood, and others. They provided a gravity-fed water system with various pumping stations and even some hydrants. The telephone had arrived in York in 1882, although there were then only six customers, and Albert Bragdon took care of them in his spare time as he served as a clerk at Walker’s General Store in the village. York’s first newspaper appeared in 1891 under the name “The York Courant” in Charles Junkins’ Store, written by George F. Plaisted, and was intended as “an important stride in the welfare of our good old Town.” In his initial announcement, Plaisted noted that “Letters of a vindictive nature will not be published… No blackguardism, no personal imputations without proof… We shall be alive and alert to the best interests of the public.”⁵

In 1895, electric service was provided by Agamenticus Light & Power Co., started by Edward S. Marshall to provide electricity to the family hotel in York Harbor, the Marshall House. The generating plant was on Woodbridge Rd. near the train station. John Bridges & Son supplied ice for home iceboxes, dairy farmers, and the hospital for oxygen systems.

⁵ Op. cit.; Moody, Edward C.; Handbook History of the Town of York: From Early Times to the Present; p. 123.

Transportation had been difficult up to 1880s in that visitors from the East had to take a train to Portsmouth, switch to a ferry to cross the Piscataqua River to Kittery, and then continue on via stagecoach to York. Plans to improve this situation were designed by four town fathers, Edward S. Marshall, John E. Staples, Henry E. Evans, and John C. Stewart, by way of a proposal to Eastern Railroad Co. to extend a line from Portsmouth to York. They were turned down by Eastern and decided to try to make a go of it on their own. With a$50,000 investment by Edward Marshall, Edward Talpey (who also sold Acme Farm Equipment, was the York Beach Postmaster, and became owner of the Goldenrod), and others, along with help from the Boston & Maine Railroad Co. (which had by 1885 secured control of Eastern), the York Harbor and Beach Railway Extension was founded, and construction began. The route went through Kittery Point, Seapoint, Brave Boat Harbor, Seabury, into York Harbor, and on to the terminus at Union Bluff in York Beach, reached in 1887.

In 1898, the Portsmouth, Kittery & York Electric Railway – the “Pull, Kick and Yank” – started carrying passengers between stops in Badger’s Island, Kittery Point, York Village, York Harbor, and York Beach, making it easy for locals to go to neighboring towns and businesses. Livery services were still needed to meet passengers at stations to take them to their destinations, and some hotels ran their own services for guests.

Locals were proud of their old Yankee heritage: they knew what their ancestors had done for a living, what houses they had lived in, and who their friends had been, “but not one of them will thrust a coat of arms before your gaze or send you a note of invitation adorned by family

crest.”⁶ Their roots were strong, they worked hard to earn an honest living, and they were not going to be taken advantage of or condescended to by newcomers. Life on the wharves in the harbor and up the river was active, and local businesses were on solid footing.

Common, local family names in the early 1900s, many of which date back to pre-Revolutionary times, include: McIntire, Barrell, Sewall, Moulton, Emerson, Blaisdell, Varrell, Sayward, Marshall, Bragdon, Donnell, and Weare. The local community that received these visitors was to experience a tremendous transformation as summer visitors arrived and caused the population to balloon to 12,000 each season.

⁶ Old York Transcript; June 8, 1899.

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PART 4: THE YORK HARBOR SUMMER COMMUNITY

One cannot overlook the possibility of awkwardness or even vituperation in interactions between the wealthy and advantaged visitors “from away” and the townspeople many of

whom could easily list the members of family generations going back as many as 250 years. The elite vacationers swept into town seeing a healthy, restrained community that offered the beautiful, quiet spaces that would permit them to relax and refresh. They were conclusively more successful financially, more powerful in social stature, and usually more educated and widely traveled. This could have been a recipe for clashing forces, but both camps needed each other and sought to get along. It is key to recognize the benefits both groups gained by their interdependence. The townspeople recognized the robust commercial opportunity presented by the new seasonal vacationers.

Stylish grand hotels like the Marshall House (Edward Marshall) were built. What had been former boarding houses would be upgraded to stylish, small hotels/inns, e.g. the Emerson House (Edward Emerson), the Yorkshire Inn and Annex (William Varrell), and the Harmon House (John Varrell). And the biggest building boom of all (E.B. Blaisdell, architect; Arthur Bragdon,

builder) was on the horizon… the elegant “summer cottages” that would provide the wealthy their ideal combination of privacy and entertainment.

By 1910, a full 20% of York’s population was involved in some fashion in the building trade. Every local family, whether shopkeeper, farmer, fisherman, banker or carpenter, welcomed the new commercial prospects, but they still demanded respect. They took pride in their work and would not be “ordered around.” The summer visitors were happy with the available workforce, and they shopped in the local stores for food, hardware supplies, and coal. They availed themselves of the freshest of seafood and thoroughly enjoyed boat tours of the ocean area. Benefits were on a two-way street.

This is not to say there were no growing pains along the way. The bulk of York’s tax revenue came from the summer people who owned large oceanfront properties, but the local residents had the vote. Not surprisingly, stringency arose with the decision-making process. Who would make important decisions affecting the development of York Harbor, the transient summer people or the year-round residents? By 1907, this conflict was exacerbated by the summer

people’s desires for improved roadways, street lighting, better water and electric services, and police protection. The summer people had had invested heavily in their cottages and shouldered significant taxes, but the local, predominantly farming-fishing-shopkeeping population did not want to spend tax money on services they would likely never need or enjoy. Issues related to growth and development, tax assessments, and public rights-of-way simmered for years with no resolution. Consider for a moment the contrast between the hubbub of the 3- month summer life with its amenities (electricity, lighting, and running water) and the ensuing nine months of cold and longing, described so well in 1900.

“The town of York has at its disposal a magnificent electric lighting station standing idle nearly nine months in the year. A small appropriation for street lights, no greater than neighboring villages pay out every year for lighting purposes together with an amount

that would be readily subscribed for private lighting privileges, would be sufficient to keep this plant running throughout the year and light the town from one end to the other. Is there not enough enthusiasm, local pride and appreciation of the advantages available so close at hand to set the fires going under these boilers… Or shall we continue to plod the streets in utter darkness and adhere to the primitive ways of the colonial period?”⁷

In the end, the summer people did manage to obtain many of the improvements they desired, they deeply loved York Harbor, and the locals continued to be proud and hold their heads up.

