Friends of the

Southport Historical Society

P. O. Box 3 , Southport , ME 04576

HENDRICKS HILL MUSEUM

Newsletter _***** November 2006

Donald Duncan, Editor

Boatshop Addition

For several years the Trustees have recognized the need for further display space for farm tools and for marine equipment. Since the Museum is non-residential, we were faced with a 50-foot setback requirement from our lot lines, and thus available space was very limited. Last spring the Trustees accepted a plan for a 20 by 22 foot room plus a small storage room. Permits have been obtained and the site work is complete. Bob Eaton has done yeoman service in drawing plans and arranging contractors, Donald Duncan has overseen the necessary permits and Leonard Merrill and Donald have each built informative models that have helped the Trustees to see how the addition will fit with the present boatshop. We have several bids and we plan to have the space available for next summer.

Wooden Boat Restoration

It is sometimes quipped that a wooden boat is “a hole in the water into which is poured a continuous stream of dollars.” Even though our wooden boats will never again be in the water, they slowly are deteriorating. Last year we asked whether anyone would be willing to help with slowing up this deterioration and Gerry Gamage and Rick Conant offered to help. Gerry moved the Linc Webber lobster boat to his own shop and during last winter he repainted her and made her look, if not brand new, at least in such shape as she might have been at the beginning of a fishing season in the prime of her life. The rudder no longer is supported by a block on the floor, but is on a proper skeg and it has been made operational so that is turns when the steering wheel is turned. Gerry will again move the boat to his shop for the coming winter and continue the refurbishment. The engine will be reinstalled as well. If anyone is interested in refurbishing the engine, we’d love to hear of it. Clearly the engine doesn’t need to run, but cleaning it up so that it looks less rusty would be a help.

Donald and Rick refastened some of the planks of the SYC and she has been given a coat of paint so that she too is more presentable. We are all particularly grateful to Gerry who put in a great deal of time and energy on the project. Even his out of pocket expenses he has been happy to absorb as his contribution to the Museum. Many, many thanks.

Abraham Lincoln Newspaper

For many years we have had on exhibit the front page of the New York Herald of April 15, 1865 carrying the news of the Lincoln assassination. The paper was slowly disintegrating and last spring the Trustees decided to have it properly conserved and mounted. The expense of this conservation has been covered by the Friends. We now have a 2 by 3 foot frame with museum quality plexiglass hinged to the wall of the Marr Room so that both sides of the paper may be read. Bob Eaton designed and constructed the frame and carried out its installation. Some excerpts:

“From the War Department, April 15, 1:30 AM : The President was shot at 9:30 PM on April 14,”

The President’s medical condition is reported, although he did not die until after the paper was published.

Although Lee surrendered at Appomattox the week before on April 9, the paper also carries news of the final days of the war with the following small banners: “ The Execution of details of the surrender”; “The Army taking position along the Southern Railway”; “Lee in Richmond ”; “Rosser and FitzHugh Lee Refuse to be surrendered by Gen. Lee.”

Ron Orchard reports that one 12-year-old girl spent her entire visit last summer reading the paper with complete fascination and said that she was going to report on it in school in the fall. It is definitely worth a visit.

On another page of the paper, although half of the page is devoted to the assassination, the other half is a large advertisement for Smith’s Buchu Lithia Kidney Pills which the manufacturer claims will be beneficial for “Backache, Inflammation of the Kidneys, Bright’s Disease, Diabetes, Lumbago, Inflammation of the Bladder, Catarrh of the Bladder, Gravel, Whites, Leucorrhea, Nervousness, Lost Vitality, Rheumatism, Painful Menstruation, etc.” (Editorial emphasis!)

A small filler is as follows:

“High Prices in an overstocked Market.[From the Raleigh Confederate April 7]

Our market, on the arrival of the Weldon train on yesterday, became overstocked with shad (sic). They went off slowly at $50 per pair.”

Could anyone shed light on what this means? It seems odd that if “shad” were fish that they would be sold by the pair. Perhaps simply a misprint.

Morgan Rhees, Ethelyn’s Artist

by Pegi Stengel

Many of the readers of this newsletter are familiar with the beautiful portrait of a 6-year-old Ethelyn Pinkham Giles hanging in the front parlor of the Hendricks Hill Museum . But who was the artist who captured Ethelyn’s soft yet precocious beauty, who spent a quarter century on Southport Island , recording images of a genteel past? Much of Morgan Rhees’s life remains a mystery, but I am uncovering a fascinating story about a man “from away” who traveled widely and painted what he saw, who helps us understand our origins.

In the summer of 2003, the museum mounted an exhibit of the paintings of Morgan J. Rhees, Jr. I was totally intrigued and began what continues to be a quest for more information about this most private and unknown artist.

