Blue Point

Stories from South Point, Part Three

by Mary Morgan

A small point of land on the water side of Ocean Avenue, between 2nd and 4th Streets, looks like a quiet spot, but it has been the subject of controversy at least twice in the past.

According to the 1882 private development plan for the area, this point was designated as common land, so it should have remained green. In the 1930s, the City of Biddeford wanted to make it a parking lot, but the local land owners were not happy and came up with a way to stop the city.

A path leads through the vegetation from Ocean Ave. to the shore. (JH photo)

The owners of the common area were the beneficiaries and descendants of the original South Point Cottage Lots developers. On July 25, 1930, they leased the point to the families owning Ocean Avenue lots numbered 11 through 25, as well as lot number 1 on 3rd Street: i.e. 12, 14 and 16 Ocean Avenue. The terms of the leases were not specified, but it is generally agreed they were to last 99 years.

The lease depended on several conditions.  The lessees were to:

1. Maintain the area in “a better condition than currently maintained” for the benefit of the lessees

2. prevent any strip or waste by trespassers

3. quit and deliver, in good order & condition, peaceably and quietly after receiving a six-month termination notice from the lessors

4. pay the taxes duly assessed

5. not sublet without consent of the lessors

6. pay rent of one cent

Each lease was subject to easements already granted to the public and to owners of land shown on the South Point Cottage Lots Plan.

These Ocean Avenue cottagers now had the right to take the city to court over the parking lot issue. The court ruled in their favor, and the city withdrew its parking plans.

In subsequent years, this point and other non-housing lots on South Point were deeded to the Biddeford Pool Improvement Association (BPIA). In 1988, in an attempt to improve the view, the BPIA proposed removing trees and brush from the little point. Some of the lessees objected to this plan and wrote a letter to the BPIA outlining their objections. They argued that the area was a bird habitat that should not be disturbed. They also pointed out that this area protected their houses during severe winter storms. On the map that accompanied the letter, the area in question was colored blue. In this case, the BPIA prevailed.

Today, Blue Point features a broad path leading from Ocean Avenue to the rocky shore, a few scraggly trees and lots of rosa rugosa. The Biddeford Pool Land Trust maintains it. Now it is the location of a new fight, this time against bittersweet and other invasive plants. This battle will likely continue for many years to come.

References:

Deed Book 823 Page 395, the lease.

Lessors were William Hill descendants: E. Dwight Hill of Plymouth Massachusetts, Virginia (Hill) Willis of Lynn, Massachusetts, Inez M. (Hill) Staples of Biddeford, Maine and Elizabeth (Foss) A. Clary of Los Angeles, California.

The Gilbert Berry descendants: Edward T. Hyde, Grace E. Hyde and Alice H. Sawyer of Saco, Maine.

The Lessees were Edna Heard Baker of Saco, Maine, Ethel Heard Hill of Old Orchard Beach, Maine,  Arthur Wood of Granby Massachusetts and Janet J. Edwards of West Boylston, Massachusetts.

The Pease Cottage on Ocean Avenue

Stories from South Point, Part Two  

By Mary Morgan

   

28 Ocean Ave. in 2019 (MM photo)

When Beth Baskin purchased 28 Ocean Avenue several years ago, the seller threw in a bonus: a small brown book about the history of the house. That book reveals hints of what Biddeford Pool’s South Point area would have looked like if it had been built the way the original developers imagined it.

The division of South Point into lots got its start in 1874 when Saco surveyor Dominicus Jordan purchased 45 acres of farmland there. He took on several business partners, hired a surveyor and designed a plan to attract people who wanted to own small, rustic summer cottages on the coast. When the South Point Cottage Lots Plan was published in 1882, it included 340 lots in the area between today’s 1st Street, Ocean Avenue, Great Pond, the big beach and 7th Street.  

Jordan died the same year the plan was launched. Thomas H. Cole, one of his business partners, predeceased him. William Hill, the other original partner, held a half interest in the property until his death in 1897. Meanwhile, sisters Clara (Berry) Hyde and Sarah Emma (Berry) Littlefield acquired a half interest in the property from their aunt, who was Cole’s widow. Hill and the sisters -- and eventually their descendants -- oversaw the sales of the South Point lots.

In 1897, 28 Ocean Avenue was sold to Laura Foss as empty lot number 45, Ocean Avenue. The sellers were William Hill, Sarah E. (Berry) Littlefield and Clara (Berry) Hyde. When Laura Foss sold the lot to Mary Wilder Pease and her husband Edward E. Pease in 1910, the deed mentioned buildings.  

