Methodist Episcopal Church, Rockport, Mass., circa 1907

Posted on August 26, 2012 by Robert Ambrogi

This church, constructed in , stood at the corner of Jewett St. and Broadway in Rockport, at the location of the present Rockport United Methodist Church. The church pictured here was built in 1876, to replace the original church, which was built in 1869 but burned down on a Sunday morning in May 1875.

The present-day church.

This church was destroyed by fire in December 1982. The present-day church was built in 1985. The steeple bell from the church pictured here, which was cast in 1876 from a foundry in Troy, N.Y., is now on display outside the current church.

This postcard is not dated. It was published by N.E. Paper & Stationery Co. Mfrs., Ayer, Mass. As best as I can determine, this publisher produced postcards only from about 1907 to 1910.

The postcard does not identify the man in the upper left. I assume he was the pastor at the time.

Note that the black lines framing the picture are off-kilter. This is not a scanning error — this is how the lines appear on the postcard.

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More of Anthony Thieme, at His South Street Home, 1950

Posted on August 23, 2012 by Robert Ambrogi

Earlier this week, I posted photos of noted Rockport artist Anthony Thieme painting Motif No. 1 in 1950. Here is more from that same series of photographs, only this set shows Thieme and his wife Lillian at their home, which was located at 6 South Street in Rockport.

On the grounds he owned behind this home, Thieme founded a summer art school in 1929, which he continued to operate until 1943. He also built a large gallery and studio, which a 1941 newspaper article described as “the most ambitious thing of its kind ever undertaken by one artist in New England.” Tragically, on Dec. 23, 1946, fire swept through the studio, burning it to the ground and destroying many of his unsold paintings.

After Thieme’s suicide in 1954, his wife moved to Florida and the home was sold to another artist, Lucian A. Geraci, who used it as his studio for many years. The house, which records indicate was built in 1750, is still there. A realty site indicates that it is currently for sale.

Series on painted, possibly Rockport

Series on painted, possibly Rockport

Series on painted, possibly Rockport

Series on painted, possibly Rockport

Series on painted, possibly Rockport

Series on painted, possibly Rockport

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Found on the Web: Anthony Thieme Painting Motif No. 1, 1950

Posted on August 20, 2012 by Robert Ambrogi

Series on painted, possibly Rockport

Series on painted, possibly Rockport

A newspaper photographer captured these images of one of Rockport’s most famous painters, Anthony Thieme, in 1950, just four years before he tragically took his own life. Our famous red fishing shack, Motif No. 1, was a favorite subject of his; one article I read about Thieme said that he painted some 400 canvases just of Motif No. 1.

A native of Holland, Thieme moved to Rockport in 1929 at the urging of another famous Rockport artist, the sculptor Richard Recchia. From 1929 to 1943, Thieme operated the Thieme Summer School of Art, with students living in dormitories behind his house at 6 South Street.

Thieme’s works can be found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Art Institute in Chicago, and museums in London and Brussels.

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Photograph of Main Street, Rockport, circa 1930

Posted on August 18, 2012 by Robert Ambrogi

This is a photograph — not a postcard — of Main Street in Rockport. It comes from the collection of old postcards and photos belonging to Merry Seppala of Rockport. I estimate the date to be around 1930, based on the models of cars.

The scene looks east on Main Street. The building to the left was replaced by the Shalin Liu Performance Center. The lawn to the right is the front of the Congregational Church. The building on the right, behind the girl on the sidewalk, housed the Granite Shore Inn and, directly on the corner, the Post Office. Down the street, a police officer stops traffic as a dapperly dressed couple crosses the street.

Merry does not know who took this picture. She has several pictures taken by Charles Cleaves, to whom she was related, but does not know if this was his.

Note that the trolley tracks have disappeared from Main Street in this photo. You can seem them in earlier pictures, such as this one from 1920. The trolley stopped running in 1920, as I’ve previously noted.

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View of Straitsmouth Island, Rockport, Mass., circa 1914

Posted on August 16, 2012 by Robert Ambrogi

In this unusual view, Straitsmouth Island and its lighthouse stand off in the distance, with a ship about to pass them by. If anyone has any idea of from where this was taken, I’d love to hear it. The perspective appears to be from somewhere in the vicinity of Straitsmouth Way or along the eastern part of Marmion Way. Note that you cannot see the Gap Cove lifesaving station.

The postcard bears a Rockport postmark dated July 29, 1914. The reverse side has no other identifying information and does not identify the publisher.

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Inner Harbor, Rockport, Real Photo Postcard, circa 1910

Posted on August 12, 2012 by Robert Ambrogi

This real photo postcard is interesting not only for its view of the harbor, but also for its view of Bearskin Neck. As you can see, the ocean end of the Neck was relatively clear of buildings, compared to how it looks today.

Note the tower farthest to the right on Bearskin Neck. It appears to be the transit tower that was erected in 1892 and still stands there. However, whereas the tower today is attached to a larger building, it was freestanding then and appears to be supported on stilts. (I have enlarged the tower detail in the image to the right.)

The tower’s location was previously the site of a stone fort, erected during the war of 1812 as a protection against British warships. The fort was captured by the British in a sneak attack and dismantled, after which the townspeople fought back by hurling stones at the British. Their counterattack ended in a negotiated resolution whereby the British agreed to leave Cape Ann waters.