SUMMER PEOPLE

Some of the earliest, notable members of the Summer Colony included important businessmen and politicians: Thomas Nelson Page (lawyer, writer, U.S. Ambassador to Italy) and his brothers- in-law, Bryan Lathrop (Chicago real estate businessman, philanthropist, art collector) and Asa Owen Aldis (judge, U.S. Consul to Nice, France, politician); Alfred du Pont (Head of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. and Delaware Trust Co.); John Cadwalader (President of Baltimore & Philadelphia Steamboat Co.); H.C. Richards (President of the State Bank, NYC); and Colonel Frederick L. Huidekoper (Founder of the National Security League). In addition, there were several professionals and writers: John C. Breckinridge and John Hill Morgan (Wall Street lawyers); Charles Noble Gregory (Washington DC, Editor of American Journal of Intl. Law); J. Herbert Stabler (Adviser to the American delegation at the Paris Peace Conference); Finley Peter Dunne (Chicago humorist of satires, alleged to have been read at Cabinet meetings at the White House); William Dean Howells (author, Editor of the Atlantic Monthly); and Thomas Bailey Aldrich (writer, poet, critic).

⁷ “Old York Transcript”; March 1, 1900.

COTTAGES, HOTELS AND BOARDING HOUSES

Before the summer cottages were built, accommodations could be had at the grand Marshall House or at smaller hotels like the Albracca, Emerson House, Yorkshire Inn, or Harmon House. But once a family set their sights on summering in York Harbor, it was de rigeur to build a summer cottage that would reflect one’s social and financial status.

The largest (12,000 – 15,000 sq. ft.) were Rock Ledge and Brambles. The book York Harbor, Maine, published in 1936, describes the full retinue of hotels and cottages, pictures and map included, and can be found at the Old York Historical Society Library or online at: https://digitalmaine.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=books. An interesting website The York Harbor Cottage Project, http://www.yhcottage.com/index.html, created by Doug Tuttle, details the designers, architectural features and owners of the summer colony cottages and should also not be missed.

For the summer people, clubs were a must to satisfy their specific interests, and it didn’t take long before they established the York Harbor Reading Room (1897, a men’s club primarily used for social drinking), the York Harbor Yacht Club (1898, now the Agamenticus Yacht Club), the Sea Urchin Bath Houses (1898, beach bathing, “changing apartments”), and the York Country Club (1899, tennis and golf). Beyond club activities, there were teas, dinner parties, dances at the Lancaster Building, boat carnivals, garden parties, costume-balls, a Literary Circle, ocean sailing, horseback riding on the beach, croquet, and the occasional clambake. The comings and goings of the summer people were recorded in detail in both the York and Portsmouth newspapers. Great interest was paid to who arrived at which cottage on what date as well as who entertained whom and in what type of party.

“Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Ames of Boston came into the Harbor Sunday on their elegant seventy-four foot steam yacht “Apaches”. They were guest of the Wintersteens of Norwood Cottage.”8

“Charles F. Wright of Boston arrived at the Marshall House yesterday or Saturday in his locomobile which attracts much attention in this locality whereas yet but few of these vehicles have been seen.”⁹ “Mr. and Mrs. Fergus Reid entertained at cocktails last Sunday after the yacht races. Mrs. Reid’s mother… presided over the tea table. Also present was Mrs. Reid’s sister, Mrs. Edward Crocker, who recently arrived here from Portugal where Mr. Crocker is stationed at the American Embassy. Others present included Capt. And Mrs. J.G.M. Stone, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Marshall, Mr. and Mrs. James Mathes… Miss Barbara Cheney… and Mr. and Mrs. Storer Decatur.”10

“Heroes of fiction and history, knights, kings and pages, Eastern potentates, brigands, buccaneers,

princesses, … the characters of twenty centuries and more than that number of countries jostled one another in the rooms of the York Country Club at York Harbor on Friday evening.”11

⁸ Old York Transcript; June 8, 1899.

⁹ Old York Transcript; July 19, 1900.

¹⁰ Portsmouth Herald; 1948.

¹¹ Portsmouth Herald; 1906.

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PART 5: PERKINS WOMEN’S HISTORICAL INTERESTS

Mary and Elizabeth were both deeply involved with the Colonial Revivalism movement due to their renovation project at the Piggin House. Elizabeth was at the same time, enchanted by the Literary Regionalism of New England. Both genres were popular from around 1860 to 1930.

COLONIAL REVIVALISM

Reaching its height of popularity in the period that began with the Centennial Celebration of U.S. National Heritage, from 1876 to around 1940, the Colonial Revivalism movement manifested itself as an appreciation of life before the rise of American industrialization and increasing immigration; it expressed a basic yearning for the simpler life of the colonial past. The movement was strongly supported by New England women who embraced their own notion of what life had been like and longed to return to historic styles of architecture, decorative arts, landscape and garden design.

They believed they were promoting idealistic concepts of patriotism, good taste, and possibly even moral superiority, but they often used their own intuition to fabricate what early American life had been like. These women unwittingly used utilitarian objects of erstwhile grinding daily chores as decorations for their colonial homes.

Once Mary and Elizabeth had acquired their own 1700s house, they dedicated themselves to restoring the old, dilapidated Piggin House that Mary had purchased in 1898 from the descendants of F.C. Huidekoper. What they really sought was a contemporary version of the colonial past. Mary, perhaps, saw the house as an ideal setting for the old Vermont furniture she inherited in 1888 from her grandfather, Willem Owen Gadscomb. The design and decor the ladies chose revealed a surprising competition between fine stylishness and dark heaviness. The dining room displayed bone china, delicate wine glasses gracefully etched, sterling-silver flatware and crystal decanters. Another prized possession comprised a set of cream colored plates centered with a burgundy, heraldic eagle and royal blue Cyrillic-lettered sayings acquired during Mary’s voyage to Russia. Contrast this with the room’s dark paneling, heavy ceiling beams (that Elizabeth installed after her mother died in 1929) and colonial brick fireplace hung with great cast-iron kettles and tools. When a wing of the house was completed in the 1920s, the Perkins women presented different rooms mostly in colonial style, but exhibited items from a variety of eras. Elizabeth’s bedroom furniture was a mix of purchases and family pieces while Mary chose nearly all of her bedroom furniture from what she had inherited from her grandfather Gadscomb. They decorated the rest of the house with special finds from their travels and objects related to Elizabeth’s theatrical events. For her “new” bedroom, Elizabeth had a brick mason make a copy of a fireplace in the Old Gaol.”¹²

