Friends of the

Southport Historical Society

Southport Central School

 

In 1904, it was voted in Town Meeting to appropriate $1,000 for a schoolhouse at Cape Newagen and $2,000 for a high school and grammar school at West Southport . The Newagen school was discontinued in 1946 and was soon converted into the Memorial Library housing the Bayberry Camp collection donated by Rebecca and Susan Zabriskie. The high school stood just to the east of the current Hendricks Hill Museum . In 1927, the grammar school was moved and became part of the current firehouse. Later the high school was discontinued and the building was moved to become part of the present Southport Central School . Clearly the citizens lived by the motto “waste not want not” and “make it do, use it up and wear it out.” Sarah Sherman has published an informative pamphlet outlining the history of the Central School . The pamphlet is available for sale at the Library.

Each year, Ron Orchard builds an exhibit for display at Town Meeting. This year he chose the 100^th anniversary of the school. His display included a newspaper article on Violet Smith (Em Pratt’s mother) who taught school for many years. In the 1940s she saw the need for a hot lunch and organized it so children who wanted a hot lunch would bring ingredients to school. She would cook and teach at the same time.

 

Violet Smith as drawn by Linda Brewer

Leland Snowman describes the Newagen school in his Life As It Was In  Newagen as follows:

I went to school my first years at Newagen in the building that now is the Southport Memorial Library.  The year was about 1917.  My first grade teacher was Ethelyn Pinkham.  Elizabeth Gray also taught at Newagen.  The school building at Newagen was like most schools at this time.  It was one big room with an outside privy alongside of the building.  Some students had classes while other students studied.  It was not too good, but that was the way.  You would raise your hand to go to the toilet or for a drink of water.  Outside bathrooms were very cold at times.  Everyone drank from one pail of spring water that set near the front of the school room.  There was one long-handled dipper that everyone drank out of.  No one seemed to get sick, even if the water was not tested.  Wood fires were used to heat school-houses.  A large pot-bellied stove was set in the middle of the school room.  A large stovepipe ran from the stove to the chimney on one wall of the room.  The older boys kept wood boxes full of wood and stoked the stove during the school day.

We seemed to have more snow and cold weather when I was a child.  It took a lot of clothes in the winter to keep warm.  The teacher would help smaller children dress.  When the weather was good we had games to do outside.  There were no fancy hot meals when we were growing up.  We had a sandwich or fruit for lunch that we brought from home.  One of the reasons there were five schools on Southport was transportation.  Schools were near communities, so pupils could walk to school.  Teachers were paid seven dollars a week. Most teachers had to get a room with a private family during the week.  My mother would keep Mrs. Osbourne Brewer five days and nights.  Mrs. Brewer would go home (to West Southport ) for the weekend.  My mother got three dollars a week from Mrs. Brewer for her room and meals.

Some of these conditions were familiar to current students last winter when severe cold froze both water to and sewage from the school for several weeks. Bottled water was brought in and portable toilets were installed outside. Through diligence and cooperation not a single day of school was missed.

The pictures above show the Southport two-year High School that stood on Hendricks Hill just east of the Museum on the present site of Cecil Pierce’s house. Note how one picture shows two separate entrances for boys and girls. The upper picture shows a bar to support a swing set.

Annual Meeting

Nearly 100 people enjoyed an informative talk by Stanley Freeman about the history of Dogfish Head. He outlined seven generations of his family who have enjoyed the magic of this northwest corner of Southport . Constant and Maria Whitney and Charles and Carrie Dexter were the first families. (Dick Dexter is the great grandson of Charles and Carrie and still occupies the original house.) The steamboat from Bath landed them right at the Head and they first stayed in tents, later building simple dwellings with a loft above. A road along Maddocks Cove and across the dam at the lobster pound provided land access to the store and Post Office. Although there was a good spring, Constant dug a well and installed a rain barrel. Living was simple. He even brought a crate of chickens to provide first eggs and then meat for his family. The well served as a cooler before the days of refrigeration.

As the generations rolled on, memories of berry picking, fishing, sailing, clamming and socializing were deepened and the entire area became a joy in the summer and a source of eager anticipation during the rest of the year.

Stanley gave the Museum a copy of his talk, along with diary excerpts and poetry written over the years, and challenged those who grew up in other of the Island ’s summer colonies to record similar materials.