Even though this is a real photo postcard, it bears the imprint on the reverse of a commercial publisher, Rockport Stationery Co., which went out of business in 1913. The reverse also bears the imprint of the real photo process manufacturer, Velox, which indicates it was produced sometime after 1907. Given those two clues, I estimate this picture to be from around 1910.

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Bearskin Neck, Real Photo Postcard, circa 1920

Posted on August 11, 2012 by Robert Ambrogi

This is a “real photo” postcard view of Bearskin Neck, looking towards town from near the end. This was not a commercially produced postcard, but one produced directly from a negative with a backing that allowed it to be mailed as a postcard. It is not dated. I estimate it to be from about 1920. Someone wrote on the right margin, “Bearskin Neck, Rockport, Mass.”

The perspective is almost identical to a Rockport Photo Bureau postcard I previously published (see right). When I first saw this, I wondered whether they might both have been taken by the same photographer at the same time. Upon closer examination, however, there are several differences. For example, in the photo above, there appears to be a car parked behind the white fence at the extreme right; there was no car there in the earlier postcard. Also, the shrub at the base of the light pole is shorter here than in the earlier postcard, and the upper window in the house on the right is open, whereas it was not in the earlier picture.

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Driftwood Farm, Home of the J. Raymond Smiths, Rockport, Mass., circa 1944

Posted on July 27, 2012 by Robert Ambrogi

This is the second postcard I’ve posted showing Driftwood Farm, which was located above Whale Cove in Rockport, on Driftwood Way, off South Street, between Whale Cove Lane and Driftwood Road. The earlier post showed it looking up from the ocean side. This view looks down at the house towards the ocean, roughly from the perspective of Whale Cove Lane. The house looks over the spot where Samuel de Champlain is believed to have stepped ashore on July 16, 1605.

As I noted before, this was the home of J. Raymond Smith and his wife Edna L. Smith. Mr. Smith was a prominent businessman who ran a lumber yard and hardware store until his death in 1947. Mrs. Smith operated Driftwood Farm as a guest house from 1937 until her husband’s death, after which she took over management of the lumber and hardware business.

Driftwood Farm was later owned by Lloyd B. Waring, a wealthy investment banker and former chairman of the Massachusetts Republican Party. I found a newspaper advertisement from 1959 advertising this property for sale at auction. I don’t know if Waring bought it then or later. A 1965 Boston Globe article says that Waring provided land on his Driftwood Farm estate for the Cape Ann Repertory Theater to stage a program of one-act plays, directed by Myron Yorra of Rockport.

Waring died in 1997. His widow still occupies the property, but the home pictured here no longer stands. I have not been able to determine whether it was torn down intentionally or lost in a fire or other tragedy.

This postcard was postmarked June 16, 1944. The back bears the imprint, “Driftwood Farm, Home of the J. Raymond Smiths, on the ocean front, Rockport, Mass.”

 

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People in Old First Parish Cemetary, 1898

Posted on July 15, 2012 by Robert Ambrogi

This photograph is dated Sept. 8, 1898, and comes from the collection of Merry Seppala. It is possible that it was taken by Charles Cleaves, because the woman second from right in the black dress is Emma Cleaves, Charles’ sister. The photo was of poor quality and I tried to clean it up a bit, but the quality remains poor.

The same scene as it looks today.

It is unclear what was happening in this picture, but we do know who was in it. From left to right, they are:

  • Ella Shepherd. I have not been able to find any information about her.
  • Ezra Smith. I have not found any information about him.
  • Emma Cleaves, age 19. Emma was the sister of Charles Cleaves, the founder of the Rockport Photo Bureau. Charles also had a brother, Ezra Eames Cleaves, who was a prominent medical doctor in Rockport.
  • Margaret Tarr, age 17. Margaret later married Ezra Cleaves on Dec. 31, 1912, and became the sister-in-law of Emma and Charles.

Charles Cleaves was born in 1877, so he would have been 21 at the time of this picture.

The grave stones they are standing around are those of Caleb Norwood, who died in 1814, and his second wife, Jerusha Story Norwood, who died in 1810. Caleb was the Norwood who supposedly found pirate’s gold at Gap Gove when he was a child. (See more about that story here.)

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An Old Street in Rockport, Mass. (Cleaves St.), circa 1920

Posted on July 14, 2012 by Robert Ambrogi

This postcard offers a view of Cleaves Street in Rockport around 1920. You can see the Universalist Church on the street and the steeple of the Congregational Church to right, beyond the fence.

Cleaves Street today.

Cleaves Street was originally laid out in 1855, according to the 1888 History of the Town of Rockport.

I am not sure which Cleaves the street was named for, but my guess is that it was Levi Cleaves, a prominent citizen of the time. Cleaves was a ship captain who later in his life also became a licensed preacher. He was also a president of Rockport’s Total Abstinence Society, formed in 1841, whose members took an oath “that they will never again drink any intoxicating liquors, except when prescribed by a medical attendant, or in the case of wine at communion.” Cleaves died in 1865, at the age of 58.

Later, another Levi Cleaves was the publisher of a newspaper in Rockport, the Rockport Gleaner. I do not know if this Levi was the son of the aforementioned Levi. The newspaper published from 1872 to 1887.

This postcard was published by the Rockport Photo Bureau. As regular readers of this blog certainly know by now, the founder of that company was also a Cleaves, Charles Cleaves.

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