Rumor has it that the house contained a china closet with an entrance to a tunnel that led to the York River. At some point Elizabeth purchased a life-sized Native American Indian statue and placed it in the yard over the supposed opening of the tunnel on the riverbank. Some say the tunnel was used by smugglers in the American Revolution, others claim the purpose was for residents to hide during the Indian Wars. Archaeological work has not shown any sign of a tunnel, leading one to guess that this may have been a legend created by Elizabeth herself.¹³

Architectural preservationists have found the Perkins’ restorations to modern use to be “messy, a so-called amateur approach to Colonial Revivalism.”14 At one point in 1924, the Perkins consulted with the Society of Protection for New England Antiquities (SPNEA) about the possibility of ultimately turning their home into a museum, but they were turned down and told that the house would better serve as a retreat or center for scholarship, because too much non- authentic alteration had taken place.¹⁵

¹² Mendelson, Janet; “The Perkins House” Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors Magazine; Winter edition 2009.

¹³ Ibid.

¹⁴ Murphy, Kevin; Politics of Preservation.

¹⁵ Johnson; Elizabeth Perkins House; p. 67.

WRITING

New England Literary Regionalism was a movement that interlaced with Colonial Revivalism in that both required a vision, accurate or not, of best practices for colonial architecture, antique collecting, and simple home life. Layered on top of this focus was the desire to write contemplative stories about colonial life. Some short stories and skits took unlikely twists, involving transitory personal time travel or disturbing views of life.¹⁶

Writing around the turn of the 20th century was a group of women who were participants in the Literary Regionalism genre that focused on the feminist culture of the day. Elizabeth was captivated by this movement although she never formally joined a regionalist group. As an aspiring author of this style, she did become a friend and associate of known literary characters such as Sarah Orne Jewett of South Berwick, novelist, short story writer, and poet, best known for her local-color works set near the southern seacoast of Maine; Alice Morse Earle of Worcester, MA, historian and author who focused on colonial home life, costumes, gardens, and “curious punishments of bygone days;” and C. Alice Baker, a contemporary from Deerfield, MA who restored her 1750s home with an eye to Colonial Revivalism. Like the others, Elizabeth became a writer and authored many short stories, plays, skits and transcripts for radio shows. We all know rejection is commonplace for every writer, and while she fancied herself as a writer, she had plenty of denials (she saved them all) among a lesser number of successes.

Temporal dissonance is described as distorted time perception and plays a prominent role in the Literary Regionalism movement. Memories exist for a person but she has a twisted way of connecting to the person who actually experienced the memories in real-time. Two examples of peculiar manifestations of memories and senses written by Elizabeth follow.

In her story “Almaqui: A Home in the Woods” Elizabeth describes a young, unmarried woman’s intimate relationship with the history of her old home. In the story the young woman lives alone working as a schoolteacher whose only pleasure is “the hour when she could… take off her dress and shoes, and wrap herself in a blanket in winter” and lie for hours only her undergarments. Her fantasies about living scantily dressed in her house, the “oldest in the State,” are her only derived happiness until she comes into some money and is able to acquire her own house. In the end, she recognizes that she is both an unmarried schoolteacher in modern times and a ghost from the unspecified past haunting an old colonial house.

Elizabeth’s “The Codfish Ghost” leads the reader through four distinct eras in the history of an early colonial house. The last part features an early 20th century character who achieves a quasi-sensory climax by way of renovating an old house. She has hired a stonemason who is busily chipping away at an interior wall as she watches “in excited ecstasy.” She couldn’t control herself and “grabbed the tool from his hand and commenced herself to hack furiously at the wall,” to expose hand-beveled boards. Indeed, this strange representation of penetrations leave her “breathless with exhaustion and surprise.”

It has been implied that Elizabeth may have been fascinated with an alternative lifestyle that some might find disquieting, but those likely arose only due to romantic failures she felt at various low points in her life.

In conjunction with her imaginative and period writing, Elizabeth took pleasure in gathering evening guests for entertainment known as “tableaux vivant,” popular in Victorian times. She had her guests act as players in scenes from times gone by. For Elizabeth, it was especially fun to provide them with costumes and props to enact moments in daily life at the turn of the 19th century shown in “Cries of London,” a series of English prints depicting life for the “lower-order – hawkers, grocers, laundry maids,” anyone making their living on the streets.

Mary and Elizabeth hosted innumerable garden and dinner parties over the course of their years in York, dressing in stylish dresses acquired abroad accompanied by their unusual jewelry. Elizabeth especially liked to dress up for both public and private events, often in colonial garb. She is shown here descending the stairs to one of her mother’s garden parties in a select costume, perhaps desiring to appear as one of the ghostlike, self-possessed characters of her own writing.

¹⁶ Lockwood, J. Samaine; Archives of Desire: The Queer Historical Work of New England Regionalism; 1952.

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PART 6: MARY AND ELIZABETH PERKINS’ MILESTONES, 1899 TO 1914

1899 OLD GAOL

In 1899, with an eye to preserving what she considered one of York’s true treasures, Mary secured a lease of the Old Gaol, established in 1656 in the middle of town, for the express purpose of restoring it to be used as an historical museum. The gaol, known as the King’s Prison, was the first colonial prison built in Maine and the site was continuously occupied until 1860. Encouraged by summer resident, William Dean Howells, Editor of the Atlantic Monthly, Mary took charge of obtaining town building permissions and organizing, as part of the York Historical and Improvement Society (founded in 1896), the Old Gaol Committee comprised of townspeople and summer people. The committee requested family treasures and documents to be loaned for display. With the first steps of the project accomplished, Elizabeth was relegated to the left-over but extremely important job of fundraising.

She sold subscriptions, hosted fund-raising parties, and was a master at it. On July 1, 1900 afestive parade and party on the lawn of the gaol heralded its transformation into a “Museum of Colonial Relics.” Local and state dignitaries gave speeches, preservationists attended, and prominent summer people, Mark Twain, Thomas Nelson Page and others, were on hand to add prestige.

The Old Gaol Museum Committee collected and preserved memorabilia from the local past including furniture, medical instruments and needlework, mostly donated by prominent, early York families. It is interesting to note that the gaol was the first place in town that the famous, crewel-embroidered Bullman Bed-hangings were displayed.

