Description: A rare view of the Stanley House from the water. The shoreline with water, rocks, and trees are in the foreground with the only the roof and upper stories of the hotel visible in the backbround.
Description: Photo of the 240’ yacht “Vanda” anchored in Southwest Harbor. The photo appears to have been taken from Manset with Saint Savior, Flying Mountain, and Acadia Mountain in the background. The tip of Clark Point is visible in the upper left with a large unidentified structure near the left edge of the photo. Docked in the foreground is a tender with lettering that reads “BABY V” but the last letter is obscured by the dock ramp. The photo was probably taken by Henry Rose Hinckley II, who according to his daughter Ann Levy, “was an amateur photographer and developed his own photos. He had a darkroom in the basement of both the old house (at the head of the harbor) and the newer one (just behind the boat yard).” The print was with others in her possession which had belonged to her uncle Benjamin B. Hinckley. The date of the photo is unknown, but it had to have been taken between 1928 when Vanda was built and 1942 when she was acquired by the U.S. Navy. [show more]
Description: The Way Back Balls were held between 1948 and 1957, and possibly before. SWHPL #14597 shows a ticket to the Way Bak Ball in 1928 - note the different spelling. The twenty-five Sou'Westers held a Way Back (gay nineties) ball in the spring of each year during the 1950's at the VIA (Village Improvement Association) hall in Manset (the Thibodeau home in 2006). Miles Grindle talks about Wayback Balls in his recount of growing up in Northeast Harbor in the 1930's: “’Wayback Balls’ were held, when everyone dressed in old fashioned clothes, tux and top hats, long dresses, or overalls with plaid shirts. These dances were by invitation only, restricted to voting age, by a member of chartered ‘Waybackers’. The main snack, provided during intermission, was dry fish. Probably most people reading this journal have not experienced the joy of occasionally eating a piece of dry fish. The local fishermen would catch small codfish, and let the wind dry them on their boats, then strip the fish off the skin, and put them in jars. Alcohol was not allowed on the premises, but those who indulged kept their bottles in their cars.” - “The Local Boy: Growing up in Northeast Harbor, Maine in the 1930’s” by Miles Grindle, p. 29 – n.d. [2006] – Privately published – in the collection of the Southwest Harbor Public Library. [show more]
Description: The land was purchased from Henry H. Ward, Sr. 3/16/1876 (152/399) by Arthur Newman. The house was built by Merrill B. King about 1878 [T-189]. It was then sold to William H. Ward, Jr. 10/17/1911 (484/111). A mortgage was foreclosed by Union Trust Co.12/11/1913 (503/35) and then it was sold to Eldora Dolliver Ward 11/30/1918 (543/290). It was devised to George A. and Thelma Dolliver Ward 7/2/1939 (670/109) and then sold to William Sklaroff (of Stanley Fisheries) et al. 5/7/1947 (714/90). The property went to Eugene and Kathleen Grant Watts 11/7/1953 (757/579) and then sold to John A. and Janice E. Knote 4/5/2001 (3054/127). In the spring of 2015 the town was considering the purchase of this property for use as a near-dock parking area. (map 1, lot 66) - Our Neighborhood – Manset and Seawall (Southwest Harbor Historical Society, Southwest Harbor, 2015) 136. [show more]
