Winter Harbor History

10/04/2026

Grindstone Neck Shingle Style.

The Nathan Trotter cottage at Grindstone Neck, Winter Harbor, Maine, was designed in the Shingle Style by Philadelphia architect Lindley Johnson and built in 1891-92.

Four miles across Frenchman's Bay from Bar Harbor, the summer cottage community at Grindstone Neck was laid out in 1890 and within two years featured a hotel, casino, yacht club, golf course, steamboat wharf, and around forty privately owned cottages. Like the majority of the cottage owners, Nathan Trotter was a Philadelphian and one of the investors in the development of Grindstone Neck as a summer colony.

The wing at left with the wonderful, bracketed balcony was added to the cottage before Trotter's death in 1915. The second owner of the cottage, Mrs. Eleanor Widener Dixon, named the house "Park Cottage." The cottage colony at Grindstone Neck remains exceptionally well preserved.

Thanks to my friend and fellow architectural historian Brad Emerson, aka The Downeast Dilettante on Instagram, for his research and knowledge of Grindstone Neck.

Understanding the character-defining features of a style should be the first step in planning a restoration or rehabilitation project. "Restoring Your Historic House, The Comprehensive Guide for Homeowners" will give you the information you need to do this.

Signed and personalized copies of the award-winning and bestselling 720-page hardcover book are available from the author in our online shop at YourHistoricHouse.com/shop/.

© Scott T. Hanson 2024.

10/02/2026

The new owners of the Winter Harbor Marina have invited the Historical Society to create a marine and fisheries related display in the space nearest Sargent Street. The area has new windows and siding with more renovations planned before spring. We invite ideas for this space and hope it will welcome residents and visitors while our schoolhouse is closed.

09/26/2026

Thank you to the Winter Harbor Public Library for allowing the Historical Society to have a small display, while our museum is closed. View an original letter to a library patron from EB White and listen to the audio recordings of Dale Torrey.

09/01/2026

Join the Winter Harbor Historical Society program with Marian Ide's presentation of photos found in her family home. The program will be September 2 at 6pm at Hammond Hall in Winter Harbor.

08/27/2026

Come and share Marian Weaver Ide's presentation of vintage photos at Hammond Hall, Main Street, Winter Harbor on September 2 at 6pm.

08/27/2026

John Kelly of Acadia National Park will share his experience with the closure of the US Naval Base in Winter Harbor and its transition to the national park tonight, August 27 at Hammond Hall, Main Street, Winter Harbor at 6pm.

08/23/2026

A rare look at the first silver mine in Sullivan, c.1879. This was the Sullivan Silver Mine, and A.A. Messer was the discoverer and foreman.
Messer discovered the first silver vein in Sullivan a little above the ferry landing in May 1877 when he recognized the quartz as being ideal for silver ore, and sure enough, with a pick quickly found it. The vein outcropped along the Taunton River bank just below the high water mark. The quartz ore was two feet across, and up to four feet in places containing native silver in threads, lumps and flakes, not as occasional specimens, but in almost every lump of ore taken out, with spirals of silver threads an inch across. A shaft was sunk 35 feet deep, and the mining boom quickly followed!
By 1879 Messer was foreman of the Sullivan Silver Mine and the shaft was 133 feet deep. From an Ellsworth American report of the time, "...the opening of the mine, as made by Messer and his partner, being between high and low water mark, a coffer dam had to be built to protect the mine from the river, through which is now the entrance. The buildings are the engine house, ore house, powder house, blacksmith shop and water tank house, to supply the boiler with fresh water. One of the difficulties most to be anticipated was the flooding of the mine, considering its location really in the sea, but Mr. Kempton says one hour a day of the steam pump keeps it thoroughly dry, and that there is less water than usual in inland mines."
In this stereotype picture passed down through Messer's great-grandson, the wooden coffer around the mine entrance extends out over the water.
The Sullivan Mine was the first, followed by the Waukeag Silver Mine nearly next to it, then the Gibson Mine near that, and many others all along the bay and Sullivan Harbor, Sorrento, Franklin, Gouldsboro, Stonington and more.
Have you ever found any chunks of quartz in the area?

05/24/2026

05/19/2026

Winter Harbor Historical Society

Program: June 11 at 6pm at Hammond Hall

“Women of Acadia”

The Winter Harbor Historical Society invites you to an evening program featuring the stories of some of the unheralded women from the Gilded Era who were instrumental in donating land and funds for the establishment of Acadia National Park. These influential women put their sizable wealth into promoting socially progressive projects and in this case, the novel idea of 'land conservation for the public good'. Among these women were Louise Leeds, Ruth Moore and Faith Moore who donated 2266 acres on Schoodic Peninsula and forever changed the name of the Park from Lafayette National Park to Acadia National Park. The program will be presented by Terese Miller, Board member of Tremont Historical Society, exhibit committee member for Bar Harbor Historical Society and volunteer for the national park trails program.

Donations are welcome in any amount to help preserve our 1877 historic schoolhouse and to meet the 15-20% required match for any funds awarded by Congressionally Directed Spending through the office of Senator Susan Collins. Any dollar raised locally may result in seven federal dollars that will be spent locally. Donations to the nonprofit Winter Harbor Historical Society can be mailed to PO Box, 93, Winter Harbor, Me. 04693.

05/15/2026

Winter Harbor Historical Society will be selling books from 8am to noon at the Winter Harbor Gym on Saturday, May 16

Come and enjoy Trade Day