Historic District

The Bayside Historic District is an area of about thirty acres that is bounded roughly by George Street, Clinton Avenue, Bay View Park, and Penobscot Bay on the north side. Within its compact boundary are 158 buildings, the vast majority of which are modestly scaled seasonal cottages constructed during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Architectural styles include Queen Anne, Gothic Revival, and Bungalow/Crafstman.

These cottages occupy small lots that are laid out in a rough grid pattern comprised of two principal north-south roads and several smaller east-west streets, as well as a series of narrow public walks. Six parks that vary in both size and shape are interspersed throughout the district, and there is one significant structure (the wharf). Bayside is located midway down one side of a hill on terrain that slopes from about 110 feet above sea level to sea level. This slope occurs within a distance of about 1,000 feet, thereby providing a distinctive setting for the cottages. Within this natural landscape is a dense concentration of buildings with shallow setbacks, generally narrow distances between cottages, and limited opportunity for plant materials on individual lots.

Nonetheless, the district, particularly in the southern half and on lots that were never developed, is wooded with mature deciduous trees. Likewise, the parks feature a range of treatments from largely open mown lots such as Ruggles Park and Bay View Park, to the rough turf and numerous trees of Philo Blaisdell Park.

Individual cottages are generally adorned with some form of low shrubbery and narrow surrounding lawn space. The orientation of the cottages varies in relation to their specific location within the district. For example, those located on the water side of Bay View Street face the bay, whereas the cottages surrounding Auditorium Park (all of which were built by the various Methodist Church societies) face inward toward the original camp meeting space. Elsewhere, the orientation is toward the street or the parks.

The camp meeting architecture of Bayside, like its more renowned cousin on Martha’s Vineyard, is comprised primarily of narrow one-and-a-half-story frame buildings with steeply pitched gable front roofs, porches (that are either limited to the front or more often wraparound two or more sides) with decorative sawn details such as brackets and balustrades, bargeboards in gable peaks, and sheathing of clapboards, board-and-batten siding, or wood shingles.

These embellishments lend an overall sense of vernacular Gothic Revival style character to the district, although this is by no means the only architectural fashion that is in evidence. Names of cottages that in the District are derived from two principal sources: 1) the 1931 edition of the Sanborn Fire Insurance map of Bayside; and 2) present-day designations of the buildings as indicated by wooden signs (noted in parentheses).

Historic photographs reveal that some of the names date to the nineteenth century. Many cottages were either not named historically or their designations were not recorded. Dates of construction are derived principally from the study historic photographs combined with the knowledge of the area’s general development. Since deeds were rarely recorded at first (permanent leases were given to tent lots), this source of information has proven to be of limited value.

HISTORY OF BAYSIDE

The Bayside Historic District is comprised of a large group of small wooden cottages and several parks that originally constituted the Northport Wesleyan Grove Camp Meeting grounds. Initially acquired during the second quarter of the nineteenth century for Methodist camp meetings in which participants occupied tents, the property was enlarged and more permanently developed after the Civil War with the construction of roads, parks, and cottages. By the early twentieth century it had acquired the name Bayside, a moniker that was more likely to evoke the image of a seaside resort community than a religious camp meeting. Today, Bayside survives as the largest and one of the most intact of the several camp meeting grounds that were developed in Maine during the late nineteenth century.

1849-1873
The origin of the religious camp meeting has been the subject of considerable debate among scholars of the topic. Although most sources date its beginning to about 1800 in frontier Kentucky with the sacramental services of Presbyterian minister James McGready, Kenneth Brown has recently offered persuasive evidence that this form of religious activity was in use well before the turn of the eighteenth century and that it can be traced to the work of Methodist preachers in North Carolina and Georgia. Regardless of its specific early history, camp meetings soon became the domain of the Methodists. As Methodism gained popularity (its adherents grew in number from 2,800 in 1800 to over 1,068,525 in 1844), so too did the practice of the camp meeting, which was regarded as a useful forum for making new converts while renewing the faith of others and offering an opportunity for further spiritual development. One historian of Maine Methodism credits the camp meeting as one of the three most important factors to the denomination’s growth in the state, citing about forty places where camp meetings are known to have taken place.

