A View from Mrs.Ethelbert Nevins Blue Hill, Maine

LB2007.1.114153

114153

[included in the "Hancock County Through Eastern's Eye" exhibit] LB2007.1.114153 View from Mrs. Ethelbert Nevens' Garden, Blue Hill, Maine Ethelbert Nevin was a well known composer of "parlor music" at the end of the 19th century, known for "The Rosary," "Mighty Lak' a Rose" and many other works. After his death at age 39 in February 1901, his wife first visited Blue Hill, where a school friend from Sewickley, Pennsyslvania had a summer place. Mrs. Nevin liked Blue Hill and had a sharp eye for real estate. She bought Mill Island (in the middle ground of this photo), site of Blue Hill's first settlement in 1762. In 1903 she built her first summer house, a large shingled cottage overlooking Blue Hill Bay, and called it "Airly Beacon"after one of her husband's compositions. By 1911 she had acquired land from the Sylvester family across the tidal falls separating Mill Island from the southern neck of Blue Hill. At first she intended to subdivide the land, but, taken with the spectacular views across the Bay and Mill Island, she instead hired local architect Wallace Hinckley to design a new summer cottage on the land. Wanting to evoke memories of happy years when she and her husband lived in Italy, Mrs. Nevin chose to build a house in the style of an Italian villa, with formal gardens cascading down to the edge of the Falls and an allee of cedars on axis with Blue Hill Mountain. The new cottage, conceived as a memorial to Ethelbert Nevin, was called "Arcady" after another of his compositions. Mrs. Nevin, a woman of considerable energy, was awarded the medal of the Legion of Honor by the French Government for her work during World War II, founded the Surry Theatre, and is widely credited with being a major influence in the reform of copyright laws. Credit: Brad Emerson