Elizabeth was first a Charter Member and then Director of the York Historical and Improvement Society whose goals were to “beautify the village and preserve York’s past.” She encouraged shop and home owners to paint their buildings white and the shutters dark green or black, her notion (although incorrect, as early settlers painted their homes in more imposing colors) of what an early colonial village would have looked like. Oddly, the Perkins women painted their own home a “cottage red” color which it remains today. Recognizing the importance of full community buy-in for the success of the Historical Society, Elizabeth recruited year-round residents along with summer visitors and continued to do so throughout the first half of the 20th century. One Annual Meeting ballot of the York Historical Society listed Mrs. Bryan Lathrop for President with other officers such as John Stewart, Josiah Chase, Joseph Bragdon and Edward Hawkes all of York, along with Frank Marshall of Portland, Dorothy Hungerford of Boston, Mrs. John Breckenridge and Elizabeth Perkins of New York.¹⁷

In the 1920s, the Old Gaol Museum Committee split off from the York Historical and Improvement Society and functioned separately as the Old Gaol Museum. It became a separate legal entity in 1952 and purchased the Emerson-Wilcox House in 1953. Various interpretations of colonial history have been featured at the gaol over the past 120 years; currently Old York is highlighting “Crime and Punishment in Colonial New England.” The Old Gaol was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1968.

¹⁷ Portsmouth Herald; 1945.

1905 JAPANESE GARDEN PARTY CELEBRATING TREATY OF PORTSMOUTH

The Russo-Japanese War was fought from 1904 to 1905 over rival intentions for Southern Manchuria and Korea. In an effort to mediate between the warring nations, President Teddy Roosevelt persuaded Russia and Japan to send their most important diplomats to Portsmouth where they would undertake a back and forth of negotiations that were to last three weeks in August 1905. The Russian delegates stayed at the Wentworth Hotel, the Japanese at the Rockingham, and they all arrived daily by boat launch at Building #86 at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery for the wrangling. The peace negotiations were to take a “dual track” throughout, with both formal and informal meetings, some to include local residents of the seacoast area.¹⁸ Two Portsmouth High School boys, Ralph McCarthy and William Traip Call, had been selected as messengers to escort the delegations to all their events, and Ralph McCarthy noted that “The Japanese were generous with their tips but the Russians were stingy.”¹⁹ Scheduled for a break in the negotiations, Mary Perkins planned a garden party gala for the delegates. For a woman who had travelled widely and had solid national and international connections, it is easy to understand how Mary Perkins was to become the successful hostess of the only treaty-related event held in a private home in Maine. Her “Japanese Garden Party” included dignitaries from Russia, Japan and U.S. in celebration of the Peace Treaty of Portsmouth that would end the Russo-Japanese War in 1905.

¹⁸ Randall, Peter; There Are No Visitors Here; p. 52; Portsmouth Marine Society.

¹⁹ Portsmouth Herald Volume 95 #330; 9/01/85.

Described as the “crowning event of the memorable season of 1905,”20 the lawn party was “especially well adapted for an affair of this kind” but the beautiful grounds were “taxed to their utmost to accommodate the immense crowd representing the wealth and distinction of York Harbor’s Summer Colony.”21 Always looking for an impressive affair, summer people were joined by guests from Portsmouth, Kittery, and New Castle, and the roads became clogged with carriages and automobiles. The Portsmouth, Dover and York street railway put on extra cars to help cope with the almost 700 guests! The hostess wore a gown of white lace and her daughter Elizabeth favored a white gown of Mexican drawn work (an intricate type of embroidery on linen).

The garden’s paths were festooned with Japanese and American flags and Japanese paper lanterns. There was a Japanese temple, complete with a statue of Buddha. A large stage had been built in the lawn’s center to highlight a Jiu Jitsu performance, and boxes surrounding the stage, draped with Japanese flags, were reserved for important Japanese and U.S. delegates while other boxes were “sold to some of the wealthiest summer residents for charity,”22 to benefit the York Hospital. Post-performance, young ladies in richly colored, printed silk Geisha garb served the guests tea in dainty cups and girls dressed in Russian peasant costumes served lemonade. Toward the party’s conclusion guests were given the opportunity to meet the delegates from both sides and all departed. Notable attendees included Bryan Lathrop, Thomas Nelson Page, William D. Howells, and Finley Peter Dunne. The Japanese donated $1000 to the York Hospital, while the Russians donated only $100. Were the Russians less satisfied with the fete or again, just being stingy?

In the end peace was agreed upon and the treaty led to the Japanese gifting the U.S. the Living Memorial Cherry Trees and to President Theodore Roosevelt’s winning of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906 for his diplomacy in negotiating peace between the countries.

1905 -1906 TRAVELING EUROPE SOLO

As charming, poised, and cultured as Mary Perkins was, Elizabeth was less than tactful, but she was also intrepid and adventurous. By 1905 it was becoming clear that Elizabeth’s chances for a good marriage were waning as she was well into her 30s. Despite the many good causes that benefited, she was discontented with hosting parties and perhaps felt lonesome. Her mother observed an increasing dullness and moodiness, and to that end she arranged for a Grand Tour of Europe for Elizabeth. That had certainly worked out well for Mary, and after all, what better cure for loneliness and the blues? Unhappily, Elizabeth returned empty-handed as far as husbands went.

1913 61 EAST 52ND ST

In 1913, Mary Perkins inherited the entire estate of her mother, Mary Marvin Sowles. Included in the estate was a large apartment building at 61 East 52nd Street in Manhattan that the Perkins family, including her mother, were living in at the time of her mother’s death. The apartment was large and comfortable and perfect for entertaining New York friends.

She immediately transferred the warranty deed to her daughter, viewing this as an opportunity to allow Elizabeth to understand basic real estate skills as a building-owner in her own right. Elizabeth was off and running as a capable business woman. She dealt with rental agreements and hired an investment manager. She never questioned his advice, and profits grew into a tidy fortune. Elizabeth would be independent for her future life.

²⁰ http://www.portsmouthpeacetreaty.org/york.cfm.

²¹ Ibid.

²² Ibid.