On September 14, 1848, several individuals purchased a twenty-eight acre parcel of land on Penobscot Bay from Rowland Carlton. Two years later, this group transferred the property to the trustees of the Northport Camp Ground Association; an organization comprised of twenty-three Methodist churches in Knox and Waldo counties, as well as the Circuits and Stations of the Methodist Episcopal Church. This parcel of land, which constitutes the core of the present historic district, was apparently chosen for both its picturesque setting and its central location. Its establishment quickly followed the formation of the East Maine Conference, an organizational division of the Methodist Church designed to better serve the eastern and northern areas of the state.

Little is known about the early years of the camp meeting in Northport, although subsequent accounts of this period indicate that gatherings typically lasted for a week with the congregants occupying tents pitched on the property. It is also difficult to ascertain what the physical character of the property was in the mid nineteenth century. This question is relevant in order to understand how the camp meeting at Northport fit the popular notion that such gatherings should be held in a grove of trees with a central preaching stand/meeting space surrounded by tents. In all probability, a similar hierarchy of space was imposed on the property at an early date, and the site of the auditorium and the existing Auditorium Park with its surrounding society cottages reflects this early pattern. The earliest known graphic illustration of the grounds appears on the 1859 wall map of Waldo County. It shows a grove of trees with an unidentified central structure all of which is labeled “Wesleyan Grove.” A boarding house is located just outside the grove, and it appears to be surrounded by an area named “Camp Ground.” At what time the balance of the original property was surveyed and the existing layout of roads and lots was imposed is uncertain.

What little documentary information that does exist about the camp meetings in this period is largely derived from contemporary reports that appeared in the Republican Journal, a weekly newspaper published in nearby Belfast. For example, in 1869 the paper commented that attendance did not seem to be as large as in past years, but that the “…Methodists themselves do not encourage the gathering of large numbers, as it is often found that ‘Satan comes also’ in a disagreeably large preponderance.” The following week it was reported that admission fees yielded about $300.00, which was nearly enough to pay the remaining debt on the purchase and preparation of the land. In its August 24, 1871, edition the Journal noted that the grounds of the camp ground had been enclosed with a fence; that the landing from the bay had been moved; and that “The underbrush of the groves is to be cleared away so that the hitherto hidden recesses where the wicked and perverse have assembled, will be under better supervision – thus pushing Satan’s skirmish line further away.” Two weeks later, the Journal reported that “…a new house is being erected in the grove and another is to be commenced soon…” . This is one of the earliest references to the construction of permanent buildings on the grounds.

1873-1915
After the Civil War the camp meeting was modified by a number of religious and social trends, some of which enabled the institution to survive into the twentieth century. The development of the Northport camp meeting follows the pattern which he refers to as “the camp meeting as a religious resort.” Brown makes the point that, “Railway and steamship lines vastly improved public transportation, and as the middle class began to travel for vacations, camp meeting resorts were soon established as a religious alternative to such places as Newport, Rhode Island; Coney Island, New York; and Atlantic City, New Jersey.” The rise of the camp meeting resort often led to the formation of incorporated camp meeting associations which acted as governing bodies that established rules and maintained control over property. This organizational evolution appears to have taken place at Northport.

On February 19, 1873, the Maine Legislature approved an act of incorporation for the Northport Wesleyan Grove Camp Meeting Association. The powers granted to the Association and several of its subsequent actions offers at least a partial explanation for seeking incorporation. In the first place, the Association was given the power “…to take and hold by gift or purchase, property, real and personal, to an amount not exceeding fifty thousand dollars, to sell and convey the same….” Presumably, the camp ground land that had been deeded in 1850 to the Northport Camp Ground Association was turned over to this new entity, and in 1873 it augmented this original lot with an additional thirteen acres (twelve more acres were purchased in 1876). These land acquisitions combined with the power to sell property suggests that interest in the area’s potential for more than a one or two week visit during camp meeting was on the increase. The second specific power granted to the Association that is noteworthy was the “…right to build and extend into the tide waters on their lands, such wharves as may be necessary to make the landing convenient.” The ability to develop a wharf that could accommodate the increasing number of passenger steamships that were serving the Maine coast in the late nineteenth century was an important ingredient to the further development and popularity of the camp ground, hi its November 5, 1874, edition, the Republican Journal reported that a new wharf had been completed at a cost of approximately $3,000, and that it was 200′ in length, 60′ in width and was comprised of both a solid granite section and cribwork piling.

