THE NEW SORRENTO - PART 2

 THE NEW SORRENTO - PART 2

Prior to 1886, the land on Waukeag Neck had been owned by descendants of the families first awarded grants by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1804. Many of these families had been on these same plots of land since before the American Revolution.  The 1803 Peter's Plan shows the boundaries of these original land grants (Hancock County Deeds – Book 1A / Page 25).

The 86 acres, identified as Lot No. 5 on the 1803 Peter's Plan, had been sold to Sophronia H. Doane by Mary Bean in 1859 for $900.00 (see Hancock County deeds book 109 / page 42). For the next 25 years, the Doanes pursued, as related in her husband Elijah’s obituary, “…the peaceful pursuits of agriculture and a part of the time in porgy fishing until the general recognition of the attractions of Sorrento gave his farm a boom.” 

In the early part of 1886, Charles H. Lewis negotiated the first of his purchases on the peninsula he would rename Sorrento. Two deeds (see Hancock Co. deeds book 205 / page 386 & book 215 / page 483) transferred ownership of the Doane farmland and buildings on the eastern side of Waukeag Neck in the town of Sullivan from Captain Elijah S. Doane and his wife Sophronia H. Doane to Charles Lewis.  The February 1886 purchase, which also included Sowards Island (now Treasure Island), cost Lewis $4,000.  

The deeds reveal that Lewis agreed to allow the Doanes to remain in their house and continue to work the farm for an additional period of time. The deeds indicate that the purchase included 86 acres of land, which matches with the entirety of John Bean’s acreage as seen on the 1803 Peters Survey of Waukeag Neck.  While the first deed relating to the Doane’s Point property was signed by the parties on February 15, 1886, a second agreement, filed on May 21, 1887, extended the time the Doanes could remain on the land and continue to occupy their farmhouse until October 1887.

Importantly, the sale to Lewis excluded both the “Cemetery Lot” located on “Burying Yard Hill”, (now the Doane’s Point cemetery) as well as the mineral rights on Treasure Island.  Several years earlier, the Doanes had leased the mineral rights on the Treasure Island to Stillman White, and the Golden Circle Mining Company had begun gold explorations there in 1880.  Stillman and his brothers were the original builders of the  Waukeag House Hotel at the head of Sullivan Harbor.

During this same period, in the Spring of 1886, a general strike to demand an eight-hour workday was called by various unions in Chicago to coincide with the May Day celebrations.  On May 3rd two workers at the Cyrus McCormick Reaper factory were attacked and killed by police as they tried to prevent strikebreakers from crossing the picket lines. Two days later, labor unions organized a protest at Haymarket Square to protest the deaths.  Despite the presence of the Mayor of Chicago at the rally to keep the peace, a bomb was detonated which killed seven police officers and scores of protesters, many of whom were injured by police when they opened fire.

Police rounded up hundreds of likely conspirators and eventually arrested eight men for trial.  After a trial that presented little credible evidence, four of the men were found guilty of murder and publically hanged on November 11, 1887.  As a result of this incident, May Day was thereafter recognized by socialist and unionist movements around the world as a worker's holiday.

A week after the Haymarket Square riots, the President of the United States, Grover Cleveland, recommended to Congress that the United States accept a gift from the French government of a Statue of Liberty to commemorate the long alliance between the two countries.  In October of that year, Cleveland would make a trip to NYC to preside over the statue's dedication.   

In June of 1886, Cleveland married 21-year-old Frances Folsom, 27 years his junior, in the Blue Room at the White House.  Cleveland was the first Democrat elected as president since before the Civil War.  Cleveland was part of what was then a conservative pro-business party and the only "Bourbon Democrat" to serve as president.

The only guests at the wedding were close family, friends, and members of his cabinet, including his private Secretary, Daniel Lamont, the Secretary of the Navy William C. Whitney, and their wives.  Also present was Wisconsin politician and Postmaster-General William Vilas.  Not invited was Vilas' protege, Adlai Stevenson, the Assistant Postmaster-General and the future Vice President in Cleveland's second term.  Stevenson was in charge of over 55,000 post offices across the country that played a central role in organizing political campaigns and distributing information.  More importantly, Stevenson, a former congressman, controlled a vast patronage system and had replaced scores of Republican loyalists with Democrats earning him the nickname "Adlai the Axeman."

Meanwhile, back in Maine, Charles H. Lewis was busy making an additional land acquisition on Waukeag Neck.  On May 8, 1886, Lewis paid $50,000 to buy the 60 acre Bean Point property from William Hill Jr. of Boston (see book 205 / page 378) on behalf of the Frenchman’s Bay and Mount Desert Land & Water Co.

John Bean was one of the original settlers in Sullivan and acquired this land on the point in the 1803 land grant, (see Book 162 / page 357).  Melatiah and Joseph Bean obtained title to the property from his father John in 1834 upon his death.  His daughter-in-law, Melatiah, died in 1869 and is buried in the Doane's Point cemetery.

In the fall of 1883, the daughter and granddaughter of Melatiah Bean -- Nancy Bean and her daughter Louisa Urann -- had decided to sell their family homestead to John R. Mason of Bangor (See book 192 / page 43).  In turn, Mason sold the land to William H. Hill Jr. of Boston, the proprietor of the Boston and Bangor Steamship Company, and several other partners for $3,168.00 in October of 1883 (see book 190 / page 248).

A few years later, in May 1886, Lewis bought the 60 acres on Bean Point from Hill and his partners for $50,000.  Lewis then hired a Boston landscape designer, Hermann Grundel, to outline a plan for the first section of land he wanted to develop into a Summer community.  By the end of July 1886, Lewis had sold seven lots near the harbor in his new resort of Sorrento.