Grindstone Neck Winter Harbor

St. Margaret Catholic Summer Chapel // c.1895

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When the Grindstone Neck Summer Colony of Maine was in full-swing, wealthy summer residents would frequent the colony’s Episcopal chapel (featured previously). What the summer residents did not really plan for was the influx of other residents as summer staff, largely Irish servants who in large part were Catholic. As a result, the St. Margaret Catholic Chapel was built to provide a house of worship, largely for those summer workers on Grindstone Neck. Keeping with the rustic architectural character of the colony, the chapel was designed in the Shingle style. I could not find any information on the architect, so any additional insight would be greatly appreciated!

J. Bonsall Taylor Cottage // c.1892

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John Bonsall Taylor (1854-1929), a Philadelphia patent lawyer and Director of the Gouldsboro Land Improvement Company, charged with developing Grindstone Neck in Maine, built this rustic cottage around 1892 for his family. He hired Lindley Johnson, a Philadelphia-based architect who furnished plans for many other buildings in the summer colony. Johnson trained under renowned architect Frank Furness before opening his own office. The rustic Craftsman house even has a “widows walk” which provides views to Bar Harbor across Frenchman Bay.

C. B. Taylor Cottage // c.1892

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Men from Philadelphia and New York gathered to establish the Gouldsboro Land Improvement Company in the late 1880s with the goal to develop an alternative, more quiet summer colony to rival Bar Harbor on Mount Desert Isle. Two of the early investors (and summer residents) were J. Bonsall Taylor and Carter Berkeley Taylor, brothers from Philadelphia. John Bonsall Taylor’s cottage (last post) and this cottage, built for C. B. Taylor, were constructed around 1891-2 and are typical examples of upper-middle-class summer cottages in Winter Harbor. Philadelphia architect Lindley Johnson designed John’s cottage, so it could be hypothesized that he was also architect for C.B. Taylor’s here. The house as originally built was enlarged in the early 20th century, but maintains the rustic quality and charm that so many of these Shingle style cottages possess. And that red trim really pops!

Thompson Cottage // c.1892

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Who doesn’t love a good porte-cochere? In case you don’t know what they are, a porte-cochere is a covered porch-like structure at an entrance to a building where either a horse and carriage (historically) or car (today) can pass under to provide arriving and departing occupants protection from the elements. They are normally found on larger residences and institutional building where the wealthy frequent. The Thompson Cottage on Grindstone Neck in Winter Harbor was built around 1892 for James B. Thompson from Philadelphia. The original cottage was largely updated after Thompson’s death in 1915, the property was owned by Annie Cannell Trotter, who summered at another house in the colony with her husband Nathan Trotter, until his death.

St. Christopher’s-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church // 1892

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In 1891, a proposal was made to build a summer Episcopal chapel, to be known as St. Christopher’s by the Sea, on Grindstone Neck in Winter Harbor, Maine. This project was supported by local area residents and by the summer community on Grindstone Neck. The construction of the church started in 1892, but it was not until August 6, 1893 that the first service was held in the chapel. The Rev. Julius Atwood, rector of St. James’ Church in Providence, Rhode Island, officiated and preached the first sermon. The church was designed by Lindley Johnson, a Philadelphia-based architect who also summered in a cottage on Grindstone Neck and designed other cottages in the colony. The Shingle style chapel is architecturally unique and rustic, a quality which is also visible at the interior, which is rustic in appearance with exposed beams and shingled walls.

Levis Cottage // c.1892

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Samuel W. Levis, a real estate agent from Philadelphia built this summer cottage on Grindstone Neck in the enchanting town of Winter Harbor, Maine in 1892. The Levis Cottage was designed by the Gouldsboro Land Improvement Company’s favorite Philadelphia architect, Lindley Johnson, who designed a majority of the cottages and buildings in the summer colony. Samuel does not appear to have ever married nor did he have children. The property was later owned by Frances and Mitchell Rosengarten. The cottage is boxy in form with a stucco facade and clapboard siding on the sides. Local stone was used to construct the large columns at the first floor porch. The former recessed balcony at the second floor has been enclosed, but otherwise, the house looks near-identical to when it was built over 130 years ago!

William R. White Cottage // c.1892

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Another of the fantastic Summer cottages on Grindstone Neck in Winter Harbor, Maine is the William R. White cottage. The house was built around 1892 for William Robert White (1846-1914) who less than a decade prior, established the Robesonia Iron Company and made a fortune from his home in Philadelphia. His family joined many other Philadelphia-natives and assisted with the establishment of the Grindstone Neck colony in Winter Harbor, where upper-class city-dwellers could escape the hustle-and-bustle of urban living and experience clean air and nature (while still being around other “equals”). The original cottage was more rustic with strong Shingle-style and Craftsman elements, and was updated and enlarged sometime in the early 20th century to its present appearance. Now more stately, the “cottage” has a large hipped roof, an arched, sheltered front porch, and more Colonial influence.

Charles and Elizabeth Doremus Cottage // c.1892

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In 1889, the Gouldsboro Land Improvement Company, bought 300 acres of farmland to build a residential summer colony as an alternative to the busy Bar Harbor across the bay. They hired landscape architect Nathan Franklin Barrett to design the subdivision of 198 cottage lots of at least one acre and arranged them on roughly parallel roads, with a primary road (Grindstone Avenue) running the length of the peninsula’s spine through woodlands to dramatic ocean views at the tip. The summer colony has many great cottages and chapels tucked away on rocky outcroppings with towering spruce trees all around. This charming cottage was built for Charles Avery Doremus and his wife Elizabeth Ward Doremus around 1892. Charles was a scientist, the son of chemist and physician Robert Ogden Doremus. He graduated from the College of the City of New York in 1870. He became a professor in chemistry and became a leading specialist on toxicology, often called into court cases to help solve crimes. Elizabeth was a playwright from Kentucky and her father and his brother owned plantations in Mississippi before the American Civil War. The couple summered at this cottage on Grindstone Neck until Charles’ death in 1925. It is a great example of a rustic Shingle style summer cottage.