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Category Archives: Seacoast (mostly) History
Fragments of history: When the KKK marched in Kittery, Maine
Why and how did Kittery-ites join the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s? The Foreside parade in this undated J. Frank Walker photo likely took place on either June 30, 1924, or August 17, 1925, when Portsmouth Herald articles document these … Continue reading
Posted in Seacoast (mostly) History
Tagged J. Frank Walker, Kittery history, Maine history, Seacoast history
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Lives lived, and lost, at the Kittery Town Forest
Sometimes when I walk in Kittery’s 72-acre Town Forest, I wonder what became of Ella Hill and her girl Annie. From 1891 to about 1897, Ella and Annie lived here at the Town Farm, or Poor Farm. In 1891, the … Continue reading
Remnants of the Gilded Age at Brave Boat Harbor
Kittery Point, Maine — I dip my paddle in the water, push the kayak into the channel, and glide away from the causeway. I’m paddling into the marsh, heading out to Brave Boat Harbor for high tide. At least once … Continue reading
Skulls of history in a forgotten tomb
Where was he, the most noteworthy man who ever called my town home? Back and forth I wandered, searching. Where was the life-sized portrait of Sir William Pepperrell? At the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, nobody seemed to know, … Continue reading
Snowmageddon 2015? Remembering the winter of 1716-17
By December, five feet of snow blanketed the ground. Although temperatures were not bitterly cold, the snow kept falling, with several storms in January. By early February, some drifts rose 25 feet. On February 18, the snow began falling again, … Continue reading
A different kind of Groundhog Day: The Candlemas Massacre
On January 24, on the morning after Candlemas Day, 1692, the town of York, Maine was burned to the ground by a band of 150 Abenaki Indians. Between 40 and 48 people were killed in the massacre, with an estimated … Continue reading
If People Magazine existed in 1776: cast your ballot for the hottest Patriot!
Patriot John Hancock is the King of memorable signatures, so much so that his name has become synonymous with signing a document. As President of the Continental Congress, he was the first to sign the Declaration of Independence on July … Continue reading
Globalization, circa 1807, curses the Lady Pepperrell House
Lady Mary Hirst Pepperrell had impeccable taste. So say many sources, but the best indicator is the home she built in 1760 on Route 103 in Kittery Point. The Lady Pepperrell House is one of Maine’s outstanding examples of 18th … Continue reading
The Ghost of a Pepperrell Lady
Elizabeth Royall was a royal – a member of New England’s informal royalty. When she was a tween girl, she and her older sister Mary sat for a young John Singleton Copley when he came to their Medford, Massachusetts house … Continue reading
Governor John Wentworth and the Tea Party that wasn’t
What would happen when the tea landed in Portsmouth? Would a mob gather at the wharf? Would violence erupt? New Hampshire Governor John Wentworth pondered these questions when he learned, on June 25, 1774, that the mast-ship Grosvenor was sailing … Continue reading
