Description: Book, Great Cranberry Island History Project, College of the Atlantic, "Photography: Public and Private Language" Fall 1992, mostly photographs with some text.
Description: Photograph, large, high resolution black and white 1944 print of aerial view of portion of Great Cranberry Island with Sutton Island and coast of Manset. Identifying numbers across top of photo: G8-20 ME 44.67 1030 5-26-44C 1232. Written in pencil on reverse is: McSorley; Doris "Dot" P. Marr McSorley was the sister of Louise Marr, descendants of the Preble family on GCI, inheritors of house and large properties. Details of houses and landscapes discernible. Was photo taken from a blimp? (Shortly after the date of this photograph (5/26/44), a blimp crashed (allegedly shot down) in in this region - July 3, 1944. See Hugh Dwelley article at http://archive.bangordailynews.com/2003/03/15/another-tale-from-maines-u-boat-file/). [show more]
Description: Document. Newspaper article, "Russians and Yankees Battle Mosquitoes on Cranberry Isles" Boston Evening Transcript, Saturday, July 28, 1928, page 3. An Expert Leads the Forces and Guarantees to Drive the Pests Out or No Pay; By Karl Schriftgiesser, Northeast Harbor, Me. Article begins: "Eighteen Russians and native Yankees are fighting a desperate battle on the Cranberry Isles that shelter the south side of Mt. Desert from fury of the seas." This sardonic article explains the project to rid the Cranberry Isles of mosquitoes. Mentions Moorfield Storey's role; and Major Edward Skinner was the engineer (founder of the United States Drainage and Irrigation Company); cost $12,000. Article states that "It is the first place anywhere in the State of Maine that mosquito eradication will have been attempted." Mentions several sites to be worked on: a crisscross of trenches will drain a "salt marsh covers between eight and nine hundred acres and is free of all drainage." As well as "The "haith," as it is known locally, is nearly a mile in length. Now a long trench stretches the long way and other transverse ditches help to drain it." And "A dozen or so other swamps and salt marsh areas dot the island." "Deep down into these beaches of rock and gravel and sand wooden outlets have been sunk. In some instances the depth has been from six to twelve feet. The outlets have been constructed of heavy timbers rather than of iron or clay pipes because wood alone can withstand the constant buffeting of heavy rocks tossed hither and yon by a sea that is often in an angry mood. Iron would break, clay would crumble, wood alone can stand the strain." "On Great Cranberry there is a point of ground known locally for years as Pond Point. In this area are (or rather, were) Birlem's pond and the so-called Salt Lakes. Scientific drainage has entirely dissipated Birlem's pond and when the huge twelve-foot drain through a dishearteningly rocky beach has been completely cut the Salt Lakes will have been drained slowly into the sea." Mentions the 70-foot whale that beached itself there during WWII. "Near Green Spot and Long Point other treacherous bogs have been drained. Islesford, as Little Cranberry rather vainly calls itself, is fast being dried up. Sutton, the aristocrat of the small archipelago, is quickly becoming a pestless place." "Some of the native population is skeptical of results. Others, led by such whole-hearted citizens as Mr. and Mrs. John Hamor and Millard Spurling, have done fine work to help Mr. Storey in the war of which he is the prime mover. Summer residents of the islands and nearby harbors, the Cranberry Club, and other organizations have helped considerably." See complete transcript by Bruce Komusin. Article was in a wood and glass frame with cardboard backing, badly deteriorated. Removed from frame 9/18/14. [show more]
Description: Collection of items from Alice White from 1955, included are postcards from Gott's Island from 1912 and several receipts. One book: Annual Report of the Operations of the United States Lifesaving Service for the Fiscal Year ending June 30, 1879. Book stamped with "Custom House Portland ME Sep. 27, 1880" and has inscription on the first page "Alice White 1955". Includes services rendered by various crews 1879.
Description: Collection of "Friends of Hitty Newsletters" Published quarterly by Virginia Ann Heyerdahl. Collection contains each issue from January 1995 - Fall 2002
Description: A written down history of Mt. Desert and all of the surrounding harbors. This history mentions the Native Americans who used to travel out to the islands in the summer. IT also mentions Jackson lab and Acadia National Park.
