Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 2.djvu/77

 A DAY AT OLD KITTERY

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��ing parties were ever coming in on land from the lands of the Abenequis, the Coos, and the St. Francis. Gay and ro- mantic must have been those expeditions into the summer forest; the encounters with Indians, half-breeds and squaws ; the wild adventures, and the return to the populous towns. Those were the golden days of Portsmouth and Battery. It is delightful to lounge about the old worm-eaten wharves on the sunny after- noons. There is a fascinating air of dreams and idleness about the place which is very soothing. Very little busi- ness is transacted here now-a-days. Three or four barges laden with coal, and a few schooners bearing the valuable produce of the Maine forests, with here and there a fishing smack, constitutes about the whole of its commercial pros- perity. In the great nany yard there is comparative quiet. Only now and then is there a vessel launched from the stocks. It is only by a great effort that you can imagine all the past glory of the old maritime town — its merchants as rich as princes and almost as powerful, its large, noisy ship-yards, its huge warehouses stocked with merchandise jrom all parts of the world, its numerous fleets going and coming to and from China, the In- dies, and the Mediterranean.

Before leaving the river side we must say a few more words about the navy yard. It contains an area of nearly six- ty-five acres. Permanent gray walls of dimension split granite enclose it on all sides. There is every convenience and facility for constructing the largest class of government ships. The water at the wharves is of sufficient depth to float the largest man-of-war at the lowest tide. Three large ship-houses, seven large tim- ber sheds, a mast house, and a rigging house, machine shops, and wood shops on the most extensive and improved plans pertain to the yard. There is a floating dry-dock for the repair of ships, which cost nearly a million of dollars. It is three hundred and fifty feet in length, one hundred and fifteen in width, and thirty-eight feet in height. The quarters for officers and men are not ex- celled by those of any naval station in the country. Some over five hundred

��hands are usually employed in the yard. As pe pass up-town, through the his- torically famous streets, we have time to more leisurely notice the architecture of the buildings. Most of the houses are modern, but among them are now and then seen a more ancient type of dwell- ing — relics of the revolutionary epoch. Their quaint, small paned windows, am- ple door porches, glittering brass knock- ers, and enormous chimneys are at once old fashioned and suggestive. One could, gazing at these antique houses, almost fancy that from them would issue gentlemen of colonial days, dressed in knee breeches, silken stockings, plum colored coats, cocked hats, and silver buckles. Every one of these houses has its treasere of tradition, and if allowed io speak could tell rare tales of auld lang syne. There is one great mansion which we cannot summarily dismiss with a pass- ing notice, for though curtailed some- what of its fair proportions, it is still the object of frequent pilgrimages toKittery Point. We refer to the old Pepperell House, built one hundred and ninety years ago, which has seen more of splen- dor and sheltered more famous individu- als than any other private residence en this side of the sea.

The house was built by the first Wil- liam Pepperell, the great merchant and ship-builder of his time. He accumulat- ed vast wealth by trade, and his mansion reflected the boundlessness of his means. Grand as any old English castle, it stood looking aut to sea, girt by a great park where droves of deer sported. His son, the famous Sir William Pepperell, en- larged and adorned it at the time of his marriage in 1734. This Lord Pepperell, the only American baronet after Sir Wil- liam Phipps, was a remarkable man. He was the richest merchant in the colonies, and had at times two hundred ship at sea. His success at Louisburg proved him a skillful general, and his political influence was second to that of no man's in ihe oolonies. The style he lived in re- called the Feudal magnificence of the great barons. The walls of his great mansion were adorned with rich carv- ings, splendid mirrors, and costly paint- ings. In his side-board glittered heavy

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