Description: This photograph was taken before the Manset shore was filled in. – According to Ralph Warren Stanley (1929-2021), the White boat hauled up on shore in front of the William Spurling Newman house at 102 Shore Road, Map 17 – Lot 100 – was probably built by Leslie “Les” M. Rice (1883-1966) on Great Cranberry Island for William “Uncle Jimmy” Doane Stanley (1855-1950). She was built as a double ender. Someone bought her and put a square stern on her. Work was slow at Hinckleys for awhile so Bill Dunham (Wilfred Manson Dunham (1918-2001) and Lewis Tapley (Lewis Merton Tapley (1916-1985) bought her and went fishing, though not for long. Work picked up at the Hinckley yard soon afterward. The vessel was then bought by Abner W. Lunt (1908-1975), then she was bought by Luther C. Faulkingham (1901-1993) of Prospect Harbor, where she was the last time Ralph saw her. The wharf building with the false front was the building that Francis “Frank” Thompson Chalmers Sr. (1893-1985), F. Dwight Perkins (1902-1981) and Merton S. Alley (1904-1985) had a car dealership in. Almon Frank Ramsdell Sr’s (1873-1946) garage was there later. Hinckley may have owned the building when this picture was taken. James “Jim” M. Willis (1919-2006) later ran “The Boathouse” there. See SWHPL 9363 [show more]
Description: J.L. Stanley started the fishery in 1874. He expanded it and made his sons partners as they came of age. “J.L. Stanley has commenced to cut ice on his Lily pond and has put in one day’s hauling, in his ice house, of very superior quality and about ten inches thick.” – Bar Harbor Record, Thursday, January 19, 1888. "The ice dealers have nearly finished filling their ice houses. The weather of the last week was exceptionally good for their work, and the opportunity was improved. Three houses are filled by sluicing direct from the pond. John L. Stanley & Sons put up about 1,300 tons. They have about twenty five men employed cutting and sluicing. W.H. Ward put up about 1,000 tons, and has twenty men employed." - The Ellsworth American, Wednesday, February 12, 1902 - Manset news. Stanley had his own ice pond for the Fishery. There are several photographs of the ice harvesting operation at the pond. Part of the fishery was destroyed by fire in 1918, shortly before J.L. Stanley was prepared to retire. He continued the business to recoup the loss. The business was sold in 1928 after his death to C.W. Marion. The business was sold again in 1944 to William Sklaroff and again around 1955 to four brothers. J.L. Stanley Fisheries was completely destroyed by fire on April 12, 1967. [show more]
Description: The wharf ruins after the fire from J.L. Stanley Wharf. View is from Shore Road. Clark Point is visible across the harbor. The fire occurred on 12/02/1918.
Description: The original William Henry Ward Store on the Manset shore. This photograph was taken before the expansion of the wharf by William H. Ward.
Description: The Stanley House hotel was destroyed by fire in 1927. This was the second Stanley House hotel - the first burned in 1884. The Stanley House hotel in Manset, Southwest Harbor, Maine. Black and white
Description: This is the first Stanley House hotel. The hotel was built in 1875 and burned in 1884. The hotel was rebuilt, but again burned in 1927. The Stanley House hotel in Manset, Southwest Harbor, Maine. People Depicted: Sans Stanley, Willette Mitchell Black and white
Description: B/W, 10.5x3.5", Photograph looking across harbor with Manset dock in lower right and Southwest Harbor center left. Greening Island is center right. Steamboat "Mount Desert" is at Manset dock.
Description: "Next to the Ward house, now owned by William King, is one built in 1890 by Dr. George Anderson as a residence and dental office. It is now the property of Mr. and Mrs. Howard Reed." - "Traditions and Records of Southwest Harbor and Somesville, Mount Desert Island, Maine" by Mrs. Seth S. Thornton, 1938, p. 185.