Description: A map of the Marr Property on Great Cranberry Island. This shows Cranberry Cove, Spruce Haven, Rockledge, Pebble Cove, Western Way, Roberts/Long Point. This also shows Seal Harbor, Bar Harbor, Northeast Harbor, Southwest Harbor, Manset, Seawall, and Bass Harbor. Lastly, there is a drawing of GCI and LCI, marking the Marr Property on GCI.
Description: Magazine articles. Two articles from Down East Magazine. (1): Down East, December 2014, "Alone Together" p. 73-79, 118-130, by Virginia Wright, photos by Douglas Merriam. Magazine, tear sheets, and scanned copies; digitally as pdf. (see also: http://www.downeast.com/alone-togethe). Storyline - Islesford and Great Cranberry facing the future side by side, with photos and statements by Blair Colby, Tiffany Tate, Beverly Sanborn, Eileen Richards, Phil and Karin Whitney, Tom and Becca Powell, and a cameo photo of Anne Grulich walking in front of the church. (2): Down East, April 2015, "The Secret Lives of Houses" storyline - clues to your old home's age and the people who lived there p. 59, 68, and 70, by Virginia Wright with photos by Brian Vanden Brink. PDF copy and print out. Tells the story of the GCI parsonage house 2014 renovation and how the four concealed shoes in the fireplace wall lead Anne Grulich to research into the house's history, connected it with 7 other cape houses built about the same time, information from other houses, and how to research old houses in general. (There are some mistakes: Bulger didn't live in the Parsonage House. She may have the wrong Enoch Spurling as "ship captain" and owner.) See also www.downeast.com/the-secret-lives-of-houses. [show more]
Description: Document, undated, typewritten copy of quitclaim deed from Spurlings, Stanleys, and Richardsons to Charles E. Spurling of 11 lots of land all previously belonging to Joseph S. Spurling. (Location of lots in county record books are listed (1847-1854) properties of Joseph S. Spurling.)
Description: Documents. Information about properties along the GCI road "I-95". Handwritten loose leaf pages. Descriptions of lots for I-95 (local name), written copies of deeds. According to Bruce Komusin, they had to arrange rights-of-way for the road along each property. Uncertain author(s) – probably Louise Marr or Dot McSorley (sisters).Three groups of handwritten notes, and one typewritten letter from Malcolm S. Stevenson, Blaisdell & Blaisdell, Counsellors at Law, Ellsworth, ME, October 23, 1973 to Mrs. Mary Chamberlin, 31 Red Coat Road, Westport, Conn, two typewritten pages re: Blanche Atkinson Cranberry Isles property. [show more]
Description: Document, Real Estate Listing for Great Cranberry Island lying just off Mt. Desert Island that Bruce Komusin bought in 1989. Photo shows Preble Cove and consists of 275 feet of cove frontage and includes 19.1 acres of woodland, running back up over 1000 feet to the town road (Cranberry Road) with 335 feet on the road itself. Listing price - $135,000. Realtor was Joseph Simmons Realty, Main Street, Southwest Harbor, Maine 04679. Mount Desert Island 207-244-3298. There are 4 copies of the same document (note: one of the copies has the Listing price of $135,000 scratch out and $145,000 is handwritten in with ink is Item # 1591b). Item 1591a is the reverse side of same document Item #1590. [show more]
Description: Map. "Great Cranberry Island 1930-1980". Shows names and locations of homes and other significant spots. Map shows incorrect placement of McSorley cabin; it should be south of Great Head Point.
Description: Collection of GCIHS's Home and Garden Tour, 1099a-f. (a) Brochure handed out to Home, Art, and Garden Tour visitors. (b) Photo of Ticket selling station set up in Southwest Harbor. (c) Newspress release announcing the HAGT. (d) Thank you note posted by Phil Whitney after the event. (e) Laminated Poster of HAGT. (f) Save the date.