Morgan Rhees was born in 1855, the son of a prominent surgeon. He is thought to have studied art in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania and in Paris , France . In 1883 he was living in Wheeling , West Virginia , when Who’s Who in American Art tells us that he exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. He also exhibited at the Boston Art Club and at the National Academy of Design in New York City all before he was 40.

At some point in the late 1890’s, Rhees began to come to Southport during the summer. There were many artists who found the area a pleasant place to work and we may assume that Morgan agreed. His brother, Joseph L. Rhees and an artist friend, Frederick McNeil, accompanied him. One painting by Mr. McNeil hangs in the Museum over the bed in the master bedroom.

Early Art and Artists in West Virginia shows a beautiful full-length portrait of Alexandria Gay Brown, painted c. 1895. Interestingly, an item in the Jan. 27, 1906 Boothbay Register notes that Rhees has just finished several portraits of “the late Judge Brown of Morgantown , VA ”. Perhaps these were done from photographs. That same article states that Rhees did not return to Boston from Southport for the winter, as he had done before, but was staying at the home of Mrs. Julia Pierce.

Rhees’s father died about 1895 in New Jersey –apparently leaving a large estate to his two sons. At about this time, Morgan produced several paintings with western themes. He may have used some of his inheritance to travel to the west, newly opened to settlers. Ron Orchard has a large painting of cowboys which is referred to in an April 20, 1961 Boothbay Register article as “The Last Roundup”. This painting had been bought by one of Ethelyn’s sisters at an auction. Evelyn Sherman has a small painting of covered wagons, which is dated 1898. His highly imaginative painting “Gates of Hell” is on display at the Museum.

Morgan and Joseph, who were in business together, bought property on Landing Road from the Freeman Orne estate on March 31, 1900 according to the Lincoln County records. Just a few months later, on September 22, 1900 , Joseph was drowned as he and his brother were rowing off the Southport shore. The Lincoln County records suggest that the two brothers were engaged in the ice business, as Joseph’s estate included half-interests in ice-harvesting equipment.

[Editorial Comment on the human side of Morgan Rhees: Phyllis Cook tells me that her father, Charlie Pinkham, used to deliver groceries to Morgan Rhees on Plummer Road . Rhees would always invite Charlie in to critique his current work. Charlie knew nothing about art, but always felt flattered that his opinion was wanted.]

Rhees had been a boarder in the Decker house at 16 Cape Newagen Road . In the old Decker boathouse, Jean Thompson’s husband, Stuart, found a single page from a letter Rhees wrote to Mr. and Mrs. Decker. It contains a delightful caricature drawing of Mr. Decker reading the Boston Globe, smoking his pipe. Later Morgan owned and lived in a house on Plummer Road recently owned by Sue and Cary Laine. Rhees married Frances L. Rose (1856 – November 6, 1920 ) on an unknown date. A note written by Dox Stratton in the Museum files states that Frances was the sister-in-law of George Webber, Sr., and that Frances is buried in the Webber plot, in the Union Cemetery .

On August 6, 1921 , Lincoln County records show that Rhees requested that Cyrus Tupper be appointed as the conservator of his estate, as he could no longer care for himself. On June 30, 1925 , at the age of 70, Morgan Rhees died. He is buried in an unmarked grave at the Cameron’s Point cemetery. Though it has been reported that he was a pauper, the court records show that he bequeathed several hundred dollars to each of his 8 cousins; this would now be equivalent to several thousand dollars.

As a Princeton , NJ resident as well as a West Virginia native, I was intrigued to learn that I had another connection with Rhees. Princeton Portraits (Princeton University Press, 1947) notes that there was a portrait by Morgan Rhees of Frederick Brokow, class of 1892, Princeton University , at Ivy Club (an eating club at Princeton University ) and shows a copy of the painting. It was commissioned by Brokow’s parents in 1893 after Frederick ’s death attempting to rescue a young girl from drowning. I went in search of the painting and, discovered that the University Art Museum had no idea where it was located. I inquired at Ivy Club, and the house manager had no record or recollection of the painting. She welcomed me to come to the club and look for myself. We looked in all the likely places and found nothing. Then the manager said, “Just a minute. There’s one more place.” We went into a side parlor and there was the painting, hanging silently in a dark corner. I felt like Nancy Drew. It is signed but not dated (most of his work is not, unfortunately) or identified. Hopefully, with this new information, the club will have an identifying plaque made with both the subject and the artist named.