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PART 7: WAR AND CHARITY WORK

1914 – 1919 WWI CHARITABLE WORK IN FRANCE

As Elizabeth returned to York in the summer of 1914, a calamity was overtaking Europe, the “war to end all wars.” Unattached and independent, Elizabeth became a part of the American Committee for the Defense of France, which had been formed right after the declaration of what would become WW I. She was free to seek out what was meaningful to her and had the energy and self-assurance to go to France and become a volunteer with the American Committee for French Wounded. Staffed mostly by self-supporting and capable women, the organization did what it could with little or no funding, and Elizabeth joined in with the others. She excelled as she served as field secretary and publicity agent. She wrote proudly of the dedicated work being accomplished by all the unpaid workers. Initially, her stories were quite straightforward, factual reports but she developed her writing skills and created poignant short stories that recounted her personal experiences with a range of civilians enduring occupied France. Her stories were published in Boston and New York newspapers and stimulated sympathy in America, coincidentally growing her fund financially.

As America entered WW I in 1917, the American Fund for French Wounded expanded their mission from mainly emergency relief to reclamation and rebuilding of devastated villages with the goal of promoting refugees’ return. As peace was declared in July 1919, Elizabeth was thrilled to celebrate with all of Paris as “Le Défilé” of victorious armies paraded down the Champs Élysées toward the glorious sunset beyond the Arc de Triomphe. Elizabeth had spent four hard and productive years in France but at the end of the war her co- workers, tied together in friendship and purpose, scattered to return to their homes.

It was a sad time for Elizabeth whose father had died in the intervening years. Suffering from the letdown of returning from war, missing her father, and finding herself without a specific purpose for the betterment of others, she found herself at loose ends.

In 1925, Elizabeth was awarded with the Medaille de la Reconnaisance Française, an honor medal awarded solely to civilians who had come to the aid of the injured, disabled, refugees and she was named Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor, the highest French order of merit established in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte.

1920 – 1928 TRAVELING EUROPE AND ORIENT

Recognizing the return of Elizabeth’s melancholy, Mary set out to arrange a junket to please them both: an extended trip to Great Britain, the Continent, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria and Egypt. She undoubtedly also had in mind discovering a husband for Elizabeth who was by then, considering her age (in her 40s) and the war’s depletion in numbers of available men, indeed at a critical point beyond which there would likely be no hope, if not past it. It should be noted here that when renewing her passport this time, her birth year was changed from 1869 to 1879, a common ruse to appear more youthful. They traveled together affably, making several trips to Europe and the Middle East considering and collecting treasures which they brought back to York each summer. By 1928, Mary was 83 years old, arthritic and confined to a wheelchair, and she and Elizabeth made their last trip together. She died in October 1929 and was cremated and buried in the lawn at her beloved house in York.

1928 – 1930 KENTUCKY FRONTIER NURSING WITH MARY BRECKINRIDGE

Toward the end of the decade and despite the wonderful times she had traveling with her mother, Elizabeth finally acknowledged the futility in her finding joy in traveling only for pleasure. She recognized that she needed to work on behalf of others to be fulfilled. She reconnected with her friend Mary Breckinridge whom she had met while working at the American Committee for Devastated France. Like Elizabeth, Mrs. Breckinridge had been inspired by her work in France, and she had come home to establish an organization of nurses and midwives to deliver safe medical care throughout the rural, mountain areas of Kentucky.

Outposts were distant and infant mortality high. Finally, here was a need for something

essential that could sate Elizabeth’s social conscience. Elizabeth had no medical training to put to use, but she started right away supporting the organization financially and encouraged many of her friends in York, New York and Baltimore to join in.

Charitable and service organizations would forever benefit from Elizabeth’s new interest in selfless aid to others. The list of societies she supported and worked on behalf of is lengthy, but to name just a few: World Federation of Education Assns., Meals for Millions in India, Sheltering Arms for Children, Seeing Eye Dogs and Training, in addition to care for alcoholics, glasses and eye surgery for children, cancer committees and Iron Curtain refugees. On a local level, with her mother, she supported the York Hospital and helped to establish the Piscataqua Garden Club, which to this day does important work to maintain gardens, protect trees and care for public spaces. The Piscataqua Garden Club included many York women: locals from the York Garden Club, like Sarah Orne Jewett, and summer people, like Mrs. John Mead Howells, daughter-in- law of William Dean Howells; Mrs. Edith Wendell, wife of Harvard Professor Barret Wendell.²³

²³ Op. cit. Archives of Desire.

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PART 8: HISTORIC ENDEAVORS IN YORK: 1930s

1933 – 1936 SEWALL’S BRIDGE WOODEN REPLICA

In 1933, the State of Maine deemed it time to replace Sewall’s Bridge, not at all surprising since it had been designed and built in 1761 by Major Samuel Sewall. It was the first pile-driven drawbridge ever built in America and was valued highly for its historic significance. Maine DOT proposed a new cement bridge that would endure, without giving consideration to its historic importance or the drastic change in its appearance. Those opposed wanted a perfect replica of the ancient bridge. Elizabeth Perkins was outraged as she lived beside the bridge and considered it a personal connection to the past. She impelled the York Historical Society to bombard the Governor, departments of state government, and newspapers with letters of protest. In October the “Battle of Sewall’s Bridge” was finally waged in a special town meeting. Out of 90 votes cast, those for the wooden replica numbered 47 and those for cement 43. The wooden replacement was planned with a slightly wider and thicker deck to accommodate modern transportation. There being no more schooners heading upriver to the brickyard in the 1930s, a dummy span was included.

1936 – 1938 SCHOOLHOUSE MOVED AND RESTORED

Not long after the resolution of the bridge replacement, the York Historical Society learned about a small, rundown building that a local man said his grandfather had taught in. Of course Elizabeth jumped into researching the building’s background and determined that it had been built in 1745 for use as a schoolhouse. Intervening years had seen the little schoolhouse fall into disrepair and change locations from its original York Corner home a few times. By 1936 it was across from the York High School on Organug Rd. Ardently presenting her resolution to purchase and move the building to the Historical Society, she was nevertheless refused the

$100 contribution she was seeking due to lack of funds. Undaunted, Elizabeth interested and cajoled pro-bono architects and historians into her project and began writing publicity articles to local and far-flung newspapers, making sure she included papers in cities where the summer people came from. Pockets and attics opened and Elizabeth received contributions of desks, inkwells, old school books and enough money to start a fund to create students and schoolmaster figures out of wax, and build the schoolmaster’s desk, all of which have been cherished for more than 50 years.

By 1938, the Old Schoolhouse and the Class of 1745 became one of the favorite landmarks in York. The students and their master are gone now, but perhaps interest in recreating them can be drummed up in the future.