The camp meeting reports that appear in the Republican Journal indicate that the decade after 1873 witnessed a transformation of the camp meeting grounds through the construction of permanent buildings. In its August 27, 1874, edition it was reported that “The appearance of the Grove has been made attractive by the number of pretty summer cottages recently erected by parties who spend a portion of the warm weather there, and a beautiful place it is.” Two years later, it was noted that “…the appearances are that quite a number [of cottages] will be erected during the season.” Later that summer the paper stated that there were 278 canvas tents and 70 permanent cottages within the enclosure; by 1878 the number of cottages stood at about 100. In addition to the permanent cottages erected by the several Methodist Church societies and private individuals, the Association built the
Wesleyan Grove House at one corner of Ruggles Park in 1876 at a cost of over $5,000. The Association also laid out streets, established wells, built privies, and by 1881 had adopted a complete sewerage system.

In retrospect, these many improvements and permanent additions to the grounds can probably be seen as the beginning of the end of Northport’s religious camp meeting, as the pattern of use and development was increasingly centered around things secular rather than spiritual.

The cottages erected at the camp ground during this period illustrate the popularity of a distinctive style of architecture. Typically one-and-a-half stories in height with steeply pitched front gable roofs trimmed with bargeboards and decorative porches, these cottages drew upon the Gothic Revival style of architecture for their inspiration, albeit in a decidedly vernacular form. Their density, similarity of form, scale, materials, and detail, as well as their shared setbacks create an appearance of remarkable homogeneity, although on close inspection each is distinctive in its own detailing. The cottages at Northport belong to a much larger group of buildings that one might describe as “camp architecture”. They are not unlike the seasonal dwellings erected at several other religious camp meeting grounds in Maine that date from the late nineteenth century, although they do appear to be somewhat larger and more stylish than those found elsewhere in the state. Beyond Maine, the enclave is architecturally related to those at both the Wesleyan Grove camp meeting grounds and the adjacent summer resort of Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. However, the cottages on Martha’s Vineyard are generally more highly embellished than their counterparts in Maine, and they exhibit a more consistent fenestration pattern (the most noteworthy feature of which is a large central entry on the facade) and roof shape. Unfortunately, with the exception of Frederick Augustus Simpson (who is known to have built a cottage on Maple Street), the names of the carpenters and builders who were responsible for the architecture at Northport are unknown.

For the duration of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century the camp meeting at Northport continued to be held on an annual basis, but the recreational aspect of the community seems to have played an increasingly important role. This pattern was noted by George J. Varney in his 1881 Gazetteer of the State of Maine when he wrote that: “…while the annual religious meeting in August still remains the leading feature, the place is becoming a popular watering place.” Further evidence of the expanding purpose and function of the camp meeting grounds was the publication in 1879 of the first edition of The Sea Breeze, a newspaper devoted to the Northport Camp-Ground (although it also reported on seasonal activities taking place in the immediate area outside of the grounds); the construction in 1890-91 by the Northport Hotel Company of a new, more stylish hotel designed by Colorado architect Frank Kidder; and the organization of the first Chautauqua in 1893. By the early twentieth century, the camp meeting grounds and environs had become known as “Bayside”, a term that would seem to evoke a much different image of summering on the coast of Maine to a broader range of people than does one that retains the camp meeting nomenclature.