This has been, and continues to be, a wonderful adventure. I am pleased that my association with the Hendricks Hill Museum has brought me this far. There remains, however, much to discover and much more to tell. I would be so grateful to have any additional information and/or corrections about this artist. Additionally, should anyone have any of his paintings, I would appreciate the opportunity to photograph them. I can be reached at mstengel@princeton.edu or 609-924-4807.Talent Search

We were delighted when we heard that Pegi Stengel was researching Morgan Rhees and even more so when she agreed to write the preceding article. If any others have an interest that they would like to research or which they have already researched so that they would like to write an article for an upcoming newsletter, we’d love to hear of it. Lights hidden under bushels are of little use. Won’t you lift the bushel from your own talent?

Annual Meeting of The Friends

On June 19^th last, the Friends held their Annual Meeting at the Town Hall. The bylaws were amended to require that Directors of the Friends be limited to two successive three-year terms. This will require finding new people to serve in this capacity, and, if you would like to help in this way, we would be delighted to hear from you. Evelyn Sherman, Phyllis Cook, Katie Copland, Jack Bauman, Dick Dexter, and Larry Crane were elected as Directors.

We thank Jean Hawley for her several years as a Director. Her knowledge of fund raising and her continuing work on documenting Southport houses is much appreciated.

Following the business meeting, Donald Duncan gave a talk on Southport Stores and Stories. Many stories came from the store of E. E. Pinkham and Son in West Southport and the many contributions to the community of Charles E. Pinkham who was a founding member of the Fire Department in 1927, who drove the town hearse, who ran the store and who provided advice and counsel as well as needed financial support to many townspeople. Other storekeepers were T & N Marr at Cozy Harbor and Weltha and Howard McKown at Landing Road , Bub and Scott Gray at Newagen.

The following is a quote from Judge Charles Bolster describing his trip from Boston to Southport :

In the 20's, my father and I would take the sidewheeler, either the City of Bangor or the City of Rockland , at Rowe’s Wharf on Friday afternoon. We would sail, I believe, at five o'clock , and would get to the Popham Beach landing around three or four o'clock in the morning. We used to have to close our stateroom windows then because mosquitoes at Popham Beach were terrible.

They'd unload people and baggage there and then we'd go up the Kennebec River to Bath , getting there probably around quarter of five. We'd go ashore at Bath to a restaurant that stayed open particularly to cater to the Boston trade and have breakfast. We’d then take a little boat that left Bath at five-thirty and came down through the islands to Southport , due there at seven o'clock .

I had a Model T Ford that during the week I used to leave down there in the barn up on the hill behind the wharf, and I'd go up and crank up Lizzie, and my father and I would flivver down the road to the [Blair Road] cottage arriving there probably around quarter of eight when Mother had breakfast prepared.

Larry Crane made a fine video of the talk and it was shown on the local TV Channel 7. A copy of the talk is available at the Museum if anyone is interested in further information. The meeting adjourned for the usual sumptuous refreshments provided by the Friends.

Katie Copland

Although Katie Copland had served on the Board of Directors of the Friends for a few years, her contributions were legion. She kept track of volunteers during the summer season and she was a fount of information on things historical and personal within the Museum and the community. Her untimely death this fall leaves us all mourning. She is sorely missed.

Shadow Box from Bill Danforth

We received from the estate of Bill Danforth an antique shadow box model of a full rigged ship, three masts with square sails on all three. This is a half model behind glass with a painted background and a breaking “sea.” Bob Eaton has repaired the box and replaced the glass and the box will be on display in 2007.

Continuing Support by GWI

Again we express our gratitude to Great Works Internet, which has provided us Internet access at greatly reduced rates. This allows us to have a website, overseen by Bruce Wood where we can display pictures and current information. The web address is www.hendrickshill.org

Photograph Project

Last year we picked out fifty-seven photographs from the collection that Larry Crane had scanned onto the computer of scenes that were “Gone but not Forgotten.” Ron Orchard has enhanced them as far as possible and they have been on display in the Museum. We are now working getting them onto a DVD with as much commentary as possible. We hope to have the DVD available for purchase so that the purchaser can make a print on his or her own printer.

Volunteers

This summer we had 330 visitors from 24 states and 5 foreign countries: England , Ireland , Saudi Arabia , Switzerland and Australia . We were often complimented on the extent of the collection and the neatness and cleanliness of the building of which we are very proud.

As usual we want to thank our many volunteers. There is no way that we could operate without them. The listed volunteers have given us over 1350 hours doing all the multitudinous jobs that the Museum entails: sorting and accessing the collection, guiding visitors, sweeping the floor, designing and setting up exhibits, planning for the future, making cookies for receptions, designing the Boatshop addition, writing thank-you letters, newsletters and solicitation letters, recording membership dues and contributions, deciding how the monies should be spent, maintaining the wooden boats and a host of other jobs. If any of you are not involved and would like to add your skills to the pot, we’d love to hear from you!

In August, we had a luncheon to thank those who were able to attend, but to these and all the rest who were unable to attend we extend our most heartfelt thanks.