1939 DAYS OF OUR FOREFATHERS: 2-DAY CELEBRATION OF HISTORY IN YORK

The Old York Historical and Improvement Society scheduled a 2-day celebration of colonial life in York for August of 1939. Interest in the Old Gaol Museum was gaining each year and an “Open House” in York Village seemed like the kind of event that would bring curious visitors to York from the local area and beyond. Elizabeth called it “Days of Our Forefathers” and planned the publicity to include newspapers all along the East Coast, travel magazines and radio. For Elizabeth the chance to write the short plays to be performed was a windfall for her imagination, one she believed would assure that history in York would remain alive and compel tourists to return in the future.

She urged both local guides and visitors to wear colonial costumes to add authenticity to the event. Plans included visits to the Old Gaol, historic homes in York, the recently opened Old Schoolhouse, a parade, and a gala afternoon of plays depicting life from 200 years ago. York’s Volunteer Firemen donned their old-time red shirts and silver badges to pull their antique fire engine, Protection No. 2, in the parade, proudly carrying their banner “It Isn’t the Flames Boys, It’s the Fumes.” This tradition still lives on today at every Firemen’s Field Day in August. “Days of Our Forefathers” was a great success and Elizabeth basked in her joy, but certainly did not rest for long…

PART 9: DEBUNKING PERKINS LORE

Local lore often attributes the construction of the Wiggly Bridge to Elizabeth Perkins to offer her social guests from the harbor an easy way to get to and from her house without having to pass along main roads through town, especially during Prohibition. Rumors also circulate that the Marshall House had some involvement with its building to allow their guests easy access to the York Country Club where they wished to play golf and relax. Neither one of these stories can be confirmed, but what is known is that in the 1720s a causeway and dam were built to separate the Barrell Mill Pond from the York River, in order to power tidal mills.

By the early 1900s the dam was so deteriorated that an actual break took place in the existing dike putting it beyond any hope of repair. The demise of the dam did have its benefits for several years because the tide flowed more freely and the Mill Pond became the scene of great swimming.

The estimate to “build a proper dam” was $10,000. Funds of that magnitude did not exist so “a group of year-round and summer residents, including Mrs. Harry Hungerford and Mrs. Lathrop, held an auction at which Mrs. Lathrop donated a Paris wardrobe, and over $4,000 was raised.” The present suspension bridge was designed and built by Hussey Manufacturing in nearby North Berwick for $3,940 in 1930.²⁴

24 Hussey, Tim; Hussey Manufacturing Museum.

DRIVING MISS PERKINS

Elizabeth had been an early adopter and enjoyer of the automobile. In one of her early summers in York she appeared with her own Ford vehicle which had three pedals; forward, brake, and reverse, as was customary in the early 20thcentury.

She delighted in giving her friends rides all around town. Loving the independence she felt when driving, Elizabeth most definitely took pleasure in the freedoms of the road. She was known to drive on whichever side of the street suited her, and she went as fast as she liked. Town residents became quite afraid of the free-wheeling Miss Perkins. Her worst and most shocking accident took place in 1913 after a dance exhibit in the village for the benefit of the York Improvement Society. Elizabeth got in her car to depart but stomped on the reverse pedal, pinning Mr. James Curran to a tree. Horrified and shaken, she rolled away from the tree and unbelievably hit the same reverse pedal again, pinning him for a second time. He “was removed to the York Hospital… it was found he was badly crushed and sustained internal injuries.”²⁵ Mr. Curran later died from his injuries.

Over the years Elizabeth continued to have many small accidents and many townspeople considered her a real threat. Another reported accident mentions she was stopped for speeding and running a red light and was brought into court and “charged $6.82 for costs and her case was put on file.”²⁶ By the mid-1940s residents got together and decided that something needed to be done to curtail Elizabeth’s driving. They coerced a good friend to approach her and ask that she give up her keys. When confronted with the reality of multiple accidents and tickets, diminishing eyesight, and the polite request, she agreed to never drive again.

²⁵ Portsmouth Herald; 1913.

²⁶ Portsmouth Herald; 1941.

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PART 10: HISTORIC ENDEAVORS IN YORK: 1940s

1939 – 1941 – 1945 JEFFERDS TAVERN

The chance to purchase an old 1750 tavern up in Wells was brought to Elizabeth’s attention and she fell in love with the idea of acquiring it to add to the growing number of pre-Revolutionary buildings in York. The Old York Historical and Improvement Society and the Old Gaol Museum Committee were weighed down with maintaining the buildings and collections they already had, and funds for new acquisitions proved to be beyond their reach. They told Elizabeth they couldn’t help, but friends stepped in to offer donations to allow her to make the purchase of Jefferds Tavern and move the building to York Village. The building was dismantled and initially reassembled on a plot of land at the intersection of York St. and Raydon Rd. With another global war threatening, Elizabeth abandoned her plans to open the tavern as an historical site. Instead, she made it available as an Aid to Allies Station from which comfort packages were shipped to Allied soldiers and food and clothing to devastated areas in Europe.

A few years later as war work ended, the decision was made to move Jefferds Tavern yet again, from its York Corner location down into the center of the village where the nucleus of colonial buildings was located. By this time Elizabeth realized she could not rely on the Historical and Improvement Society to be able to provide the funds for her preservation projects to enhance the historic atmosphere she had created in town. To that end, she recognized the need to engage more people for funding and manpower and founded the Society for Preservation of Historic Landmarks of York County. She recruited her friends, year-round and summer, to stand behind Historic Landmarks with their checkbooks. Jefferds Tavern remains today in that same location next to the Old Schoolhouse, the Burying Ground, the Emerson-Wilcox House, the Old Gaol, and the new Old York Museum Center.

1940 SNOWSHOE ROCK

In the 1692 Candlemas Raid on York, during King William’s War, Chief Madockawando led between 200 to 300 natives into the Town of York, massacring 100 townspeople and capturing another 80 who were force-marched to Canada and held for ransom. It was alleged that the natives left their snowshoes at a rock near the intersection of Scituate Rd. and Chase’s Pond Rd. and stole silently into the town where they set fire to all the undefended houses on the north side of the York River, the town’s trade highway. This was the worst massacre ever suffered in the colony, and Elizabeth saw to it that a memorial plaque was placed on a stone near that location stating that it was there that “Abenaki Indians left their snowshoes before creeping into York and attacking the settlers.” Contemporary historians believe that the location of the native camp and “Snowshoe Rock” is in a different location, to the northeast (up Old East Scituate Road).