According to the 1910 U.S. Census, Edward Pease was a 41-year-old accountant. He and Mary and their two-year-old daughter were from Worcester, Massachusetts.  

The book about the house, titled “Pease Cottage Ocean Avenue, Biddeford Pool, Maine, Pictures & Diagrams by Edw. E. Pease,” includes a 1910 floor plan of the cottage, showing the locations of the fireplace, stairs, doors and windows, closets and the piazza, or front porch. There are photos of the house and neighboring cottages dated September 1910, August 1911 and September 1912. One of the 1912 pictures shows striped awnings pulled down around the piazza. Several photos show the cottage as seen from the beach. There is also a list of the furnishings in each room.

The floor plan shows the front of the house facing east, toward the ocean. The ground floor consists of two parts: a front room with a window, and a back area that includes two rooms. On the left is the dining room, with a staircase to the second floor. The other room is the kitchen, which has a back door, a fireplace, range, pump, sink draining to a cesspool, corn popper, and wash boiler. The house is hooked up to city water.

The plan of the second floor shows a front room with a window facing the ocean and two rooms in the back area. The bedroom contains a commode and outfit, bed and linen, rugs and two rockers, one of which is for a child.

There is a 20’ x 16’ barn in the back yard, with the toilet in a closet in the barn.  

Several small houses like this one can still be found on South Point, and some of them no doubt date back to the early 1900s, but many people purchased more than one lot and built bigger houses. Edward Pease’s diagrams and photos record a time when Biddeford Pool was a simpler place.

  

References

“South Point Cottage Lots” Plan 1882

1910 Picture of the original house on Lot 45 Ocean Avenue

Pease Cottage Book with drawings by Edward. E. Pease in 1910

Deed Book 521 Page 254 27 Apr 1897 Laura Foss purchased Lot 45 from Wm Hill, Sarah E. (& Gilman) Littlefield and Clara Berry Hyde. Buildings were not mentioned.

Deed Book 592 P515 22 Sept 1910 Mary Wilder from Worcester, MA purchased lot 45, buildings (house & barn) and furnishings from Laura Foss

The Origins of the South Point Cottage Lots

Stories from South Point, Part One

By Mary Morgan

In the late 1800s, Saco surveyor Dominicus Jordan made a plan to develop 45 acres of farmland at Biddeford Pool into cottage lots. The property was poor quality farmland, but it had a beautiful location near the beach and rocky ocean shore. Jordan envisioned 340 lots of various sizes, a dozen roads and some common areas along the coast.

On paper, it looked like a great idea, but things did not turn out exactly as planned. By the time it was unveiled to the public, two of the original developers were dead. Still, the idea lived on and its influence can still be seen at South Point today.

The South Point Cottage Lots Plan, 1882 (click on image to enlarge)

Jordan purchased the property in 1874 from Biddeford Pool farmer Isaac Bickford (1795-1884). It was bounded by what we now know as 1st Street, Ocean Avenue and 7th Street, and included the area between the Great Pond and the beach.

At that time, most Biddeford Pool residents were fishermen living in the village. The rest of the peninsula was mainly pasture land. The community had been attracting summer residents since the 1830s, but with the opening of the Boston and Maine Railroad, an increasing number of visitors were expected. The summer residents stayed in hotels and boarding houses near the village, but Jordan probably realized that some families would like to own small, rustic cottages near the ocean.

Jordan quickly found two business partners. William Hill acquired a quarter share in 1874, and Thomas H. Cole purchased one-half interest in January 1875.

Jordan hired W. S. Dennett to survey the property. When the South Point Cottage Lots Plan was finally published in January 1882, it showed a layout that is similar, but not identical to, the area today, with roads laid out in a fan.  

The two main differences between the original plan and today’s South Point are that the original lots were very small, and that several blocks of houses were to be built in the area between Great Pond and the beach.

2018-2019 Biddeford tax map of South Point area
biddefordmaine.org/DocumentCenter/view/3882/Tax_Map_60_PDF

The Developers

Dominicus Jordan (1807-1882) was a farmer and surveyor who purchased, mortgaged and sold land in and around Biddeford for many years. Jordan was descended from one of the early families in the region. His grandfather Samuel Jordan was granted land in 1719, when Biddeford separated from Saco and the common land was distributed.  

Thomas H. Cole (1818-1879) was also descended from one of the region’s early families. His ancestor Thomas Cole came from England around 1636 and, according to local historian George Folsom, farmed “near the sea along the northern margins of the Pool where Mr. Vines wintered in 1616-7.”