1915-C.1937
On March 29, 1915, the Maine Legislature approved an Act to incorporate the Northport Village Corporation. This action established a quasi-independent governmental entity within the Town of Northport with jurisdiction over much of the summer colony including the camp meeting grounds. The corporation was empowered to raise and borrow money for the purposes of fire prevention, road construction and maintenance, sanitation, beautification of public spaces, police protection, and most other activities associated with a municipality. Among the persons associated with this effort were camp ground cottage owners Fred Walls and Philo C. Blaisdell, as well as Chicago attorney Ira Cobe who had recently completed a lavish Colonial Revival summer house named “Oak Hall” (NHRP 10/20/83) on a site to the southwest of the camp grounds. Cobe served as President of the Corporation from 1915 to 1927.

In his comments on the formation of the Village Corporation, the author of a 1947 history of Bayside stated that the “…civic interests of the summer colony clashed with the civic interests of the town of Northport. Taxes, road maintenance, etc., led to arguments over the equitable distribution of tax funds …”. Although this account indicates that antagonism existed between the municipal government and the summer residents, one is also led to speculate about the state of relations in this period between the trustees of the Northport Wesleyan Grove Camp Meeting Association and the cottage owners.

The minutes of the Association in the years immediately prior to 1915 suggest that the cottage owners had been seeking improvements to the infrastructure that were beyond the financial capacity of the organization. The 1911 annual meeting contains several references to these matters, and charges the committee investigating them “…to define the mutual relations of the Cottage owners and that of the Association…”. Three years later, an endorsement of the idea of establishing a village corporation came out of a committee report, and it was unanimously approved by the Association.

The decades of the 1920s and 1930s witnessed a continual decline and finally the termination of the religious aspect of Bayside. Annual camp meetings were held through 1930 (and again in 1932), along with Sunday services in July and August. However, at their 1935 annual meeting, the members of the Association voted to demolish the auditorium, and within two or three years the organization apparently was dissolved and its assets turned over to the Preacher’s Aid Society of the Maine Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Title to the Association’s remaining real estate (principally Auditorium Park) was subsequently transferred to the Village Corporation. After nearly ninety years of association with the camp meeting movement, Bayside had completed its transition to a secular summer colony.

Many factors account for the demise of Northport’s camp meeting, one of which was certainly the decline in revenues that made it impossible to maintain and improve the property. Kenneth Brown argues that one such factor was the loss of full control of the property resulting from the sale of lots. The Rev. W. H. Pilsbury, writing in his 1886 History of Methodism in East Maine, offered yet another reason to explain the changes that had come to the camp meeting: “The decline of its power, and the waning of its usefulness has been, not altogether because of adding the worldly element of relaxation and recreation, so much as because of the wearing away of the edge of its novelty…”.

c.1937-Present
Over 120 years have passed since the camp meeting association was dissolved and Bayside lost its remaining religious function. In the interim, relatively little change has come to the enclave. The open spaces have been maintained without encroachment from new development; virtually every cottage that existed in 1900 remains, albeit often with minor additions and/or deletions (as well as a few conversions to year round residences); and only a small number of new houses/cottages have been constructed on previously undeveloped sites or on those where an earlier cottage was destroyed. The Northport Village Corporation continues to function in its chartered capacity, and Bayside retains its attraction as a summer colony with a considerable number of the cottages still available for rent.

SELECT STRUCTURES OF HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE

North Avenue

1. Merrill, c. 1880
   One-and-a-half-story gable roofed frame cottage with clapboard siding, front porch with turned posts and brackets, bargeboards, shed dormer. Later one-story additions located on the east side and rear.
2. Maryan, c. 1890
   Unaltered one-and-a-half-story gable roofed frame Gothic Revival style cottage with board-andbatten siding, front porch with chamfered posts, intricate bargeboard, finial, and decorative window trim with crossetted corner blocks.
3. Summertime, c. 1890
   One-and-a-half-story gable roofed frame cottage with board-and-batten siding, later enclosed front porch and shed roofed rear addition.
4. Nokomis, c. 1890
   One-and-a-half-story gable roofed frame Gothic Revival style cottage with board-and-batten siding, wraparound front porch, and bargeboards. A one story gabled addition extends to the rear.
5. Cottage, c.1890
   One-and-a-half-story cross gable roofed frame cottage with wood shingle and board-and-batten siding, wraparound porch, and bargeboards. Alterations include the addition of a shallower gable roof over the original thus making the upper story nearly full height, and a shed roofed enclosure on the east side.
6. Mapleshade, c. 1890
   One-and-a-half-story gabled frame cottage with clapboard siding and wraparound porch. Alterations include a full height gabled bay and one story flat roofed shed on the west side, as well as a shed dormer on the east side.