1942 MAUD MULLER SPRING

In 1856, John Greenleaf Whittier was trekking up Brixham Hill and stopped to refresh himself at a log trough offering clean, bubbling spring water. Seeing a young girl in a nearby field raking hay, he sat and wrote a poem entitled “Maud Muller “about a beautiful young farm girl who meets a judge from the local town. Each is smitten with the other, and the judge longs to be a simple farmer married to Maud while she yearns to be the wife of the respected judge. Neither dares to step forward to express their wishes, so the judge ends up marrying a wealthy young lady whose love is based on his riches. Maud Muller settles and marries an uneducated farmer.

For the rest of their lives both unlucky characters ruefully remember that meeting day and are stricken with remorse for what might have been. The poem contains the well- known quotation: “For of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: ‘It might have been!'”

The log trough had rotted by 1942 but the bubbling spring still yielded clean water when Elizabeth held a dedication ceremony at the site. The poem was read by a girl in costume and a marker was unveiled before 200 people in attendance.

Whittier’s poem “Maud Muller” is contained in the Appendix at the end of this blog. Or, please go to this website:http://www.poetry-archive.com/w/maud_muller.html

1946 DONNELL/HANCOCK WAREHOUSE

Just down river from Sewall’s Bridge on a wharf on the north side of York River is a small, weathered building that once belonged to the American patriot John Hancock and his partners.

Built in the 1740s by John Donnell, ferryman and chair-maker, it served as a warehouse for storage of goods for the West India Trade. By 1759, Daniel Bragdon and Joseph Tucker were co- owners and used it as part of their busy river trading business that saw coastal schooners docking at the wharf and trading goods.²⁷ At that time trading was predominantly done via bartering; and local items like whale bone, whale oil, cured fish, tar, leather, bales of fur and salt marsh hay were exchanged for rich fabrics, buckles, swords, rum, tea, and ornate furniture.²⁸ John Hancock was an extremely wealthy man having inherited a fortune from his uncle Thomas Hancock, and he was a friend of Daniel Bragdon (mentioned above). In 1787, Daniel Bragdon had come on some hard times and needing to make ends meet, he mortgaged his half of the warehouse to John Hancock who ultimately acquired the deed upon Bragdon’s death in 1791. John Hancock was not very interested in the property or its business, and there is only one recorded incident of his being in York, that to pay a visit to another friend Joseph Sayward.²⁹

Throughout the years of the West Indies trade there were six more owners of the little warehouse and wharf. The York River was then very much a bustling thoroughfare, not at all like the tranquil river life we experience now. When Elizabeth discovered the provenance of the building she stated it was “the most worthwhile piece of historic preservation that has come to our notice.”³⁰ She contacted the owner, her friend Katherine Marshall to try to purchase it for her growing collection of colonial buildings. She was told it was not for sale and therefore proposed that Historic Landmarks upgrade the building initially and charge admission to fund ongoing maintenance in return for the guarantee that the warehouse not be torn down at any point. In 1952, Katherine Marshall passed her ownership to the Newcomen Society, a social club with historic interests based out of Philadelphia. In 1954, two years after Elizabeth’s death, Historic Landmarks was able to reach an agreement with the Newcomen Society for a $1/year lease on the building. Elizabeth would have been delighted.

Today the building boasts to be the oldest commercial, colonial building standing on the York River. One can still see the pulley wheel used to raise goods from ground level up to the second floor. Historic Landmarks finally purchased the building from the Newcomen Society in 1980.

²⁷ York Historical Landmarks Architectural Survey, prepared by S. Carlisle; 1980.

²⁸ Ibid.

²⁹ US Department of Interior National Register of Historic Places Inventory; 1968.

³⁰ Op. cit. York Historical Landmarks Architectural Survey.

ELIZABETH’S LAST DAYS

In 1951, Elizabeth was busy as usual helping to plan York’s week-long Tercentenary celebration for the following year. Plans included yacht races, watersports activities in the Harbor, house and garden tours, an antiques show, handcraft exhibitions, and two performances of an historical pageant.

She began writing the script for a film celebrating York’s history, to be titled “Faire Towne” that would be filmed by Louis de Rochemonte. Sadly she would never see the celebration or the film. With failing eyesight and rapidly deteriorating heart problems, Elizabeth died in 1952 in New York City. Like her mother, she was cremated and buried near a small plaque in the yard of their adored Piggin House on the banks of the York River.

Elizabeth was a privileged daughter of an upper-class summer family, an aspiring writer, and community organizer of sorts. If local residents never considered her as “one of their own,” they all enthusiastically applauded her lifelong determination to better the lives of others and bring history alive in this small New England town. Thanks to bequests (totaling $900,000) of endowment funds to York Hospital, the Old Gaol Museum, and Society for the Preservation of Historic Landmarks in York County, the people of York continue to benefit from the generous legacy of the Perkins ladies.

Both Perkins women were Colonial Revivalists who wanted to reshape the small town of York to suit their impressions of what an earlier and more bucolic life was, but they were much more than those portrayals. Both gave of themselves willingly and enthusiastically throughout their lives to public service, charity causes and historical community work. For Mary it was the Fresh Air Fund, the York Hospital, the Piscataqua Garden Club, the Old Gaol Museum and other projects that benefited the historical aspects of York. For Elizabeth, the WWI American Committee for Devastated France and the American Fund for French Wounded; the Frontier Nursing Service for midwifery services in impoverished, rural Appalachian America; the York Historical and Improvement Society; the Society for Preservation of Historic Landmarks of York County; and the Piscataqua Garden Club. Later on in her life, Elizabeth anonymously supported York families in need of help with health services at York Hospital, eyeglasses, alcoholism and financial aid for widows and children after a death in the family. And these are only a handful of the organizations they devoted their dynamism and means to. When Elizabeth died, she included in her will her desire to donate her home and contents to be used as a museum in honor of her cherished mother Mary.

2019 FINALE

Old York Historical Society is fortunate to care for Perkins Collection manuscripts, costumes, jewelry, paintings, and photographs which allow us to imagine the goings-on of York Harbor’s Summer Colony and how it dovetailed with the year-round residents. The various historic and charitable projects undertaken by Mary and Elizabeth changed the atmosphere of our town. If any of the blog posts have piqued your interest, please let us know if we can assist you in any way, either to see any artifacts in the Perkins Collection or to better understand the impact the Perkins women had on our town. York continues to benefit today from the love the Perkins women had for their adopted town.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Banks, Charles Edward and Angevine W. Gowen; History of York, Maine; Regional Publishing Company, York, ME; 1935.