Thomas H. Cole left farming and started a grocery business in Biddeford with Lyman Ayers. He became a successful businessman who owned shares in several local companies, as well as land in Biddeford, Saco and Old Orchard Beach. He also served as president of the First National Bank, and as town treasurer.

Cole married Elizabeth Hooper, the daughter of a prominent Saco family. Her father, William P. Hooper, his father and grandfather had been the Biddeford/Saco postmasters. Thomas and Elizabeth had one daughter who died in 1872.

The third party in this venture was Elizabeth’s brother-in-law, William Hill. A sea captain, he lived near the Pool and was also descended from early local settlers. His ancestor Ebenezer Hill was granted land in 1719.  

Hill purchased a one-quarter share in the South Point land from Jordan in 1874. In 1883, he redeemed a mortgage that Jordan had made to Josiah Maxwell three years earlier, thereby  increasing his ownership share to one half. By the time sales really got underway, Hill was in the coal business, and he seems to have been active in promoting the South Point properties.

The Successors

Cole was the first of the partners to die, in 1879. He did not leave a will, but the widowed Elizabeth became his estate administrator and heir to his land in South Point. It took five years to settle the estate. During that time, she sold her share in the lots to Clara (Berry) Hyde and Sarah (Berry) Littlefield, the daughters of Saco grocer Gilbert Berry and his wife, Sarah Elizabeth Cole (Thomas’s sister).

When Jordan died in 1882, he left his estate to his wife, Jane. After her death, the estate was left to a missionary society in New York City, however, Jordan’s estate was insolvent by then. Jordan had named Cole his executor and instructed him to do whatever he wanted with the South Point land, but since Cole was dead, new executors managed the estate distribution and sales.

William Hill seems to have purchased what was left of Jordan’s share of the property, so he and the Berry sisters had equal shares. When Hill died in 1897, his share of the land passed to his surviving children. Over the years, both the Berry sisters and the Hill family were very interested in sales of the South Point land.

The plan was published in 1882, but Horace Hill may have been the first purchaser of a South Point cottage lot when, in 1877, he bought a lot on Ocean Avenue for $100 from William Hill and Thomas H. Cole.

A 1909 map of the Pool shows many buildings along 1st Street and Ocean Avenue, but no buildings in the interior of South Point. As it turned out, most of the people who eventually did purchase in the area bought multiple lots. Today the area is not as densely populated as its developers had planned. Also, the summer residents made a determined effort to maintain the exclusivity of the Pool. I will expand on this last point in future articles.

References:

“South Point Cottage Lots” Plan Book 3, Page 2 York County Register of Deeds,     Alfred, ME

History of Saco and Biddeford by George Folsom. A facsimile of the 1830 edition with a new forward by Robert E. Moody. Published by the New Hampshire Publishing Company, Somersworth. Maine Historical Society, Portland, Maine, 1975

Estate of Thomas H. Cole died 15 May 1879 Probate Number 3455

Will and Estate of Dominicus Jordan died 14 Jan 1882 Probate Number 10530

Will and Estate of Elizabeth (Hooper) Cole died 2 Feb 1894 Probate Number 3393

Deed Book 344 Page 245 19 Aug 1874, Grantor: Isaac Bickford

                        Grantee: Dominicus Jordan

Deed Book 372 Page 406 21 Jan 1875, Grantor: Dominicus Jordan

                        Grantee: Thomas H. Cole

Deed Book 396 Page 96 21 Nov 1882, Grantor: Elizabeth H. Cole

                        Grantee: Clara (Berry) Hyde and Sarah Emma (Berry) Littlefield

1909 Map of Biddeford Pool owned by Anne Kenney: Picture: BP 1909 1.

The South Point Cottage Lots Plan: an Introduction

By Mary Morgan

old postcard, courtesy bpoolphotos.com, Wakelin collection 

For years, I rode my bike around South Point, enjoying the view and wondering about the neighborhood. Why are the roads laid out the way they are? What is the story behind all those convenient footpaths, and who built the three big houses that are aptly nicknamed the triplets?

I discovered the first clue when I found a plan, dated 1882, to develop dozens of tiny, cookie-cutter cottage lots on South Point. Had the development plan been carried out, South Point would be a very different place today. Who was behind that plan, and what happened as the lots were sold over the years? Many of these questions remain unanswered and continue to push me further in my research.