7. Beale Park, c. 1880
   Trapezoidal greenspace containing benches, mature deciduous trees, and evergreen shrubs.
8. The Tower, c.1890-1900
   One-and-a-half-story gambrel roofed Queen Anne style cottage sheathed in wood shingles. Features
   include a front porch, corner tower and bargeboards. A two-story addition at the northeast corner has an engaged porch on the first story, shiplap siding, and a shed roof.
9. Douglas, c.1900
   One-and-a-half-story gabled frame cottage with wood shingle siding and bargeboards. Additions include an enclosed front porch that extends across the original block and a two-story gabled ell.

Clinton Avenue

11. Kerns, c. 1875-82
    One-and-a-half-story gable roofed frame cottage covered with aluminum siding. The cottage has a wraparound porch with scroll sawn brackets and replacement posts, bargeboards on the front and west sides, finials, and a shed roofed rear addition.
12. Beale, c.1873-75
    One-and-a-half-story gabled frame cottage sheathed in clapboards and featuring a wraparound porch with scroll sawn brackets and bargeboards.
13. Aleppo, C.1875-82
    One-and-a-half-story gabled frame cottage with board-and-batten siding, wraparound porch with turned posts and sawn brackets, and a one-story addition at the rear.

15. Sunny Side, c.1875-82
    One of the most distinguished cottages in this section of the district, Sunny Side is a one-and-a-halfstory frame building that it sheathed in flush board siding. It has a wraparound porch (across three sides) supported by posts and brackets, bargeboards, truss detailing in the gable peaks, finials, and small gabled dormers.
16. Rockaway, c. 1885
    One-and-a-half-story gable roofed frame cottage sheathed in board-and-batten siding. The L-shaped building features a wraparound porch with sawn brackets, bargeboard, and a truss-like ornament in the gable peak.
17. T.H. Davies Store, c. 1885
    One-and-a-half-story frame building sheathed in flush board siding. This modest building has a front porch with chamfered posts and sawn brackets. It is illustrated in Boy side, Maine in an old photograph, and is shown on the 1912 Greenlaw map of Bayside.
18. T. H. Davies Bakery, c.1885
    Two-story frame building with a broad gable roof, flush sheathing, and a front deck. It appears to be the remains of the T. H. Davies Bakery which is illustrated in Bayside, Maine in an old photograph, and is also shown on the 1912 Greenlaw map of Bayside.

Auditorium Park

23. North Searsport, 1881
    One of the Methodist Church society cottages, this two-story gable roofed building is sheathed in clapboards and has a full width porch on its east side. Judging from the 1931 Sanborn map, this porch appears to replace the original front porch.
24. Orrington Center, c.1875
    Like the nearby North Searsport Cottage, this two-story gable roofed frame building is one of the earliest Methodist Church society cottages. It is sheathed in clapboards and has a shed roofed porch sheltering the first story of its facade.
25. Eddington, c. 1875-82
    Another early Methodist Church society cottage, this two-story gable roofed frame building has a front porch whose shed roof is supported by chamfered posts. It is sheathed in clapboards, and has a shed addition at the rear.
26. Rockport, c. l938
    Although similar in scale and detailing to many cottages in the district, this one-and-a-half-story frame cottage is apparently a late 1930s replacement of an earlier building that stood on this lot (it is presumed to have been destroyed by fire). The existing gabled cottage is sheathed in wood shingles, has a wraparound porch, and a shed dormer on the east side.
27. Crow’s Nest, c.1875-82
    This Gothic Revival style one-and-a-half-story cottage is clad in flush board siding and has an elaborately detailed wraparound porch that contains a balustrade with scroll sawn balusters, a bargeboard, porch roof supports with cutouts and applied trim, and a deck projection (probably a post 1931 addition)toward the front that replicates the original detail. Its front gable peak and side eaves are decorated with bargeboards.
28. Unity, 1882
    Another Methodist Church society cottage, this two-story frame building has a gable roof and a front porch whose shed roof is supported by posts with scroll sawn brackets. It is sheathed in clapboards and wood shingles.