Bardwell, John D.; A History of York Harbor and the York Harbor Reading Room; Peter E. Randall Publisher; 2004.

Bardwell, John D.; A History of the Country Club at York, Maine; Peter E. Randall Publisher; 1988.

Brazil, Rio de Janeiro Immigration Cards 1900 – 1925; Elizabeth B. Perkins.

Brown, Dona; Inventing New England: Regional Tourism in the 19th Century; Houghton, Mifflin; 1997.

Ernst, George; New England Miniature; Bond Wheelwright Company; 1962.

Funigiello, Philip J.; Florence Lathrop Page: A Biography; University of Virginia Press; 1st edition; 1994.

Howe, Rose; Elizabeth Bishop Perkins of York; Society for the Preservation of Historic Landmarks in York County, Inc.; 1st edition;1979.

Hussey, Tim; Interview with Tim Hussey of Hussey Manufacturing and Museum, artifacts, photographs, notes; 2019.

Johnson; Elizabeth Perkins House; p. 67.

Lefever, Joel; “New Englanders Abroad: Souvenirs from the Grand Tour, 1830–1880,” Exhibit at Old York Historical Society; 2018.

Lockwood, J. Samaine; Archives of Desire: The Queer Historical Work of New England Regionalism; UNC Press Books; 2015.

Mendelson, Janet; “The Perkins House” Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors Magazine; Winter Edition 2009.

Moody, Edward C.; Handbook History of the Town of York: From Early Times to the Present; York Publishing Company; 1914.

Murphy, Kevin D.; Politics of Preservation: Historic House Museums in the Piscataqua Region; Old York Historical Society; 1992.

New York, State Census; Elizabeth B. Perkins; 1905.

Old York Historical Society Archives: Photographs, Documents and Objects.

Old York Transcript; various.

Patterson, Mary Marvin Breckinridge and Millton Lomask; My American Century: A Memoir;

Corporate Press, Incorporated; 2006. Pendleton, Eldredge H.; Old Gaol Museum.

Perkins, Elizabeth; “Almaqui: A Home in the Woods”; no date. Perkins, Elizabeth; “The Codfish Ghost”; 1935.

Portsmouth Herald; various.

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APPENDIX

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MAUD MULLER

MAUD MULLER, on a summer’s day, Raked the meadows sweet with hay.

Beneath her torn hat glowed the wealth

Of simple beauty and rustic health.

Singing, she wrought, and her merry glee The mock-bird echoed from his tree.

But, when she glanced to the far-off town, White from its hill-slope looking down,

The sweet song died, and a vague unrest And a nameless longing filled her breast–

A wish, that she hardly dared to own,

For something better than she had known.

The Judge rode slowly down the lane, Smoothing his horse’s chestnut mane.

He drew his bridle in the shade

Of the apple-trees, to greet the maid,

And ask a draught from the spring that flowed Through the meadow across the road.

She stooped where the cool spring bubbled up, And filled for him her small tin cup,

And blushed as she gave it, looking down On her feet so bare, and her tattered gown.

“Thanks!” said the Judge, “a sweeter draught From a fairer hand was never quaffed.”

He spoke of the grass and flowers and trees, Of the singing birds and the humming bees;

Then talked of the haying, and wondered whether The cloud in the west would bring foul weather.

And Maud forgot her briar-torn gown, And her graceful ankles bare and brown;

And listened, while a pleasant surprise Looked from her long-lashed hazel eyes.

At last, like one who for delay Seeks a vain excuse, he rode away,

Maud Muller looked and sighed: “Ah, me! That I the Judge’s bride might be!

“He would dress me up in silks so fine, And praise and toast me at his wine.

“My father should wear a broadcloth coat; My brother should sail a painted boat.

“I’d dress my mother so grand and gay,

And the baby should have a new toy each day.

“And I’d feed the hungry and clothe the poor, And all should bless me who left our door.”

The Judge looked back as he climbed the hill, And saw Maud Muller standing still.

“A form more fair, a face more sweet, Ne’er hath it been my lot to meet.

“And her modest answer and graceful air Show her wise and good as she is fair.

“Would she were mine, and I to-day, Like her, a harvester of hay:

“No doubtful balance of rights and wrongs, Nor weary lawyers with endless tongues,

“But low of cattle, and song of birds, And health, and quiet, and loving words.”

But he thought of his sisters, proud and cold, And his mother, vain of her rank and gold.

So, closing his heart, the Judge rode on, And Maud was left in the field alone.

But the lawyers smiled that afternoon, When he hummed in court an old love-tune;

And the young girl mused beside the well, Till the rain on the unraked clover fell.

He wedded a wife of richest dower, Who lived for fashion, as he for power.

Yet oft, in his marble hearth’s bright glow, He watched a picture come and go:

And sweet Maud Muller’s hazel eyes Looked out in their innocent surprise.

Oft when the wine in his glass was red, He longed for the wayside well instead;

And closed his eyes on his garnished rooms, To dream of meadows and clover-blooms.

And the proud man sighed, with a secret pain, “Ah, that I were free again!

“Free as when I rode that day,

Where the barefoot maiden raked her hay.”

She wedded a man unlearned and poor, And many children played round her door.

But care and sorrow, and child-birth pain, Left their traces on heart and brain.

And oft, when the summer sun shone hot On the new-mown hay in the meadow lot,

And she heard the little spring brook fall

Over the roadside, through the wall,

In the shade of the apple-tree again She saw a rider draw his rein,

And, gazing down with timid grace, She felt his pleased eyes read her face.

Sometimes her narrow kitchen walls Stretched away into stately halls;

The weary wheel to a spinnet turned, The tallow candle an astral burned;

And for him who sat by the chimney lug, Dozing and grumbling o’er pipe and mug,

A manly form at her side she saw, And joy was duty and love was law.

Then she took up her burden of life again, Saying only, “It might have been.”

Alas for maiden, alas for Judge,

For rich repiner and household drudge!

God pity them both! and pity us all, Who vainly the dreams of youth recall;

For of all sad words of tongue or pen,

The saddest are these: “It might have been!”

Ah, well! for us all some sweet hope lies Deeply buried from human eyes;

And, in the hereafter, angels may Roll the stone from its grave away!