Description: The ell on the house was built by Benjamin Ward [T-193] and given with a life estate proviso to John and Esther Ward Nichols, who built the main part of the house and then moved to Boston. It was purchased by David King, who established the first post office therein before 1836 [T-193]. Inherited by Joseph King, whose widow Adelaide Gilley King, sold to Raynor and Margaret Coggin Wellington and John Coggin Wellington 12/16/1918 (543/369). Land was added 8/29/1925 (595/575), excepting the parcel earlier sold to Rachel Evans; also 8/23/1940 (674/248), 6/11/1941 (682/116), and 10/26/1956 (810/25). It was conveyed to the John C. Wellington Family Limited Liability Company 9/12/1997 (2677/366). (map 17, lot 77) - Burnham, John, Rebecca. Our Neighborhood – Manset and Seawall (Southwest Harbor Historical Society, Southwest Harbor, 2015) 26-27. [show more]
Description: The original house was built in 1830 for Benjamin Ward and is one of the oldest still existing buildings in Southwest Harbor. The house once held the U.S. Customs House [T-184] and was sold by Eldora Dolliver Ward to sea captain William W. King in 1905 (426/105). It was sold by Lottie King Reed to Emery Norwood in 1946 (712/121). Emery died July 22, 1953, leaving as heir-at-law Edna G. Hurd Norwood, who lived in the house until she sold it to John Eugene Jacobson in 1975 (1209/647). The shed ell was reported to have belonged to Albert “Uncle Al” King, who used it as a boat shed on the shore of 373 Seawall Road. The small barn in the rear is Jake Jacobson’s shop. (map 1, lot 44) - Burnham, John, Rebecca. - Our Neighborhood – Manset and Seawall (Southwest Harbor Historical Society, Southwest Harbor, 2015) 78-79. [show more]
Description: Howard is standing on the land across from his property (at 140 Seawall Road) down near the Shore Road where the sluice (visible on the left) crossed the Shore Road.
Description: Leslie Hamblen Ward (1939-) was born on October 7, 1939 to Franklin Dolliver Ward and Cora Myrtle (Hamblen) Hancock Ward in Southwest Harbor, Maine. Leslie first married Sally J. Martin, daughter of Fred A. Martin and Viola (Gordon) Martin on December 15, 1978. He married second Betty Louise Staples (1932-), daughter of Lester Cecil Staples and Roseanne (Martin) Staples.
Description: "W.H. Ward keeps a good supply of groceries, confectionery, boots and shoes and also does a large ice business. In the back of the store is the only billiard hall on the south side as Manset is called." - Bar Harbor Record, June 15, 1895
Description: "Clark the Printer" was owned by Walter J. Clark Jr. (1882-1942) "An ingenious ability that has enabled him to surmount all obstacles has brought Walter J. Clark, Jr., to the position of one of the leaders in the business life of Ellsworth. Mr. Clark operates the modern and efficient printing shop at No. 360 Water Street, conducting the business under the name of Clark the Printer. His advance has been steady and sure ever since the early days in the business when the first printing press he owned was a crude, wooden affair made by himself. Walter J. Clark, Jr., received his education in the local public schools and after completing his schooling entered the printing business independently in 1903. His creative ability and determination to succeed were his greatest assets. He carried on his trade with the aid of his personally constructed press until he prospered sufficiently to afford the purchase of a small Kelsey Press, which he installed and used for about a year. Business increased rapidly and he bought a small Liberty Press and later added a Gordon Press continuing to add new equipment and machinery to accommodate the ever increasing demands for his work…" – “Maine Biographies” by Harrie B. Coe, Volume I, published by Clearfield." [show more]
Description: The Hinckley Company started in 1928 as the Manset Boatyard in Southwest Harbor, Maine. Henry R. Hinckley’s focus was on servicing the local lobster boats as well as the yachts of summer residents on Mt. Desert Island. Today Hinckley builds boats at its production facilities in Trenton, Maine, but the original Manset yard is at the heart of the Hinckley legend. Today it ranks as a world class service facility.
