The Sebago Lakes Region and the Underground Railroad Connection

A map of the Underground Railroad system in Wilbur Seibert’s book The Underground Railroad from Slavery to Freedom published in 1898 shows fugitive slave escape routes to Canada on both sides of Sebago Lake.  Chapter 15 in Hidden History of the Sebago Lakes Region explains how the fugitives got there and why the region’s citizens were so active in the Underground Railroad movement.

I will be discussing the connection at the North Gorham Public Library from 7 to 8 this Thursday, July 30.

Longfellow was frequent visitor to Sebago Lakes Region

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a famous poet and a frequent visitor to the Sebago Lakes Region. He was born in Portland in 1807, and grew up in the Wadsworh-Longfellow house that is maintained today as a museum by the Maine Historical Society. Longfellow’s grandfather Peleg Wadsworth, who built the house, was an important Revolutionary War figure who participated in the disastrous 1779 Penobscot battle with Paul Revere. Revere was arrested for insubordination for his behavior in that battle. Surely, Longfellow would have heard about Paul Revere from his grandfather. However, the poet chose to commemorate Revere’s famous 1775 ride to warn the Americans of the British invasion in his poem “Paul Revere’s Ride.” Although the poem is filled with historical inaccuracies, most critics view it as a call to action for the nation that was on the verge of a civil war. The poem was published in January of 1861. This summer the Maine Historical Society is offering tours of the Wadsworth-Longfellow House that feature some of the Revolutionary War artifacts connected with Peleg Wadsworth, who served under George Washington.

Postcard image of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow(inset) and the Wadsworth-Longfellow House in Portland, Maine (Wikipedia Commons).

Even More Hidden History Uncovered!

In Hidden History of the Sebago Lakes Region , Chapter 24, I relate the story of the widow who places a curse on Enoch Perley, known in the Lakes Region in the late 18^th century as “The Old Squire.” Recently, I finished reading Caroline Grimm’s Cabin in Glory, a novel based on the early days of Bridgton, Maine (Voices of Pondicherry, vol. 3, 2015). The novel tells the story of Enoch Perley, who built a cabin in what is now Bridgton, and then brought his wife and her black female slave Cloe to live with him in the Maine wilderness. In the novel, the cabin that Perley built becomes the metaphor for fortitude and survival.  It is no coincidence that the sturdy cabin built in 1776 still exists and is located near Highland Lake.  Grimm’s novel includes a photograph of the 18-foot square cabin, courtesy of the Bridgton Historical Society.  What I didn’t know:  another house built by Enoch Perley also still stands today. According to Grimm, “You can see it when you visit Enoch’s farm, now the apple orchard owned by the Gyger family.”

Literary inspiration from the Sebago Lakes Region

Frye's Leap, Sebago Lake

(Vintage postcard in author's collection.)

Chapter 2 of Hidden History of the Sebago Lakes Region relates the tale of Frye's Leap (also known as the Images) on Sebago Lake. Although the Frye's Leap legend may be familiar to local residents, campers and summer visitors, most folks don't know that Frye may have been the inspiration for James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans, a popular novel published in 1824 about the infamous attack on Fort William Henry (1757).

Ghosts of St. Joseph's College

I uncovered much more history than could be included in Hidden History of the Sebago Lakes Region. Here is a story that does not appear in the book:

St. Joseph’s College of Maine on Whites Bridge Road in Standish is the only college in the country to have “the monks” as its athletic nickname. One wouldn’t think that the monk would be an appropriate mascot for a competitive college athlete. However, the monk logo is pretty creepy, its blue bearded grim face peering menacingly out from under a brown hood. There are other creepy things on this lovely campus as well.

The college was founded in 1912 by the Sisters of Mercy, Roman Catholic nuns with a history of work in education. According to the college’s website, Saint Joseph's College of Maine is a liberal arts college for men and women of all faiths, located on 430 acres on the shore of Sebago on what was once a large estate owned by the Verrill family of Portland. When the young son of the landowner died, he was buried in the nearby chapel before the college itself was erected. His body eventually had to be moved, but the boy apparently stayed in the chapel where visitors reportedly can sometimes hear him laughing and playing.

Others have sighted another child, a small girl, near the pond. She reportedly drowned while playing near her little playhouse that her father had built for her near the pond.

The spirit of a nun has been sighted in Xavier Hall, which was once the Verrill family home. This grand building was built in 1925, in part from native fieldstone, and the back windows overlook Sebago Lake with a direct view of Mt. Washington, sixty miles away in New Hampshire.  Beautiful  Xavier Hall was once a residence hall for senior women and is now used as an administrative office building. When I visited in August, the gardens on the well tended grounds were in full bloom.

The Death of Chief Polan

Chief Polin (also Polan) of the Sokosis (also Sokokis) tribe was killed in the Sebago Lakes Region. Read about the curious discovery of what may have been his remains in Chapter 4 of Hidden History of the Sebago Lakes Region by Marilyn Weymouth Seguin.

Release Day!

New Release from The History Press!

One week till publication!

Marilyn Weymouth Seguin was born and educated in Maine and has spent parts of the last twenty-seven summers vacationing at camps in the Sebago Lakes Region. She recently retired from full-time teaching in the Writing Program in the English Department at Kent State University, so now she and her husband can spend even more time at their camp on Little Sebago Lake. Marilyn is the author of seventeen books and a member of the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.

Publication Date April 20, 2015!

For Immediate Release

Media inquiries contact: Lindsay Lee
843.853.2070 x 209
LLee@arcadiapublishing.com
Dig a Little Deeper into the Sebago Lakes Region’s Past.
Quirky characters and surprising events have shaped a robust community history throughout the Sebago Lakes region. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s lost boyhood diary offers a glimpse into his early writing days on the shore of Sebago Lake. Henry Clay Barnabee, once called the funniest man of his time, brought his crew here for relaxing lakeside summers to rest up their vocal cords around the turn of the century. Discover the story behind a stolen Chinese statue that might just be responsible for a string of curses in Naples and misfortune on the shores of Long Lake. Marilyn Weymouth Seguin explores the unusual, the mysterious and the sometimes weird layers of regional history that have remained hidden—until now. The History Press, based in Charleston, SC, brings a new way of thinking to history publishing—preserving and enriching community by empowering history enthusiasts to write local stories for local audiences. Since 2004, we have published nearly three thousand of the highest quality local and regional history titles from coast to coast. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hidden History of the Sebago Lakes Region by Marilyn Weymouth Seguin
Hidden History Series
Price: $19.99
128 pages/ softcover
ISBN: 978.1.62619.857.9
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PUB DATE 4.20.15
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