30. Union, 1881
    Erected in 1881, this two-story gabled frame building was built for the Union Methodist Church society. It is sheathed in clapboards and has a shed roofed front porch.
31. Carmel, c. 1873
    One of the more modestly scaled of the original Methodist Church society cottages, this one-and-ahalf story, gable roofed building features a shed roofed front porch with scroll sawn balusters and bargeboards on the front and side elevations. It is sheathed in clapboards.
32. South Thomaston, c. 1873
    Similar in scale to its immediate neighbor to the east, this one-and-a-half-story gabled frame cottage is sheathed in wood shingles and has a wraparound porch that is believed to have been built about 1920.
33. Brewer, c. 1873
    This virtually unaltered Methodist Church society cottage is a long rectangular two-story building that is sheathed in clapboards. It has a large two-leaf front door and bargeboard trim in its front gable.
34. Qrono, c. l873
    The Orono Methodist Church society is a two-story gable roofed frame building which is sided in clapboards and has a shed roofed front porch.

37. Auditorium Park (Albert E. Morris Memorial Park), c. 1850
    Auditorium Park is the oldest of the several green spaces that are located throughout the district. Its original purpose was to serve as the gathering place for the camp meeting services and events that were held on a speaker’s platform and later in an auditorium originally located on the lot between the park and the bay. The auditorium was demolished in 1936, but the park has been retained as open space. The park’s sloping grass surface is punctuated by mature deciduous trees.

Walk J

38. Swallowdale, c.1900
    Diminutive one-story frame cottage with a steeply pitched roof. It is covered in flush sheathing and
    has a modern shed roof addition on the east side.

Park Row

39. Bragg, c. 1873
    One-and-a-half-story gable roofed frame cottage clad in wood shingles. It has a wraparound porch,
    small shed dormers, and a shed addition on the east side.
40. Taylor, c. 1873
    One-and-a-half-story gabled frame cottage sheathed in wood shingles on the facade and board and batten on the sides. Features include bargeboards in the gable peak and above the upper story window, a wraparound porch with chamfered posts and sawn brackets, and shed dormers. This cottage is believed to be one of four constructed on Park Row by Newell Mansfield.
41. Stevens, c.1873
    One-and-a-half-story gable roofed frame cottage covered with wood shingles. It has a front porch with chamfered posts and sawn brackets, bargeboard in the gable, and a small gable roofed wall dormer. This is thought to be one of the four original cottages along Park Row constructed by Newell Mansfield.
42. Sea Rest, c.1873 – C
    One-and-a-half-story gable front frame cottage sheathed in clapboards. It features a front porch with sawn brackets, bargeboard in the gable peak, and a one-story ell.

43. Witherell, c. 1873
    One-and-a-half-story gabled frame cottage clad in original board-and-batten siding. Cottage features a wraparound porch with chamfered posts and sawn brackets, bargeboards in the gable and above the upper level window, small original gabled dormer on the east side, and a one-story rear addition. Believed to be one of the four original Park Row cottages erected by Newell Mansfield.
44. Lincoln, c. 1873-82
    One-and-a-half-story gable roofed frame cottage clad in flush sheathing. Cottage has a broad wraparound porch supported by turned posts, bargeboards in the gable and above the upper level front window, a dormer on the east side, and a full height gable roofed ell addition at the northeast corner.
45. C. Hathaway, c. 1873-82
    One-and-a-half-story frame cottage featuring a gable roof, wraparound porch, and a mix of clapboards and flush sheathing. Cottage has elaborate sawn detailing on the porch and in the pattern of the bargeboards in the gable and above the paired facade windows in the upper story. The gable peak is clad in flush sheathing in the pattern of inverted pickets, and the corners of the building are detailed with quoins.
46. Home Atlantic, c. 1885-90
    One-and-a-half-story gabled frame cottage featuring a wraparound porch, wood shingle siding, shed dormer on the east side, and an enclosed basement level below the porch. This cottage replaced the earlier “Lilliputian” cottage shown in historic photographs as no more than a very small one room building with barely room for an adult to stand inside.

