Hancock County Maine History

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.

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!

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.

Egg Rock Lighthouse // 1875

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The Egg Rock Lighthouse sits in the middle of the Mt. Desert Narrows of Frenchman Bay between Bar Harbor and Winter Harbor. The lighthouse was constructed in 1875 to assist the already built Winter Harbor Lighthouse a short distance away, to provide guidance for the increased ferry traffic to Bar Harbor, which was quickly becoming a prominent summer colony. The architecturally unique lighthouse is comprised of a square tower projecting through the center of the square lighthouse keeper’s house, its unlike anything I have seen before. The station was automated by the United States Coast Guard in 1976, at which time its ancillary structures except the fog station were torn down. The light continues to be managed by the Coast Guard, and is not open to the public; the island and buildings are owned by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

Winter Harbor Lighthouse // 1856

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Built in 1857, Winter Harbor Light is one of Maine’s enchanting historic lighthouses dotting the rugged coastline. The lighthouse was built by the United States government to aid navigation for the local fishing fleet, an important piece of the local economy there. The light tower, built in 1856, is a round brick structure topped by an original octagonal lantern house with an iron walkway and railing around it. A brick single-story workroom projects from the tower. The keeper’s house is a two-story wood-frame structure, which was built in 1876 (along with the ell) to replace the original keeper’s house. The light was decommissioned in 1934 and sold into private hands, but in its seventy-six years of service, nine keepers and their families lived on the island. It remains a visual landmark on its small island in Mt. Desert Narrows on the drive along the Schoodic Peninsula in Acadia National Park (Winter Harbor side). What are your favorite lighthouses in Maine?

Channing Chapel – Winter Harbor Public Library // 1888

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At a time before women could vote or be admitted to the American Medical Association, Almena Guptill (1842-1914) left her small home on Harbor Road to graduate from Boston University of Medicine in 1876 and become a respected Boston physician. She married David Flint (1816-1903), a successful lumber dealer and philanthropist. Almena met David when treating his late wife in Boston. The two, both widowers, married in 1891. Being a staunch follower of William Ellery Channing and believing that there was sufficient interest in Unitarianism here, Flint felt that there was need for a meeting place in his summer town of Winter Harbor. He had this chapel built adjacent to his summer house in the winter of 1887-1888, having field stones brought to the site of the future chapel by people of the village sliding them over ice in the winter. I could not locate the name of the architect of the building. The chapel was deeded to the American Unitarian Association and was later gifted by the association to the Town of Winter Harbor in 1958, the town would sell the property that year. In 1993, a preservation group purchased the chapel and sold it in 1999 back to the town. It now houses the Winter Harbor Public Library. Talk about full-circle!

Hammond Hall // 1903

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Winter Harbor, Maine, may just be my new favorite place in the state! The town is located just east of Mount Desert Island, south of Gouldsboro (of which it was a village within the town). In 1895, after the Grindstone Neck summer colony was developed, the town’s increased finances and outlook led them to incorporate as a separate town. And what does any new town need? A town hall! Construction of the hall was proposed in 1902 by Edward J. Hammond, owner of a local lumber business who made his fortune shipping and selling the Maine lumber in Boston. Hammond donated the building materials and building lot after a fire swept through Winter Harbor village. The town offices moved out of the building in 1958, and the main hall continued to be used as a school gymnasium until 1987. The town then sold the building to the Winter Harbor Historical Society. Lack of funding by the turn of the present century resulted in the building’s decline, and it was slated for demolition in 2002. It was rescued by Schoodic Arts For All, a cultural organization that brings a variety of events to the space, which now holds a long-term lease on the property. The building looks great today!

West Gouldsboro Village Library // 1907

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One of the few libraries in Maine built in the Tudor Revival style can be found in the quaint coastal town of Gouldsboro. This library was built in 1907 from plans by Maine architect Frederick L. Savage after members of town sought a community space where they could meet and check out books. The small one-story building sits upon a tall fieldstone foundation and with a stuccoed exterior above. The entrance consists of a single door flanked by sidelight windows topped by an elliptical hood, above which sits within the half-timbered gable front. The small library was in operation until 1956. It reopened briefly in 1990, but closed again. It is owned by the West Gouldsboro Village Improvement Association. Historic library buildings are the best!

West Gouldsboro Union Church // 1888

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In 1888, the West Gouldsboro Union Church Society had enough funds to build this Queen Anne style church, built completely from member donations. By November 1888, the exterior was completed, but so much money was spent on the detailing on the exterior, no funds were available for the exterior painting and interior spaces. In 1891, the new church was finally dedicated. The West Gouldsboro Union Church is a stunning example of a church in the Queen Anne style with varied siding forms, asymmetrical plan, and square tower capped by a pyramidal roof. My favorite part about this building is its historically appropriate paint colors. For a long time, the church was fully painted a bright white, but now its details really shine!