Description: Islesford Historical Society publication of "Reflections of a Winter's Night: Growing up on Islesford in the 1940's & 1950's" By Hugh Dwelley November 1995
Description: Collection of three items. (A) Trailboard from a Friendship sloop. Letters visible: “BUILDER FRIENDSHIP, ME” on one side, and “WILBUR A. MORSE, BUILDER” on the other side. Carved with leaves and wavy line on both sides. Donor believes this could be the trailboard from one of Peter Richardson’s Friendship sloops. Richardson kept five Friendship sloops where Heliker LaHotan now stands (the old Stanley boatyard).(Trailboards are a pair of decorative boards at the bow of a sailboat, running from the figurehead back towards the hawsepipe.) (Measurements: 35"L x 6"H x 8.5"W)Note: On 10/14/16 Captain, historian, and boat builder Ralph Stanley visited GCIHS and commented on the trailboard. Ralph explained that donor's Friendship sloop, Old Baldy, was bought from its original owner; Kathy Newman owns it now. Jarvis Newman restored it. Stanley believes that the sloop that the trailboard came from was Little Flirt. (Apparently, the intended name was Alert, but William Doane Stanley had also named his boat Alert.) Eventually, Little Flirt had Sweet Pea painted on her stern. Whoever gave Lou Alert’s trailboard, likely found it in the field by Lewis Stanley’s boat yard (Ralph Stanley’s Uncle Lew) after the boat was destroyed and the ruins put in the field. He believes a full trailboard would have included the date made, 1904, and would have had an eagle’s head on the end. Ralph will check and see if Kathe Walton has the head.(B) Stanley cemetery wooden post. A broken post with carved top intact for exhibit purposes and for use as a model for new fence posts for the 2014 restored Stanley cemetery. (There are several more broken fence posts currently at the cemetery.) (Measurements: 41"L x 6" Diameter)(C) Powder horn from donor's family. Lovely, plain, unornamented horn which Donor used with her muzzle loading rifles and as a prop in a play. Has string attached by screw; two drilled holes; hollow. It was probably acquired in Ohio. No direct connection to GCI other than Lou Millar's use in her long and interesting life and it’s a neat artifact. (Measurements: 14.5"L x 3.5"H x 3"W) [show more]
Description: Memories of Duck and Bakers Island circa 1891. Gifted by Hugh Dwelley in Summer 2007. The bulk of the document is a copy of a letter to the Ellsworth American written by Rufus George Frederick Candage. The letter was written in 1891, but in the letter he is reminiscing about a two-week vacation to the Duck and Bakers Island in 1841. He writes about a barn, cattle, vegetables, hay, butter, cheese, eggs, fowls on Great Duck, and sheep on Little Duck. At that time the family of John Bartlett was living on Duck Island, although the Duck Islands were claimed by Mr. Gilley. Candage also remembers a trip to see the Bakers Island lighthouse. The letter is preceded by an excerpt from the book "The Descendants of James Candage/Cavendish of Blue Hill, Maine" and some notes on the Bartlett family and the letter made by Ralph W. Stanley. The document also includes a letter from Hugh Dwelley as President of the Islesford Historical Society to Mr. Gil Bunker in reference to a visit that the Bunker Family Association of America planned to make to the Cranberry Islands. [show more]
Description: Map, 2 maps, one hand-drawn and one mimeographed, made by Dot & Andy McSorley, indicating the old time property holders and the McSorley land colored in red. The McSorleys loved to make maps of their land, the lots they intended to divide it into.
Description: Painting. Mural, acrylic on canvas of view from Preble Cove, Great Cranberry Island - seascape with mountains and schooners by Wini Smart. Artist painted the view from Sammy Sanford's cabin for a play by Hugh Dwelley about Sanford that was produced by GCIHS in 2000 - "An Evening with Rachel Field & Sammy Sanford." Artist says the mural was rained on and had to be rescued at one point. Four snapshot photos of mural in use at the GCI church. (See also video of play 1000.0.505; and p. 77 in "A Long, Long Way, An Artist's Life" 2008 by Wini Smart.) [show more]
Description: Photo, Ice Breaker S.C. 262 in 1918 to save Cranberry Isle Fleet- the words hand-written around margin of photo, "Through miles of solid ice to save the Cranberry Isles fleet in Feb. 1918.