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.