Associated People Charles Lord
Just added to the historic photo archive is this old photograph with the brief note "at Wells–Laudholm" written on the back. Any tractor experts care to speculate on the year and make of that antique? Thanks to Charles for passing along the 2x3" image from which this was cropped.
In this week's York County Coast Star, Shelley Wigglesworth reports on the passing of Alexander Bacon Brook — "Sandy" — who owned and edited the paper from 1957 to 1977. The remembrances collected there reflect Brook's life as a newspaperman, but readers of the era also knew he loved York County's unspoiled environment. Here's a passage from an editorial he wrote in the paper — as Joyce Butler says in her history of Laudholm — "when preserving Laudholm Farm was still a dream"…
A small envelope in the Laudholm archives holds two postcards dating from the early 20th century. They were passed along to Mort Mather by Ellie Carberry perhaps around 1992.
Associated People Hannah Wilhelm Diana Joyner Paul Dest Suzanne Kahn Eder
After two days of carefully inspecting large printouts of mockups, the near-final review of our forthcoming "Changing Landscape" exhibits is done. The exhibits look great, cover a lot of territory, and are really informative without being overwhelming.
The gazebo beside the farmhouse, as iconic as any building on the Laudholm campus, dates back more than a century. It has long been a place to rest, meet, or strike a pose. A photo from the first decade of the 1900s demonstrates the old well house was meant to get attention!
When the nascent Laudholm Trust was spreading the word about its effort to protect the farm, the gazebo anchored a photograph that was selected for a postcard sent to thousands of mailboxes.
Over the years, though, the gazebo's aging wood became soft, the ends of the floorboards chipped and frayed, and the lattice work was damaged. The very structure was weakened to the point where something had to be done.
Happy 24th anniversary, Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve!
On August 31, 1986, the Wells National Estuarine Sanctuary was dedicated during a ceremony held in the heart of the historic Laudholm Farm campus. This photo was taken during one tour on the celebratory day culminating years of tireless effort by many, many people.
Were you there? Recognize anyone?
From the Laudholm Trust historical archives (October 10, 1985):
Mort gave a report on the computer. It has 10 mga bites of memory and will eventually hold our files on membership, businesses, foundations, gifts, and others. He is currently training Susan Sullivan and setting up the files for memberships. We have just begun and it will be a while before we see the benefits.
Sometime probably in the 1920s, Charles E. Lord and George C. Lord II saw to the production of an 8-page booklet to promote Laudholm Farms' cream, butter, eggs, roasters, and broilers to the Boston market. Half a century later, when the effort to protect Laudholm was gaining momentum, the Trust reproduced the booklet as a special gift for important donors. Now, many years later, we have scanned the pages from one of these reproductions to share online. Enjoy.
Once English colonists settled this land, it was home to only four families: Boade, Symonds, Clark, and Lord. Here is an abbreviated list of key historical events leading up to the dedication of the Wells Reserve…
1641 Henry Boade family moves to the site.
1653 King’s Highway is established past Boade’s house to the mouth of the Little River.
1655 Boade sells the property to the Symonds brothers. William Symonds becomes sole owner by the end of 1657.
1677 King Philip’s War. Symonds family flees to nearby garrison. Indians burn the farmhouse to the ground.
Associated People Charles Lord
Those who've studied Laudholm history know that the current barns were built in the first decade of the twentieth century, after a 1902 fire burned the old barns to the ground. Some may recall that the fire "was started by burning, wind-blown shingles from a fire at the Goodwin farm a quarter mile away." *
A couple of years ago, Charles Lord became curious about where the Goodwin farm stood, so he asked his father's sister what she remembered. She pointed him "just up the road."
As part of our 25th anniversary, we created a video to tell the story of the very early days of the effort to save Laudholm Farm. The video, produced by William Lord, debuted at our August celebratory dinner and was very well received.
In April, Laudholm Trust kicked off its 25th anniversary celebration by publishing a 16-page supplement in the York County Coast Star, York Weekly, and the Portsmouth Herald. It has gotten rave reviews.
If you haven't seen it yet, you can pick up a copy at the Wells Reserve or contact us and we will send you one. You can also download it here in two parts:
- 14-page layout (2.5 MB)
- Center spread (0.5 MB)
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Appearing as wide as it is tall, the Wells Reserve's copper beech tree is a dominant presence on the campus, commanding the same respect from many of our visitors as the human-made historic structures or other natural features on the property. As befits a tree with such stature, the Reserve's beech has an interesting cultural and natural history.
This "History of the Project" was written by Mort Mather around the time the Wells Reserve was dedicated in 1986. Some minor formatting has been done to the originally typewritten document.
Interest in having the land now encompassed within the bounds of the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve preserved for the public good dates back to the early 1960s. At that time the value of salt marshes was beginning to be more fully understood. Studies showed that two-thirds of the commercially important fish depend in some stage in their lives on estuaries. Estuaries are also important areas for commercial development; as the population increases scenic areas near water are under increased pressure for residential development. In the sixties man-made development was filling marshes at an alarming rate. If left unchecked, this development would do serious damage to our fisheries and eliminate most of the coastal habitat for wildlife, endangering more and more species.
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