49. Bayside Wharf, 1874 – C
    The wharf is comprised of a granite block structure that extends from the southeast corner of Ruggles Park to a wooden pile section on which is located a small hip roofed frame building. The granite section of the wharf was built in 1874, but the remainder has been replaced several times and is at present being rebuilt.
50. Ruggles Park, c. 1873
    The second public gathering place developed in the camp ground, the area which Ruggles Park occupies was obtained in the Association’s purchase of land in 1873. Historic photographs show it to have been a rough rock strewn open area that eventually was leveled and planted in grass. In 1875 the first hotel on the camp ground, the Wesleyan Grove House, was erected at the southwest corner of the park. A report in the June 27, 1878, edition of the Republican Journal noted that the grounds around this hotel “…have been graded and terraced.” A note in the Journal on June 5, 1 879, stated that the park had been named in honor of Hon. Hiram Ruggles of Carmel, one of the founders of the camp ground.

Bay Street

52. Blaisdell, c. 7572 -C
    Long two-story frame cottage sheathed in clapboards. This cottage appears to have undergone several additions including a hip roofed projection to the east (water) side, a two-story bay on the south side, an enclosed wraparound porch extending from the bay across the east side, and a onestory hip roofed roof shed at the Bay Street side. This latter addition is attached to a gable roofed block that may be the original section of the cottage. The Blaisdell Cottage was originally constructed for Philo and Sarah Blaisdell. After Philo’s death in 1927, Sarah Blaisdell donated several lots between Oak Street and Sea Street for the creation of Blaisdell Park in his memory.

53. Mypalandi (Squeezed Inn), c. 1890
    One-and-a-half-story gable roofed frame cottage clad in board-and-batten siding. Features include a broad front porch, bargeboard recessed under the front eave, and a one-story addition to the rear.
54. Yoursenmine, c.1890
    One-and-a-half-story gable roofed frame cottage sheathed in wood shingles. It has a wraparound porch on the facade and a second on the rear, in addition to a trio of shed dormers on the north side.
55. Hate to Leavit, c. 1890
    Narrow one-and-a-half-story frame cottage clad in wood shingles. It has a front porch with sawn brackets, a bargeboard and finial in the gable peak, side shed addition, and a partially enclosed wraparound rear porch.
56. Sperry, c.1890 -C
    Large two-and-a-half-story gable roofed frame cottage clad in wood shingles. Features include a porch that wraps around the front and north side elevation, an engaged porch on the rear, and shed dormers on the north side.

Others

Oak Hall, c. 1912-1914: Also known over the years as Hillside Farm, the Cobe Estate, the Pingree Estate, and Cariad. Situated on the western edge of Bayside Village, Oak Hall was built in 1912-1914 by Chicago outfit Marshall & Fox and is a very ambitious example of Colonial Revival architecture, featuring over 30,000 square feet of living space, and nearly fifty rooms. When built, Oak Hall featured every modern convenience, including a two storey Aeloian Player Organ. The main section is composed of a long and broad pitched-roofed rectangle of three storeys, with full two-storey colonnaded porticos on both sides. The southwest colonnade, facing a circular drive, consists of eight square columns with entablature, and is flanked by prominent chimneys. The northeast collonade faces the Bay and overlooks the sprawling and expansive grounds, framed by stately oaks and anchored by an immense, glacial boulder half way up the meandering drive. Each wing is framed by two-storey wings, and bookended by solariums featuring floor to ceiling windows on three sides. The exterior of Oak Hall has changed little over the last 100 years, and the interior would be as recognizable today as it was in the summer of 1914 when Ira and Annie Cobe first took residence.