Southport Post Offices

 

 

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In the early days, it was much easier to get around by boat than by road, and therefore the settlements grew up around the harbors. Since Cape Newagen is furthest out to sea, this was the first settlement on the island. There were Europeans here before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth.

When steamboats became popular in the 1800s, there was steamboat service from Bath to Boothbay through Townsend Gut, the passage between Southport and the mainland. There was a landing on Southport where Landing Road now meets the Gut, about half a mile north of the present bridge.

The first Southport Post Office was opened at the steamboat landing on January 17, 1851 under the direction of Postmaster Cyrus McKown. This landing with its steamboat dock, store and Post Office was then Southport’s main window to the rest of the world. When steamboat service stopped, the office was moved nearer the current bridge.

In 1878, a second Post Office opened in West Southport near Cozy Harbor. Later it was moved, and for many years it was located in the store of E. E. Pinkham and Son, now the Island Store.

In 1900, a third Post Office, pictured at the left, was opened in the store run by Ellsworth “Bub” Gray at Cape Newagen. The truck was used to deliver groceries. There were then three Post Offices on the island until the one by the bridge was closed about 1970. The Newagen one closed in 1998 and is on display in the Museum. This summer a gentleman came in and asked for the combination of his old mailbox. He inserted two letters and later his grandchildren came in, and after some difficulty, opened the box. They were delighted to find letters addressed to themselves containing for each a lollypop! The museum provides delight for all ages!

 

Richard Wiggin Johnson Exhibit

 

In the summer of 2005 we hope to be able to have an exhibit of Dick Johnson’s paintings at the Museum. Dick and Ernestine have served the Museum since its inception in 1988 and Dick has given us the drawing that appears on the masthead of this newsletter and on notecards available at the Museum. We know of several of his paintings already, which can form the basis for the display, and if any of our readers would be willing to loan us other examples of his Southport work, we would be most grateful. Please drop us a line or give us a call: Joyce and Donald Duncan, 32 Blair Road, Southport or 633-3359.

 

Flax Decorticator?

 

We have been trying to identify a tool which appeared on the doorstep of the Museum a few years ago. It has a revolving drum studded with 1-inch spikes. There are rollers like an old washing machine wringer that push something against these rapidly moving spikes.

Last spring, Ed Donohoe, a very reliable source of wisdom, identified it as a flax decorticator. (Yes, there really is such a word!) This machine beat the outer bark and leaves off of flax stalks in the process of making linen thread. Some one suggested that it might have been used for hemp rather than flax. If anyone has more information about this machine, we’d love to be further informed.

Volunteer Luncheons

Again we recognize the many volunteers without whom we could not operate. Not only do they guide visitors, but they clean the building, provide refreshments, work on the garden, research Southport houses, record memberships, keep the books, move the boats in and out, develop our computer facilities, carry out genealogical research, repaint signs when needed and plan for future needs. The list goes on. Twice this summer, the Friends put on luncheons to honor these volunteers and to give them a chance to tour the museum under the direction of Evelyn and Ron. We are grateful to all those who are here listed and to any others whom we might have missed. We have recorded that they gave a total of 2267 hours, but this is undoubtedly still too small!

Judy Basilieri   Jack Bauman    Mary Ann Blycher   Marion Bradley   Jeff Brown    Kathy Bugbee   Joy Bunkowske   Barbara Bush   Ann Charlesworth   Bob Colby   Phyllis Cook   Katie Copland   Larry Crane   Karen Curtis   Dick Dexter   Maria Doelp   Donald Duncan   Joyce Duncan   Ron Duquette   Bob Eaton   Leanne Eaton   Gerry Gamage   Anne Grimes   Jean Hasch   Mimi Havinga   Jean Hawley   Toni Helming   Bruce Johnson   Enid Johnson   Mary Lou Koskela   Leonard Merrill   Mary Merrill   Deborah Mullen   Ralva Orchard   Ronald Orchard   Michael Pollard   Penny Pollard   Nancy Prisk   Roger Roche   Bob Seaman   Lois Seaman  Evelyn Sherman   Kit Sherrill   Dick Snyder   Ralph Spinney   Pegi Stengel   Peg Stewart   Jean Thompson   Hazel Upham   Priscilla Wallace   Bruce Wood   Joan Zehm   Southport Firemen