Starting today and over the next few weeks, a series of five articles about South Point will be posted to Stories from the Pool. They are:

The Origins of the South Point Cottage Lots

The Pease Cottage on Ocean Avenue  

Blue Point   

Saving the Promenade

The Triplets

I had lots of help with this project. My sincere thanks to:

Beth Baskin for house pics & the Pease Cottage Book

Kimberly Billett for pics, family papers & for family history in South Point

Christy Bergland for patience & prodding

Fred Celce for family history and laughs

FamilySearch.org for genealogical information

Dick & Margaret Frost for “Blue Point” correspondence & 5th Street history

Janice Hamilton for editorial expertise, Bickford & Holman history

Anne Kenny for allowing us to photograph the 1909 Biddeford Pool map

Carol & David Noon for 7th Ave & Promenade history

Isabel Oleson for house pics & house history 

Anne Small for family history on 4th Street in South Point, BPIA & city access correspondence

Shirley (Calderwood) Stallings for family history on 7th Street & “The Triplets” 

The patient staff at the York County Registry of Deeds office in Alfred, and at the McArthur Library in Biddeford

Milk

by Jesse Deupree

I am continually surprised at the choices my memory makes; what it retains and what it lets go, hopefully only when making room for something new. One of my earliest memories is of a car that my parents sold when I was four. I can visualize the holes in the floor behind the rear seats of this 1949 Ford wagon. I can still press my eye to one of these holes and watch the road rushing by and smell the blend of carpet and exhaust that filled my nostrils then. My mother, who drove the car for five years, had no idea what I was talking about when I mentioned these precise details to her.

When I got to Maine each summer, my first goal was to transform my bed into a boat. I did this by swiping clothespins. (I preferred the spring operated type over the simple two-pronged ones then, and still do today.) I would use them to fasten my bedspread to the iron bedstead after pulling it tight over the head and foot rails, thus enclosing the space where I slept and allowing me to transform my bed into a cabin cruiser and my headboard into a dashboard that I could sit behind and drive towards my future.

Mornings were cold, and my summer shorts and shirt were not adequate until about 9 a.m., yet I rose first in my house and ate breakfast alone with my plans for the day. We had switched from an icebox to a refrigerator before my time, although the icebox still stood in the pantry, complete with a door so ice could be loaded from outside. In the refrigerator were glass bottles of milk, which came from a local farm.

The bottles were crowned with two caps. The outer one was a folded bowl of waxed paper that could be used to float small items in the sink, bath or ocean. The inner cap, the one you replaced after pouring, was a stiff paperboard disk with a flap that lifted up and became a pull tab. This disk could be folded in half to form a small motorcycle with a half wheel on each side and the flap for a windshield. Of course, when I was done pushing this vehicle around the table, it was less than practical for capping the bottle, and I liked capping the bottle for a reason I will get to, so I learned to play with the cap only when the bottle was empty.

The milk we drank in Maine was neither pasteurized nor homogenized, in contrast to the more modern milk that came in paper cartons in Ohio; and this was one of the joys of summer. Nothing but cream would do for my cereal, and despite regular pleas from my mother, most mornings I opened a new bottle and carefully poured off some of the cream that rose and filled the narrow neck, leaving the rest of the family to drink milk that might be close to skim. Even the smallest member of a family can assert his presence; and the only way to stop me was to join me for breakfast, which might have been my unconscious intention. I do know I loved the cream.

This milk was delivered by Mr. Emmons, who owned the farm. He came around in an old dark green pickup with his bottles in the truck bed covered by a burlap blanket that he wetted down so that evaporation helped keep the milk cool. Of course he came early, and frequently I was the only one to greet him. Mr. Emmons was missing parts of several fingers. I knew I was not supposed to stare, yet I always did, as he carried in the bottles in a wire basket and delivered them to the refrigerator. Subtle I wasn’t, but timid I was. I never asked how he lost his fingers and he never told me how it happened.

Once or twice a summer, something special happened to the milk. Breakfast in our house was eaten in shifts, with one child after another and my mother taking a place at the kitchen table. Early arrivals like myself might linger, sitting on a stool, removed, but still part of the scene. The milk bottle remained on the table as each person filled their bowl or glass. I had been taught to shake the bottle before pouring, and had learned to shake it afterwards, thus hiding the evidence of my cream theft.

If conditions were just right, the warming milk would build up pressure and, without warning, the paperboard disk would pop off with a wonderful, gentle bubble-bursting sound and fly, possibly as much as a foot, landing on the table, or even someone’s dish. The pop would startle us all, interrupting whatever sibling rivalries and unspoken tension hung in the shadows of our paradise, uniting us for a moment in laughter. That humor could work this magic was not lost on me, and I still try to reproduce the effect.