Description: "Eldering" was the summer home of Frank Wells and Linda Chapin Marcus Ramseyer. 1937 - Linda Chapin Marcus, daughter of Dorothy's brother, William Elder Marcus, Jr. and her husband, Frank Ramseyer Jr. bought a strip of six acres next to Dorothy's "High Tide" on Seawall Road, from Captain Hiram S. Hadlock and built their summer house, "Eldering." The name was partly in honor of Frank's descent from Elder Brewster of the Mayflower and partly from the name, Elder, in Linda's family. Frank W. Ramseyer designed the house, which was built by Sylvester Dorr. In about 1960 Hiram Hadlock's granddaughter, Eleanor M. Hadlock Gilley, sold another eleven acres to the Ramseyers, thus completing the present property. In 1942 an east wing was added to the house by Mr. Dorr and in 1964 a south ell, designed by Frank Ramseyer and built by Maurice Norwood. Frank's daughters, Helene Ramseyer Dickel and Lin Ramseyer Clayberg, added a garage of their design to the property. [show more]
Description: Front Row - Left to Right: - Unknown girl - Unknown girl - Henry Thomas Conary (1903-1951) - Unknown boy - Howard M. Leonard (1905-1974) - Unknown girl - Marguerite Hopkins (1905-1965) - later Mrs. Harry G. Norwood Second Row - Left to Right: - Unknown boy - Carl Fulton Dolliver (1903-1979) - Stanwood Hart King (1905-1996) - Virginia J. Ramsdell (1905-1981) - later Mrs. Milton Edwin Krebs - Lawrence Newman (1906-2002) Third Row - Left to Right: - J. Sewell Hopkins Jr. (1903-1972) - Unknown boy - Unknown boy - Nettie L. Norwood (1903-1980) - later Mrs. James E. Smiley, then Mrs. Manuel Silva Back Row - Left to Right: - Unknown boy - Iva Adele Walls (1886-1964) - Teacher - later Mrs. Walter J. Clark Jr. - Unknown boy [show more]
Description: This postcard photograph is valuable to historians interested in Manset, Maine. The image shown here has, therefore, been cleaned for study. The original postcard, untouched, remains in the collection, as do all other images, in its original, scanned version. When archivists enlarged the photograph for study they could see that the original photograph had been altered before printing to blank out the sky. The area above the horizon was removed.
Description: “1941 - With World War II on the horizon, [Henry Rose Hinckley II (1907-1980)] goes to Washington D.C. to secure contracts for military boats. His first order is for twenty 38-foot Coast Guard picket boats. By the end of the war, 93 of these boats are built for the Coast Guard, using production line techniques developed for the Islander. The yard also builds 24-foot Navy personnel boats, motor mine and tow yawls (using a hull design that would briefly reappear 30 years later in fiberglass yacht club launches), shallow-draft towboats and sailing yawls as part of the war effort… By the end of the war, Hinckley will have built nearly 40% of the 1,358 boats built in Maine for the war.” - “The Hinckley Company History” [show more]
Description: Hinckley Boat Yard. Inside storage shed with international class sloops shown. Outside storage of boats. Two launches-commuter type in shed.
Description: The automobile to the right of the vessel is a circa 1948 Jeep CJ (Civilian Jeep) Note the peavey stuck into the ground (above the “O” on the “DETOUR” sign). A peavey is a logging tool with a wooden shaft and metal hook invented in 1857 by blacksmith Joseph Daniel Peavey (1799-1873) of Stillwater, Maine, as a refinement to the cant hook to manhandle logs on logging runs. The Peavey Manufacturing Co. is still located in Maine (Eddington, Maine) and manufactures several variations. [show more]
Description: With kind permission from the owners, George Soules made this panorama below on the summer solstice at 5:23 AM. He used a Canon 5D Mark III digital SLR camera and a Canon 45mm f/2.8 tilt/shift lens shooting 1/125 sec, f/5.6 at ISO 100. The pano is a combination of 16 images stitched together to capture a view of approximately 270°.
Description: "The house now owned by Mr. and Mrs. Edward W. [Wyatt] Evans of Germantown, Pa., was built in the 1890's for John L. Stoddard, the travel lecturer. His family spent several seasons in the house. It was later owned by Mr. and Mrs. Walter Piper of Sudbury, Mass., who sold it to Mr. Evans." - Traditions and Records of Southwest Harbor and Somesville, Mount Desert Island, Maine by Mrs. Seth S. Thornton, p. 187-8 - 1938.
Description: "Osmond Harper built his house in 1915. Joseph Moore had a store and house near the site of this house.” - “Traditions and Records of Southwest Harbor and Somesville, Mount Desert Island, Maine” by Mrs. Seth S. Thornton, 1938, p. 204