Description: In this interview, Carol Hall talks to Marguerite Hamblen Hancock about some family history and how, among others, her grandfather "went to sea." She talks about the houses she grew up in, attending grammar school in Southwest Harbor, and playing basketball in school. The winter games between the three high schools on the island were a source of entertainment for everyone. During summer, she would go camping at Long Pond in cabins. She mentions how there are fewer grocery stores in Southwest Harbor now then there used to be. After high school, she got married to her husband Teddie who was stationed at the Navy Radio Station in Seawall. After getting married, the two returned back to Teddie's home in Illinois for a year. Afterwards, they permanently settled in Southwest Harbor. She remembers the fires of 1922 and the flu epidemic of 1918, but also talks about the 4th of July celebrations in McKinley. She also talks about Wabanaki people(Indians) trading their beautiful baskets in town. [show more]
Description: Ralph Stanley interviews Athol Higgins, who talks about her husband, Howe Higgins, and his jobs. Before World War One, he worked in the Post Office in Bar Harbor and saw the switch from horses to automobiles. After World War One, he worked in the customs office in Southwest Harbor for twelve years. His duties as customs officer got in the way of some friendships. He talks of sardine boats that went herring fishing in bad weather and fog. The sardine factory was a busy place during the Spring and Summer as it was the main source of employment. Howe helped start the fire department after the fire of 1922; his office was in the Odd Fellows Hall and he carried out a lot of files to prevent them from burning. Athol talks about walking out to "the small island in the middle of the harbor" for picnics, and having to be careful of the tide. [show more]
Description: Ralph Warren Stanley and Richard Stanley load rock ballast into the Endeavor, a Friendship sloop Ralph built between 1979-1980. The beach rocks that were originally loaded into the open cockpit have since been replaced with lead.
Description: In this interview Gladys Butler describes her family history, connections to other families in Southwest Harbor, her father's involvement in helping the Dole company set up canning in Hawaii where Gladys and all her siblings were born, the journey to Mount Desert Island from Hawaii, and of meeting her husband, Farnham Butler, and starting a family.
Description: Describes the removal of the George Ripley Fuller House, located at the current Wendell Gilley Museum site (the corner of Rte. 102 and Herrick Rd., Southwest Harbor) prior to the museum's construction.
Description: Sketches, site plan, foundation plan, floor plans, elevations, details, schedules, electrical, mechanical, framing plans, plumbing, fireplace details, museum display cabinet plans Roc's Comments: Wendell told us he wanted the museum to have his workshop in the hopes it would inspire others to carve. After he died his son chose to auction the items in his shop off to the highest bidder. The audience knew of Wendells wishes and no one bid except the curator of the Museum who acquired all of the items for a reasonable price. I was then asked to design a room to display his shop and a workspace for carvers and a small auditorium. We had not realized how popular the place would become and needed space for expansion. I did this work from my home studio in Philadelphia and John DeFazio a fellow employee at Venturi, Scott Brown helped with the drawings. [show more]
Description: "... it was 1955 before the library built its second addition. This was a room for the youngest children done in memory of Grace Simmons, who had rebound countless worn library books for the library."